John Hummer
Encyclopedia
John Hummer is a venture capitalist and retired professional basketball
player who was an original member of the Buffalo Braves
after starring for the Princeton Tigers men's basketball
team. He also led his high school to the 1966 Virginia State
1A championship and helped Princeton earn a 1967-68 co-Ivy League Championship as well as a 1968-69 outright Ivy League Championship. Over the course of his basketball career, he was coached by four National Basketball Hall of Fame members.
In college, Hummer was a three-time All-Ivy League
selection (first-team: 1969
& 1970, second team: 1968). He played for two Ivy League champion teams and served as team captain
as a senior. He was a part of the first of head coach
Pete Carril
's thirteen Ivy League champions (1968), eleven NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament teams (1969) and three undefeated conference champions (1969). Although Hummer set no statistical records, his name continues to be ranked high in the Princeton record book by many statistical measures.
He played six seasons in the National Basketball Association
(NBA) for the Braves, Chicago Bulls
and Seattle SuperSonics
. He was the 15th overall selection in the 1970 NBA Draft
and the first draft
choice in the history of the Braves franchise. As a Braves draft choice, he was a somewhat controversial pick in a draft year with two All-American local products available. During his NBA career, he played for Hall of Famers Dolph Schayes
, Bill Russell
and Jack Ramsay
.
After his professional basketball career ended, he went to Stanford University
to get an MBA
in 1980. In 1989, Ann Winblad
and he founded Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focusing on software companies.
in Arlington, Virginia
. Following in the footsteps of his brother Ed Hummer, he led W-L to the 1966 Virginia 1A state title as a high school senior. Ed had led the team to the 1962 and 1963 titles. His nephew (Ed's son Ian) was a freshman on the 2009–10 Princeton team.
In Hummer's sophomore season at Princeton, the team was co-champion of the Ivy League with a 20–6 (12–3 Ivy) record. Despite the fact that Princeton had three of the five first-team All-Ivy team members, plus second-team member Hummer, they lost the one-game league playoff to the Jim McMillian
-led 1968 Columbia Lions
. That year the team rose to as high as 8th in the AP Poll
. This was the first of thirteen Ivy League championships for head coach
Pete Carril
.
The following season, the team accumulated a 19–7 (14–0) record and participated in the 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
. They lost to St. John's
in the tournament, but Hummer was joined by Geoff Petrie
on the first-team All-Ivy squad. This was the first of eleven NCAA tournament appearance for Carril. It was also the first of three 14–0 conference champions for Carril.
As a senior, Hummer was first-team All-Ivy, but the Tigers placed third in the conference to the undefeated (in Ivy League games) Corky Calhoun
-led Penn Quakers and McMillian's Lions. Although Princeton did not appear in the 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
, they hosted Penn's game. All three of his varsity years were spent under Carril. Again, following in the footseps of his brother who had served as Princeton captain
of the 1966–67 team, John was co-captain for the 1969–70 team along with classmate Petrie. Hummer was honored with the team's B. Franklin Bunn ’07 Award for play, sportsmanship and influence that contributed most to the sport.
During his career, he shared the spotlight with Petrie and did not set any statistical records at a school and conference where Bill Bradley
continues to dominate the record books. Over the course of his career, Hummer was the 9th Tiger to accumulate 1000 career point
s (1031 in 67 games) and he continued to rank seventh in school history with a 15.4 points/game average through the 2009–10 season. Since his career ended in 1970 only Brian Taylor
has posted a higher average. He stands eighth in career free throw
s made (297), having only been passed since his career ended by Craig Robinson and Kit Mueller
. He is tenth in career rebound
s.
draft. The 1970 draft included two promising All-American local-Buffalo area talents: St. Bonaventure University
's Buffalo-born Bob Lanier
and Niagara University
's Calvin Murphy. Murphy was a fan favorite that many local fans hoped the Braves would select. However, Braves General Manager Eddie Donovan
doubted the 5 in 9 in (1.75 m) Murphy could make it in the NBA. The Baltimore Bullets
traded to improve their draft position on the day of the March 23, 1970 NBA draft. They traded their #15 selection and Mike Davis to the expansion
Buffalo Braves for the #9 selection. That day, the Braves selected Hummer with the 15th pick. Hummer averaged 11.3 points and 8.9 rebounds for the 1970–71 Buffalo Braves
during an average of 32.6 minutes in 81 games played for coach Dolph Schayes
. The 22–60 Braves finished fourth in the four-team Atlantic Division
. Hummer and the Braves struggled for two more seasons with 60-loss seasons. The 1972–73 Braves
were Jack Ramsay
's first coaching season with his second NBA team.
