Tim Dwyer (basketball)

Tim Dwyer is an American former basketball player and coach. During his career, he starred in Iceland where he was a three-time Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year and led Valur to both the national championship and the Icelandic Cup in 1980 and 1983.

Tim Dwyer

Personal information
Nationality	American
Listed height	198 cm (6 ft 6 in)
Career information
High school	Monte Vista (Whittier, California)
College	Rio Hondo College (1972–1974) Cal State Fullerton (1974–1976)
NBA draft	1976: undrafted
Position	Forward / center
Career history
As player:
1978–1980	Valur
1982–1983	Valur
As coach:
1978–1980	Valur
1979	Iceland
1982–1983	Valur
Career highlights and awards
As player: 2× Icelandic champion (1980, 1983) 2× Icelandic cup winner (1980, 1983) 3× Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year (1979, 1980, 1983) As coach: 2× Icelandic champion (1980, 1983) 2× Icelandic cup winner (1980, 1983)

College career

Dwyer played for Monte Vista High School in Whittier, California, then junior college basketball for Rio Hondo College, where he averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game in his sophomore season.^[1] He then played Division I college basketball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans men's basketball team from 1974 to 1976. In 49 games, he averaged 11.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Professional career

In September 1978, Dwyer joined Úrvalsdeild karla club Valur as player-coach, replacing recently departed Rick Hockenos.^[2] He debuted with the team in the annual Reykjavík Basketball Tournament where he scored 19 points in Valur's 100–84 victory against Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur.^[3] On October 10, he guided Valur to victory in the tournament, scoring 18 points in Valur's victory against Fram.^[4][5]

In his Úrvalsdeild debut on 14 October, Dwyer scored 19 points in a 101–89 victory against Þór Akureyri.^[6] On 12 March 1979, Dwyer scored a season high 44 points in a victory against arch rivals KR.^[7] Valur lost out on the national title after losing to KR, 77–75, in the last game of the season.^[8] Following the season, where he averaged 27.3 points per game in 19 games, he was named the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year.^[9]

After some uncertainty of his return due to his financial demands,^[10][11][12] Dwyer eventually resigned with Valur prior to the 1979–80 season.^[13] On 17 March 1980, he helped Valur to its first national championship after scoring 28 points in the team's 100–93 victory against defending champions KR in the last game of the season.^[14] In 20 games, he averaged 29.4 points, finishing second in scoring in the league behind Trent Smock's 34.6 points per game. In the Icelandic Cup, he helped Valur to the Cup Finals by scoring 55 points against Njarðvík in the semi-final. Valur won the hard fought game, 105–103, after Kristján Ágústsson scored the game winning basket from just inside center court with 2 seconds left of the game.^[15][16] On 19 March, he scored 28 points in Valur's cup finals win against ÍS.^[17][18][19] After the season he was named the foreign player of the year for the second consecutive season.^[20]

After two seasons with Valur, Dwyer signed on in France as a player-coach before returning to his home state of California.^[21]

In July 1982, Dwyer returned to Valur as a player-coach^[22] prior to the 1982–83 season which he announced would be his last.^[23] In September, he led Valur to the pre-season Reykjavík Basketball Tournament title, scoring 22 points in Valur's 84–77 victory against Fram.^[24] On 21 March 1983, he led Valur to its second national championship after scoring 16 points in Valur's 88–87 victory against second-placed Keflavík. The game had a controversial ending after the referee Sigurður Valur Halldórsson called a three second violation on Keflavík's Brad Miley as he went up for a shot where Dwyer apparently fouled him with few seconds remaining of the game.^[25][26] Three days later, on 24 March, Dwyer scored 9 points but fouled out in the beginning of the second half of Valur's 78–75 victory against ÍR in the Icelandic cup finals.^[27] After the season he was named the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year for the third time in his career.^[28] For the season, he finished fourth in scoring, averaging 23.6 points per game.

