Barry Clemens

John Barry Clemens was born on May 1, 1943, in Dayton, Ohio. He grew up on a 200-acre farm near Xenia, in Greene County, Ohio, according to the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.

At Xenia High School he was a three-sport athlete in basketball, track and cross country. Xenia's teams went 64-5 during his three seasons as a starter. The 1959-60 team, on which he played alongside Ted Day, Paul Storey, Gary Walthall and others, won 22 straight games before losing in the Dayton District final to eventual state champion Dayton Roosevelt, and the Xenia Athletic Hall of Fame describes it as arguably the second-greatest team in the school's history. In 1961 Clemens was first-team All-Miami Valley League and first-team All-District, and he graduated as class salutatorian.

Although he was recruited by Division I schools including Ohio State and Ohio University, Clemens chose Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, a small-college programme, and played there from 1961 to 1965. He was also a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

At Ohio Wesleyan he became the most prolific scorer in the history of the men's basketball programme. He finished with 1,905 points and 1,230 rebounds, setting career scoring records for both the school and the Ohio Athletic Conference. He was named first-team All-OAC in all four seasons and earned AP Little All-America recognition. As a senior he averaged 23 points and 14.7 rebounds per game and won the Dick Gregory Award as the OAC's most valuable player, the only Ohio Wesleyan player to receive it. His career high was 41 points against Baldwin-Wallace in January 1965, and the Battling Bishops went 71-23 over his four seasons. He graduated in 1965.

The New York Knicks selected Clemens in the third round of the 1965 NBA draft. Making the NBA from a Division III school was rare, and his draft class also included future Hall of Famers Bill Bradley, Rick Barry and Billy Cunningham. He made his NBA debut on October 16, 1965, and averaged 5.4 points in 70 games as a rookie.

He then spent three seasons with the expansion Chicago Bulls from 1966 to 1969. In 1967-68 he had his best statistical season, averaging 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per game. He appeared for Chicago in the 1967 playoffs, the franchise's first postseason.

From 1969 to 1972 he played for the Seattle SuperSonics, appearing in all 82 games in 1971-72 and shooting a career-best .521 from the field. He moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers for 1972-73 and 1973-74, playing 143 games and averaging 6.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 49.4 percent.

In 1973 he represented Cleveland in ABC television's NBA one-on-one tournament, a made-for-television competition shown during the playoffs. He reached the final and lost to Portland's Geoff Petrie at Madison Square Garden on May 6, 1973 (a Blazers history account puts the score at 36-32). He joined Petrie in Portland in 1974 and closed his career with the Trail Blazers in 1974-75 and 1975-76.

Used mostly as a reserve and prized for his long-range jump shot, Clemens played 790 regular-season games and retired in 1976 with more than 5,300 points (sources give 5,312 or 5,316) and about 2,530 rebounds, averaging 6.7 points in 15.9 minutes per game.

After his playing career Clemens worked in finance. By 2009 he was a managing director with Wachovia Securities in the Cleveland area. He lived in a western suburb of Cleveland with his wife, Vivian, whom the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame described in 2009 as his wife of 42 years. The couple had three children: Justin, Jennifer and Matthew. Further details about his later life and surviving family had not been made public at the time of writing.

Clemens kept a low public profile after basketball, and no public statements of his political or religious views have been found in the sources reviewed for this page. His Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement speech in 2009 is available on video (see Videos).

Clemens is remembered as proof that a player from a small Division III college could build a lasting NBA career. He remains Ohio Wesleyan's most prolific men's basketball scorer and was for many years the Ohio Athletic Conference's career scoring leader.

In Cleveland he was part of the Cavaliers' earliest seasons, before the moments that now define the franchise. In Portland he is remembered by Blazers historians for his one-on-one final against Geoff Petrie and for his role as a veteran on the mid-1970s Blazers. After his death the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame, the Cavaliers and many fans paid tribute, with one former Ohio Wesleyan follower calling him "an unbelievable competitor but an even better guy" and "an Ohio Wesleyan legend".

• First-team All-Miami Valley League and first-team All-District, Xenia High School (1961)
• First-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference, four times (1962 to 1965)
• AP Little All-America
• Dick Gregory Award, Ohio Athletic Conference most valuable player (1965)
• Ohio Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame (inducted 1970)
• Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted May 30, 2009)
• Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame (inducted 2009)
• Xenia Athletic Hall of Fame, inaugural class (2011)
• Honoured at halftime by the Cleveland Cavaliers (December 6, 2019)

Clemens's best-known television moment was the 1973 NBA one-on-one tournament final, broadcast by ABC from Madison Square Garden on May 6, 1973, in which he faced Geoff Petrie. Footage of that game circulates online. His 2009 Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement speech was posted by the Hall of Fame. A 1975 photograph of him from The Oregonian, now in the public domain, is used on Wikipedia.

On October 27, 2026, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group announced that Barry Clemens had died. The team said it was "saddened to learn of the passing of former Cavalier, Barry Clemens" and that "our thoughts are with his family and friends." He was 83. The New York Post and other outlets reported his death on October 27 and 28, 2026.

The exact date and place of his death, the cause, and funeral or memorial arrangements had not been made public in the announcements reviewed for this page. The Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame said it mourned his loss, and tributes came from Cavaliers and Trail Blazers fans and from the Ohio basketball community.