After the Braves selected Ernie DiGregorio
in the 1973 NBA Draft
to complement 1972 NBA Draft
selection Bob McAdoo, it was clear the team was going to change to fast-paced offense to leverage DiGregorio's skills. Hummer was more of a defensive player. Prior to the 1973–74 NBA season, Hummer was packaged with a 1974 NBA Draft
2nd round pick and a 1975 NBA Draft
2nd round pick in a trade that sent him to the Chicago Bulls
in exchange for Gar Heard
and Kevin Kunnert
. The deal was part of the resume that earned Donavan the NBA Executive of the Year Award
. That season the 54–28 Dick Motta
-coached 1973–74 Bulls team that he was traded to initially would make the playoffs, but the 36–46 Bill Russell
-coached 1973–74 SuperSonics that he would finish the season with would not.
During the season (on January 7), he was traded by the Bulls to the Seattle SuperSonics
in exchange for a 1975 NBA draft 2nd round selection. Russell's Supersonics (1974–75 and 1975–76) were the only playoff teams that he played in the postseason with. In the 1975 NBA Playoffs
, the Sonics defeated the Detroit Pistons 2–1 in the first round before losing to the Golden State Warriors 4–2. Hummer appeared in six of the nine playoff games that year, but accumulated no points. The following season the Sonics earned a bye in the first round of the 1976 NBA Playoffs
where they lost to the Phoenix Suns. Hummer appeared in three of these games.
Never a strong free throw shooter, Hummer failed to make 50% of his free throws during his last three seasons in the NBA. In the 1974-75 season, he shot an unusually low 0.275 from the free throw line.
in 1970 with an A.B.
in English and in 1980 with an MBA
from Stanford Graduate School of Business
. In 1989, Ann Winblad and he founded Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, which claims to have been the first venture capital firm to focus exclusively on software companies. The company now makes multimillion dollar investments in several companies per year. The company has financed over 100 ventures that have been on the forefront of trends that have gone from PC software to enterprise computing to Internet applications. The company's investments have now spanned generations of software applications, architecture
s, delivery methods and business model
s, including Omniture
, Voltage Security, Mulesource, Wind River Systems
and Hyperion Solutions
. Other notable companies that they have provided venture capital for that no longer exist are Napster
, Pets.com
, and HomeGrocer
.
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player who was an original member of the Buffalo Braves
Buffalo Braves
The Buffalo Braves were a team in the National Basketball Association. They later moved to San Diego, California to become the San Diego Clippers then subsequently the Los Angeles Clippers....
after starring for the Princeton Tigers men's basketball
Princeton Tigers men's basketball
The Princeton Tigers men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Princeton University. The school competes in the Ivy League in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . The Tigers play home basketball games at the Jadwin Gymnasium in...
team. He also led his high school to the 1966 Virginia State
Virginia High School League
The Virginia High School League is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Unlike similar organizations in many other states, private or religious schools are prohibited from joining. Non-public schools belong to other organizations,...
1A championship and helped Princeton earn a 1967-68 co-Ivy League Championship as well as a 1968-69 outright Ivy League Championship. Over the course of his basketball career, he was coached by four National Basketball Hall of Fame members.
In college, Hummer was a three-time All-Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
selection (first-team: 1969
1968–69 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
The 1968–69 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented the Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1968–69 NCAA University Division men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team captain was Christopher Thomforde...
& 1970, second team: 1968). He played for two Ivy League champion teams and served as team captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
as a senior. He was a part of the first of head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
Pete Carril
Pete Carril
Peter J. "Pete" Carril is a former collegiate head coach and former NBA assistant with the Sacramento Kings.-Early years:...
's thirteen Ivy League champions (1968), eleven NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament teams (1969) and three undefeated conference champions (1969). Although Hummer set no statistical records, his name continues to be ranked high in the Princeton record book by many statistical measures.
