Former LSU Tigers basketball player and longtime athletic director Joe Dean has died at the age of 83, school officials say.
Dean, who died on Sunday in Baton Rouge, is one of three LSU players who've been inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The others are Bob Pettit and Pete Maravich.
He was the athletic director at LSU for 14 years, beginning in 1987. During that period he oversaw $50 million in facility improvements, and LSU teams won 27 national championships, along with 40 Southeastern Conference titles.
Dean also worked as a marketing executive with Converse and as an analyst on college basketball broadcasts, during which he became known for using the phrase "string music" to describe the sound of a basketball swishing through the net.
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Dean was born in Brazil, Ind., and grew up in New Albany, Ind., where was a starter on his high school team at New Albany High School. He played at LSU from 1949 through 1952, earning All-SEC honors two times. He was also a three-time member of the SEC All-Tournament Team.
He was voted onto the LSU All-Century Team, along with Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Jackson.
Dean was the first LSU player to be selected in the NBA Draft, taken 10th overall. He instead chose to play for the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers of the National Industrial Basketball League.
Dean was well known as a TV analyst for SEC basketball, with work on NBC, Lorimar, ESPN, Turner Sports and Jefferson Pilot/Raycom. He coined the phrase "String Music" to describe a jump shot that swished the net.
Contributing: Associated Press