Former NBA Player, PVI Assistant Phil Hubbard to Be Honored With Court Dedication

The former NBA player, Olympic gold medalist and University of Michigan All-American will have a basketball court in his hometown of Canton, Ohio, renamed in his honor next month.

St. Paul VI assistant boys basketball coach Phil Hubbard, during his college playing days with the Michigan Wolverines, in the 1976 Final Four, is being honored by McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

St. Paul VI Catholic High School boys basketball assistant coach and Ohio native Phil Hubbard is being honored next month.

Hometown Honor

Hubbard, a former NBA player and assistant coach, is getting a basketball court in Canton, Ohio renamed in his honor.

Hubbard, who played at McKinley High School in Canton, will be honored on Aug. 8 during a "mini park reunion" at the Preston Young Sr. Mini Park according to a report in the Canton Repository.

Mentoring the Panthers

For the past six years, Hubbard has served as an assistant on Glenn Farello's coaching staff at Paul VI in Chantilly, Virginia. Hubbard has also coached in the NBA including stints with the Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards. The 69-year-old also had a brief stint as the head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders in 2014-15.

Paul VI finished the 2025-26 campaign with a 33-3 record and captured the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship not to mention the program's second national championship in three seasons. There's no question that Phil Hubbard's contribution was signifant in PVI Head Coach Glenn Farello earning national coach of the year honors and Jordan Smith Jr. being named the consensus national player of the year. The court renaming in Hubbard's honor is certainly well-deserved. "It is definitely awesome!," Glenn Farello told High School On SI in a text message. "Phil joined us in 2019!"

From Ohio Star to NBA Veteran

Hubbard was named Ohio's player of the year in 1975 while at McKinley High School in Canton. During his junior and senior campaigns, Hubbard helped guide McKinley to a 48-3 record and took his team to the state basketball tournament's final four both years.

As a high school senior, Hubbard scored 480 points in 18 regular season games to break the school record set by future NBA player Nick Weatherspoon. Hubbard scored 42 points in his last regular season game to help McKinley beat Timken High School for the city championship.

Hubbard was named to the all-tournament team in the state playoffs and was named All-Ohio and was honored as the Class AAA Player of the Year by both the Associated Press and United Press International.

In 1975, the Ohio native also performed on a high level on the all-star game circuit. Hubbard scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the U,S. All-Stars in the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in Pittsburgh. He was named the team's Most Valuable Player and helped guide the U.S. All-Stars to a 107-96 victory.

Hubbard scored 23 points and snatched 19 rebounds to lead the Ohio All-Stars to a 103-94 victory over the U.S. All-Stars in the Coliseum Classic and was named co-MVP.

Hubbard scored 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the North team to a 109-89 victory over the South in the Ohio Cage Classic.

A Final Four with Michigan and an Olympic Gold Medal

Hubbard, who played college basketball at the University of Michigan, chose the Wolverines over a list of schools that included Iowa, Iowa State, Ohio State, University of Pittsburgh and University of Southern California.

In 1976, Hubbard helped the United States men's basketball team capture a gold medal in the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. He finished with 10 points in the gold medal game against Yugoslavia.

Hubbard, a 6-foot-8-inch power forward/center helped lead Michigan to the NCAA Championship Game against conference rival Indiana University in 1976 during his freshman campaign. He averaged 15.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per game that season. He was named an All-American in 1977 while leading the Wolverines to the Big Ten championship, averaging 19.5 and 13.0 rebounds per game.

Hubbard suffered a serious knee injury during the World University Games that sidelined him for his entire junior campaign at Michigan. However, Hubbard bounced back from injury and was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round (No. 15 pick) of the 1979 NBA Draft. Hubbard also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers during his decade long NBA career.

In 1992, Hubbard was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor and his No. 35 jersey was retired by the University of Michigan in 2004. He was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.