He played six seasons in the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA) for the Braves, Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
and Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
. He was the 15th overall selection in the 1970 NBA Draft
1970 NBA Draft
The 1970 NBA Draft was the 24th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on March 23, 1970 before the 1970–71 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
and the first draft
NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is an annual event in which the thirty teams from the National Basketball Association can draft players who are eligible and wish to join the league. These players are usually amateur U.S. college basketball players, but international players are also eligible to be drafted...
choice in the history of the Braves franchise. As a Braves draft choice, he was a somewhat controversial pick in a draft year with two All-American local products available. During his NBA career, he played for Hall of Famers Dolph Schayes
Dolph Schayes
Adolph "Dolph" Schayes is a retired American professional basketball player and coach in the NBA. A top scorer and rebounder, he was a member of the 1955 NBA champion Syracuse Nationals and a 12-time All-Star....
, Bill Russell
Bill Russell
William Felton "Bill" Russell is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association...
and Jack Ramsay
Jack Ramsay
Jack T. Ramsay is an American former basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack" . He is best known for coaching the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA Title, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio...
.
After his professional basketball career ended, he went to Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
to get an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
in 1980. In 1989, Ann Winblad
Ann Winblad
Ann L. Winblad is a partner of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.-Early years:Ann L. Winblad was born on November 1, 1950 in Red Wing, Minnesota...
and he founded Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focusing on software companies.
Amateur career
Hummer attended Washington-Lee High SchoolWashington-Lee High School
Washington-Lee High School is one of three traditional public high schools in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9-12. As of 2009-2010, the school had over 1,800 students and 120 teachers...
in Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...
. Following in the footsteps of his brother Ed Hummer, he led W-L to the 1966 Virginia 1A state title as a high school senior. Ed had led the team to the 1962 and 1963 titles. His nephew (Ed's son Ian) was a freshman on the 2009–10 Princeton team.
In Hummer's sophomore season at Princeton, the team was co-champion of the Ivy League with a 20–6 (12–3 Ivy) record. Despite the fact that Princeton had three of the five first-team All-Ivy team members, plus second-team member Hummer, they lost the one-game league playoff to the Jim McMillian
Jim McMillian
James M. "Jim" McMillian is a retired American professional basketball player. After starring at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, McMillian played college basketball at Columbia University. He led Columbia to a three-year mark of 63-14, and their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1968,...
-led 1968 Columbia Lions
Columbia Lions men's basketball
The Columbia Lions Basketball team is the basketball team that represents Columbia University in New York City, New York, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Ivy League. The team's last appearance in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was in 1968...
. That year the team rose to as high as 8th in the AP Poll
AP Poll
The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
. This was the first of thirteen Ivy League championships for head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
Pete Carril
Pete Carril
Peter J. "Pete" Carril is a former collegiate head coach and former NBA assistant with the Sacramento Kings.-Early years:...
.
The following season, the team accumulated a 19–7 (14–0) record and participated in the 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1969, and ended with the championship game on March 22 in Louisville, Kentucky...
. They lost to St. John's
St. John's Red Storm men's basketball
The St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team represents the St. John's University in Queens, New York. The team participates in the Big East Conference. The men’s coach Norm Roberts was fired on March 19, 2010...
in the tournament, but Hummer was joined by Geoff Petrie
Geoff Petrie
Geoffrey Michael Petrie is a former American basketball player and current basketball team executive. A native of Pennsylvania, he played professional basketball in the National Basketball Association for the Portland Trail Blazers where he won NBA Rookie of the Year in 1971...
on the first-team All-Ivy squad. This was the first of eleven NCAA tournament appearance for Carril. It was also the first of three 14–0 conference champions for Carril.
As a senior, Hummer was first-team All-Ivy, but the Tigers placed third in the conference to the undefeated (in Ivy League games) Corky Calhoun
Corky Calhoun
David "Corky" Calhoun is an American former professional basketball player.Calhoun played college basketball for the University of Pennsylvania. Calhoun was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the 1972 NBA Draft with the 4th overall pick and by the Kentucky Colonels in the 1972 American Basketball...
-led Penn Quakers and McMillian's Lions. Although Princeton did not appear in the 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 7, 1970, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in College Park, Maryland...
, they hosted Penn's game. All three of his varsity years were spent under Carril. Again, following in the footseps of his brother who had served as Princeton captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
of the 1966–67 team, John was co-captain for the 1969–70 team along with classmate Petrie. Hummer was honored with the team's B. Franklin Bunn ’07 Award for play, sportsmanship and influence that contributed most to the sport.
