Joe Wolf, a retired NBA veteran who remains one of the best players the state of Wisconsin has ever produced, has died, the Milwaukee Bucks announced Thursday. He was 59 years old.
Wolf’s cause of death was not announced, but Mark Miller of Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook reports he suffered an apparent heart attack.
Wolf’s basketball career both started and ended in Wisconsin. Its early days saw him become a star in Kohler, where he won state titles in 1980, 1982 and 1983. He became the first McDonald’s All-American from the state of Wisconsin and remains one of only eight in the state’s history.
In 2005, a poll by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel voted Wolf the greatest high school basketball player in the history of Wisconsin.
Wolf chose to spend his college career playing for Dean Smith at North Carolina, where he was teammates with Michael Jordan his freshman year. He developed into a first-team All-ACC player in 1987 and was selected 13th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1987 NBA Draft.
Wolf never became a consistent NBA starter, but he stuck around in the league for 13 seasons while playing for seven different teams. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.3 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game in his career, which spanned 592 games.
After retiring as a player, Wolf spent the rest of his life as a coach. He was on the Bucks’ staff from 2008 to 2013 and served as head coach for three different developmental teams. From the Bucks:
“Throughout his life, Joe touched many lives and was a highly respected, adored and dedicated coach and player across the NBA. His well-regarded talent was instrumental for the Bucks and Herd over eight years with the organization, including as a player and coach.”
At the time of his death, Wolf was working as an assistant coach for the Bucks-affiliated Wisconsin Herd.