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Cleveland Cavaliers' Zydrunas Ilgauskas about to join Top 10 in longest-tenured Cleveland athletes
By Starting Blocks
October 25, 2009, 5:11PM
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cleveland Cavaliers' accomplished veteran center.Once the Cleveland Cavaliers game-night roster becomes official for Tuesday night's season-opener against the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena, Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas will have achieved a remarkable milestone.
The 7-3 Ilgauskas, 34, will begin his 14th season as a Cavalier. That will tie him for 10th place on the all-time list of most seasons with a Cleveland professional basketball, baseball or football team, including: 40 years of Cavaliers basketball (beginning with the 1970-71 season) in the NBA, 109 years of Cleveland baseball (Blues, Bronchos and Naps before becoming the Indians in 1915) in the American League; 61 years of Browns football (1946-49 in the AAFC and 1950-95 and 1998-2009) in the NFL.
Ilgauskas' accomplishment is especially impressive when it's considered that he has broken a foot on six occasions, and has had five foot surgeries - the last two dramatic re-structures of each foot.
Ilgauskas was selected by the Cavaliers with the 20th pick in the first round of the 1996 draft. Wayne Embry, then the Cavaliers general manager, tabbed Ilgauskas even though he didn't play basketball anywhere during the 1995-96 season due to his first broken foot.
NBA scouts who hadn't heard of Ilgauskas learned about him on Nov. 22, 1994, when he scored 26 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked four shots for the Lithuanian national team against U.S. national powerhouse University of Kentucky in Rupp Arena.
Ilgauskas was impressive in preseason work with the Cavaliers before a broken foot sidelined him for what would have been his 96-97 rookie season. Then, Ilgauskas made the 1997-98 NBA rookie first-team, and won the Schick Rookie Game MVP award during All-Star weekend in New York's Madison Square Garden.
In the next three seasons, though, Ilgauskas broke a foot on three occasions and played just 29 games.
More than a month into the 2001-02 season, Ilgauskas returned to play and has been a Cavaliers mainstay since. Twice, the Eastern Conference coaches picked him to play in the All-Star Game.
It's simple to speculate how great of a career the skilled big man could have fashioned had he been healthier, and if all of the injuries and surgeries hadn't robbed him of much of the mobility he once had. Yet, Ilgauskas has overcome the adversity to rank first on the Cavaliers all-time list in rebounds (5,559) and blocked shots (1,219) and fourth in points (10,142).
Following are the longest careers for Cavaliers, Indians or Browns players in Cleveland. We count seasons missed due to military service or injuries, and in the case of Indians players, seasons split between the major and minor leagues.
1. Bob Feller, 21 seasons, Indians, 1936-41; 1942-45 World War II; 1945-56
Lou Groza, 21, Browns, 1946-59; 1960 retired; 1961-67
3. Mel Harder, 20, Indians, 1928-47
4. Bob Lemon, 18, Indians, 1941-42; 1943-45 World War II; 1946-58
5. Jim Hegan, 17, Indians, 1941-42; 1943-45 World War II; 1946-57
6. Gene Hickerson, 16, Browns, 1958-73
Clay Matthews, 16, Browns, 1978-93
8. Willis Hudlin, 15, Indians, 1926-40
Terry Turner, 15, Indians, 1904-18
10. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 14, Cavaliers, 1996-current
Don Cockroft, 14, Browns, 1967-80
Doug Dieken, 14, Browns, 1971-84
Jack Graney, 14, Indians, 1908, 1910-22
Charley Jamieson, 14, Indians, 1919-32
15. Lou Boudreau, 13, Indians, 1938-50
Bob Gain, 13, Browns, 1952, 1953 Korean War, 1954-64
Steve Gromek, 13, Indians, 1941-53
Jim Houston, 13, Browns, 1960-72
Ken Keltner, 13, Indians, 1937-44, 1945 World War II, 1946-49
Napoleon Lajoie, 13, Bronchos, 1902, Naps, 1903-14
Charlie Nagy, 13, Indians, 1990-2002
Ozzie Newsome, 13, Browns, 1978-1990
Steve O'Neill, 13, Indians, 1911-23
Dick Schafrath, 13, Browns, 1959-71
Clarence Scott, 13, Browns, 1971-83
Luke Sewell, 13, Indians, 1921-32, 1939
Ilgauskas was not the Cavaliers first pick in the 1996 draft. They took center-forward Vitaly Potapenko of the Ukraine with the 12th pick. Teams bypassed high school sensation Kobe Bryant - knowing he was particular about where he wanted to play - until the Charlotte Hornets took him with the 13th pick. Reluctant to play for Charlotte, Bryant was traded several weeks later to Los Angeles for veteran Lakers center Vlade Divac. Although Divac was an above-average player, the trade turned out to be one of the most lopsided in sports history.
Ilgauskas' tenure with the Cavaliers is easily the longest in team history. Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry played 10 full seasons (1990-2000) for the Cavs and John "Hot Rod" Williams was essentially a Cavalier for 10 full seasons. Drafted in 1985, he sat out his first Cleveland season while a game-fixing scandal was being investigated at Tulane, where he had played college basketball. After being cleared, Williams played with the Cavaliers from the 1986-85 season through the 1994-95 season.
Bobby "Bingo" Smith was on the first Cavaliers team, in 1970-71, then was traded to the San Diego Clippers early in his 10th Cleveland season, 1979-80.