During his career, he shared the spotlight with Petrie and did not set any statistical records at a school and conference where Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
continues to dominate the record books. Over the course of his career, Hummer was the 9th Tiger to accumulate 1000 career point
Point (basketball)
Points in basketball are used to keep track of the score in a game. Points can be accumulated by making field goals or free throws ....
s (1031 in 67 games) and he continued to rank seventh in school history with a 15.4 points/game average through the 2009–10 season. Since his career ended in 1970 only Brian Taylor
Brian Taylor (basketball)
Brian Dwight Taylor is a retired American professional basketball player. A 6'2" guard from Princeton University, he was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round of the 1972 NBA Draft...
has posted a higher average. He stands eighth in career free throw
Free throw
In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points from a restricted area on the court , and are generally awarded after a foul on the shooter by the opposing team...
s made (297), having only been passed since his career ended by Craig Robinson and Kit Mueller
Kit Mueller
Christopher J. "Kit" Mueller is a retired American basketball player. He played high school basketball in the Chicago metropolitan area for Downers Grove South High School...
. He is tenth in career rebound
Rebound (basketball)
A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...
s.
Professional basketball career
Following his senior season, Hummer was one of three first-round Ivy League selections in the 1970 NBA Draft (Petrie – 8th, McMillian 13th and Hummer 15th). Hummer was also drafted by The Floridians in the 1970 American Basketball AssociationAmerican Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
draft. The 1970 draft included two promising All-American local-Buffalo area talents: St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University is a private, Franciscan Catholic university, located in Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. It has roughly 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students....
's Buffalo-born Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier (basketball)
Robert Jerry "Bob" Lanier, Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played for the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA.Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992....
and Niagara University
Niagara University
Niagara University is a Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition, located in the Town of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. Originally founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1856 as Our Lady of Angels Seminary, it became Niagara University in 1883. The University is still run by...
's Calvin Murphy. Murphy was a fan favorite that many local fans hoped the Braves would select. However, Braves General Manager Eddie Donovan
Eddie Donovan
Eddie Donovan was a professional basketball coach and executive.He coached the New York Knickerbockers from 1961 through 1965, and was the coach on the opposing sideline when Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain had his record-setting 100-point game in Hershey, Pennsylvania on March 2,...
doubted the 5 in 9 in (1.75 m) Murphy could make it in the NBA. The Baltimore Bullets
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association .-Early years:...
traded to improve their draft position on the day of the March 23, 1970 NBA draft. They traded their #15 selection and Mike Davis to the expansion
Expansion team
An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...
Buffalo Braves for the #9 selection. That day, the Braves selected Hummer with the 15th pick. Hummer averaged 11.3 points and 8.9 rebounds for the 1970–71 Buffalo Braves
1970–71 Buffalo Braves season
The 1970–71 NBA season was the Buffalo Braves inaugural season in the NBA. With a roster made up primarily of castoffs, the Braves got off on the right foot by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 107–92 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium on October 14...
during an average of 32.6 minutes in 81 games played for coach Dolph Schayes
Dolph Schayes
Adolph "Dolph" Schayes is a retired American professional basketball player and coach in the NBA. A top scorer and rebounder, he was a member of the 1955 NBA champion Syracuse Nationals and a 12-time All-Star....
. The 22–60 Braves finished fourth in the four-team Atlantic Division
Atlantic Division (NBA)
The Atlantic Division is one of the three divisions in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . The division consists of five teams, the Boston Celtics, the New Jersey Nets, the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors...
. Hummer and the Braves struggled for two more seasons with 60-loss seasons. The 1972–73 Braves
1972–73 Buffalo Braves season
Despite finishing with a worse record than their previous 2 seasons, their 21–61 record was good enough for 3rd place. The Braves showed improvement under new Coach Jack Ramsay...
were Jack Ramsay
Jack Ramsay
Jack T. Ramsay is an American former basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack" . He is best known for coaching the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA Title, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio...
's first coaching season with his second NBA team.
