Bruce Seals obit

Bruce Seals, member of Seattle SuperSonics' 1977-78 NBA Finals team, dies at 67

 

He was not on the list.

Bruce Seals, who played three seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1970s and helped the franchise to an NBA Finals appearance in 1978, died Tuesday in Boston after battling cancer. He was 67.

A 6-foot-8 forward, Seals averaged 10.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in three seasons with the Sonics. He played 18.1 minutes during the regular season and 10.2 minutes in the postseason of 1977-78, when the Sonics fell in a seven-game NBA Finals series to the Washington Bullets. Seals averaged 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds during the regular season that year, and 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds in a reserve role in the finals run.

Seals averaged a career-best 13 points per game in the playoffs of the 1975-76 season, his first year with Seattle, as the franchise lost a six-game series with the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference semifinals.

Seals was drafted by the Sonics in the second round of the 1975 NBA draft, after two seasons with the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association. He played his college ball at Xavier University of Louisiana,  an NAIA school in his native New Orleans. With the Sonics, Seals was reunited with guard Slick Watts, who he played with at Xavier.

Seals held out before the 1978-79  NBA season, the year the Sonics won the NBA title, and played three seasons in Italy before ending his playing career.

Seals later settled in Boston, where he mentored inner-city youth as the athletic director of the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester from 1990 until his death. He also worked as an assistant coach in Boston, with both the Emerson College men’s basketball team for 17 years and seven more at Emmanuel College.

Seals is survived by his daughter, Denitra Rene Seals, as well as two sisters, a brother, and a son, Bruce Jr..

“Bruce’s passing was unexpected and leaves us with a hole in our life and in our hearts that will never be filled,” the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday. “He was a friend, a role model and a mentor to so many of our members. He will be missed more than words can say. Rest In Peace to our dear friend and colleague.”

 

Career history

1973–1975            Utah Stars

1975–1978            Seattle SuperSonics

1979–1980            Pallacanestro Varese

1981–1982            Reyer Venezia

1983–1984            Alpe Bergamo