The affable 6'9", 230-pound center starred for the University of Illinois (1951–1954) before he became a three-time All-Star and one-time league champion in the NBA (1954–66), primarily as a member of the Syracuse Nationals.
More consistent than spectacular, Kerr averaged in double figures in points and rebounds in seven consecutive seasons (1956–64), when he earned the reputation as one of the best big men in the league.
He was a frequent 16-inch softball player at Ogden Park with aspirations of a career in foundry, in which he became proficient as a Tilden Technical High School student.
In his postseason debut, the rookie dominated with 27 points and 14 rebounds in a 110–100 victory over the Boston Celtics that set the tone in the Eastern Division finals.
Even though future Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes cast a shadow over his Nationals teammates, Kerr was a three-time All-Star selection (1956, 1959, 1963) who was equally adept in the high and low post.
In addition to his workmanlike production as a rebounder, he was a skilled passer and master of the backdoor play, which he executed with guards Al Bianchi, Larry Costello and Hal Greer on a regular basis.
The mark stood until November, 1982, when San Diego Clippers guard Randy Smith surpassed it en route to a streak of 906 games.
[6] After Kerr was hired as head coach, one of his first acts was to convince owner Dick Klein to claim former Bullets teammate Jerry Sloan in the expansion draft.
[7] He also lobbied for the acquisitions of veteran floor leader Guy Rodgers in a trade that sent guards Jim King and Jeff Mullins to the San Francisco Warriors before the start of the season.
Nobody outside the organization gave the expansion club much of a chance, however, least of all St. Louis Hawks player-coach Richie Guerin, who on the eve of the regular-season opener said the Bulls would be fortunate to win 20 games in their debut season.
Yet Sloan and Rodgers proved to be instrumental in the immediate success of the so-called Baby Bulls, who quieted the naysayers with a 33–48 record that saw them finish fourth in the five-team Western Division that saw them qualify for a playoff spot, the first (and so far only time) that an expansion NBA team has done so in league history.
Two months later, Phoenix Suns general manager and longtime friend Jerry Colangelo signed Kerr be the first head coach for another expansion club.
After the Suns lost a coin flip that would have brought former UCLA superstar center Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to Phoenix at the first pick of the NBA draft, Kerr was left with a woefully inexperienced group that failed to duplicate the success of his expansion Bulls team in Chicago.
Kerr spent the 1970–71 and 1971-72 campaigns as Virginia Squires business manager in the rival ABA[8] before he returned to the Chicago Bulls in the front office.
At the ceremony, he also received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Jerry Colangelo.
[14] Kerr died of prostate cancer at 76 years of age on February 26, 2009, only hours after ex-Bulls guard-broadcaster Norm Van Lier suffered a fatal heart attack.