After the Braves selected Ernie DiGregorio
Ernie DiGregorio
Ernest DiGregorio is a retired American National Basketball Association player.DiGregorio played on the 1968 Rhode Island champions at North Providence High School....
in the 1973 NBA Draft
1973 NBA Draft
The 1973 NBA Draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on April 24, 1973 before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
to complement 1972 NBA Draft
1972 NBA Draft
The 1972 NBA Draft was the 26th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on April 10, 1972 before the 1972–73 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
selection Bob McAdoo, it was clear the team was going to change to fast-paced offense to leverage DiGregorio's skills. Hummer was more of a defensive player. Prior to the 1973–74 NBA season, Hummer was packaged with a 1974 NBA Draft
1974 NBA Draft
The 1974 NBA Draft was the 28th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on May 28, 1974 before the 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
2nd round pick and a 1975 NBA Draft
1975 NBA Draft
The 1975 NBA Draft was the 29th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on May 29, 1975 before the 1975–76 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
2nd round pick in a trade that sent him to the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
in exchange for Gar Heard
Gar Heard
Garfield "Gar" Heard, is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiately at the University of Oklahoma and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the third round of the 1970 NBA Draft...
and Kevin Kunnert
Kevin Kunnert
Kevin Robert Kunnert is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. A 7'0" and 230 lb center-forward, was drafted out of the University of Iowa by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1973 NBA Draft...
. The deal was part of the resume that earned Donavan the NBA Executive of the Year Award
NBA Executive of the Year Award
The National Basketball Association's Executive of the Year Award is an annual award given since the 1972–73 NBA season, to the league's best general managers. Before 2009, the Executive of the Year is presented annually by Sporting News, although it is officially recognized by the NBA. Since then,...
. That season the 54–28 Dick Motta
Dick Motta
John Richard "Dick" Motta is a former basketball coach whose career in the National Basketball Association spanned 25 years, and he continues to rank among the NBA's all-time top 10 in coaching victories....
-coached 1973–74 Bulls team that he was traded to initially would make the playoffs, but the 36–46 Bill Russell
Bill Russell
William Felton "Bill" Russell is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association...
-coached 1973–74 SuperSonics that he would finish the season with would not.
During the season (on January 7), he was traded by the Bulls to the Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
in exchange for a 1975 NBA draft 2nd round selection. Russell's Supersonics (1974–75 and 1975–76) were the only playoff teams that he played in the postseason with. In the 1975 NBA Playoffs
1975 NBA Playoffs
The 1975 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1974-1975 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Eastern Conference champion Washington Bullets, four games to none in the NBA Finals...
, the Sonics defeated the Detroit Pistons 2–1 in the first round before losing to the Golden State Warriors 4–2. Hummer appeared in six of the nine playoff games that year, but accumulated no points. The following season the Sonics earned a bye in the first round of the 1976 NBA Playoffs
1976 NBA Playoffs
The 1976 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1975-1976 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeating the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns, four games to two in the NBA Finals; the series was...
where they lost to the Phoenix Suns. Hummer appeared in three of these games.
Never a strong free throw shooter, Hummer failed to make 50% of his free throws during his last three seasons in the NBA. In the 1974-75 season, he shot an unusually low 0.275 from the free throw line.
Education and finance career
Hummer graduated from Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1970 with an A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English and in 1980 with an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
from Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
. In 1989, Ann Winblad and he founded Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, which claims to have been the first venture capital firm to focus exclusively on software companies. The company now makes multimillion dollar investments in several companies per year. The company has financed over 100 ventures that have been on the forefront of trends that have gone from PC software to enterprise computing to Internet applications. The company's investments have now spanned generations of software applications, architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
s, delivery methods and business model
Business model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
s, including Omniture
Omniture
Omniture is an online marketing and web analytics business unit owned by Adobe Systems. The Omniture Business Unit is based in Orem, Utah, with offices worldwide. It serves customers in 75 countries worldwide.- History :...
, Voltage Security, Mulesource, Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems
Wind River Systems, Inc. is a company providing embedded systems, development tools for embedded systems, middleware, and other types of software. The company was founded in Berkeley, California in 1981 by Jerry Fiddler and David Wilner. On June 4, 2009, Wind River announced that Intel had bought...
and Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
. Other notable companies that they have provided venture capital for that no longer exist are Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
, Pets.com
Pets.com
Pets.com is a former dot-com enterprise that sold pet supplies to retail customers. It began operations in February 1999 and closed in November 2000. A high profile marketing campaign gave it a widely recognized public presence, including an appearance in the 1999 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...
, and HomeGrocer
HomeGrocer
HomeGrocer.com, Inc. was one of the first online supermarket businesses, started in 1997. It was founded by Terry Drayton. Buoyed by investments from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Amazon.com, John Malone of Liberty Media, Martha Stewart and Jim Barksdale, HomeGrocer.com built and operated the...
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