Coaching career

In his three seasons with Valur, he finished with a 45–15 record.^[29] In February 1979, Dwyer was hired as the head coach of the Icelandic men's national basketball team ahead of its games against Scotland and Denmark.^[30][31] In his 4 games with the team, he led it twice to victory.^[32]

References

1. "Titans' Dwyer gets the job done quietly". Los Angeles Times. January 9, 1976. p. 24. Retrieved January 1, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.  
2. "Eftirmaður Hockenos". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 30 September 1978. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
3. "Hudson fékk rautt spjald og KR vaknaði af dvala!". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). 2 October 1978. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
4. "Taugar Valsmanna reyndust sterkari". Vísir (in Icelandic). 11 October 1978. p. 12. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
5. "Valsmenn meistarar eftir hörkuleik". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 11 October 1978. p. 31. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
6. Gylfi Kristjánsson (16 October 1978). "Þórsarar komu mjög á óvart gegn Val". Vísir (in Icelandic). pp. 12–13. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
7. "Dwyer í banastuði – skoraði 44 stig". Tíminn (in Icelandic). 13 March 1979. p. 17. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
8. "Þetta var stórkostlegt". Tíminn (in Icelandic). 30 March 1979. p. 15. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
9. "Jón bestur". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 3 April 1979. p. 27. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
10. Ingólfur Hannesson (1 September 1979). "Miklar hræringar hjá Valsmönnum". Þjóðviljinn (in Icelandic). p. 11. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
11. Gylfi Kristjánsson (31 August 1979). "Kemur Kem til Vals?". Vísir (in Icelandic). p. 6. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
12. Gylfi Kristjánsson (2 May 1979). "Hann setti fram háar fjárkörfur". Vísir (in Icelandic). p. 7. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
13. "Dwyer áfram hjá Val". Tíminn (in Icelandic). 14 September 1979. p. 10. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
14. "Þórir tryggði Valsmönnum Íslandsmeistaratitilinn!". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). 18 March 1980. pp. 12–13. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
15. Ingólfur Hannesson (6 March 1980). "Sigurkarfan var skoruð 2 sek fyrir leikslok". Þjóðviljinn (in Icelandic). p. 11. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
16. "Kristján skoraði "körfu ársins" í Njarðvíkunum!". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). 6 March 1980. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
17. "Þrenna hjá Val". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 20 March 1980. p. 47. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
18. Gylfi Kristjánsson (20 March 1980). "Valur bætti þriðja titlinum í safnið". Vísir (in Icelandic). p. 7. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
19. "Þetta kom allt hjá okkur þegar við settum á fullt". Tíminn (in Icelandic). 20 March 1980. p. 15. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
20. "Jón maður mótsins – Smock stigakóngur". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 20 March 1980. p. 46. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
21. Ingólfur Hannesson (14 July 1982). "Valsmenn vilja fá Tim Dwyer". Tíminn (in Icelandic). p. 17. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
22. "Tim Dwyer kemur aftur til Vals!". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 29 July 1982. p. 20. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
23. "Vonast til þess að keppnistímabilið verði spennandi og skemmtilegt". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 7 September 1982. p. 26. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
24. "Valur Reykjavíkurmeistari í körfuknattleik". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 28 September 1982. p. 23. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
25. "Valsmenn Íslandsmeistarar". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 22 March 1983. p. 25. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
26. "Það er Hlíðarendi!". Þjóðviljinn (in Icelandic). 22 March 1983. p. 9. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
27. "Stórkostlegasta stundin á mínum körfuboltaferli". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 25 March 1983. p. 31. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
28. "Pétur kosinn maður mótsins". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 29 March 1983. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
29. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson; Rúnar Birgir Gíslason. "Þjálfarasaga úrvalsdeildar karla í körfubolta". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Association. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
30. "Tim Dwyer ráðinn landsliðsþjálfari". Tíminn (in Icelandic). 9 February 1979. p. 11. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
31. Gylfi Kristjánsson (9 February 1979). "Tim Dwyer þjálfar landsliðið í körfuknattleik!". Vísir (in Icelandic). p. 9. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
32. Gylfi Kristjánsson (9 April 1979). "Á staurfótum töpuðu þeir fyrir Dönum!". Vísir (in Icelandic). p. 13. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

External links

• Úrvalsdeild statistics at Icelandic Basketball Association
• College statistics at Sports Reference