Geoff Petrie - Early Life

Early Life

Geoff Petrie was born in Darby, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1948. He attended Springfield High School, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and played collegiate ball at Princeton University.

In Petrie's sophomore season at Princeton, the team was co-champion of the Ivy League with a 20-6 (12-3 Ivy) record. Despite the fact that Princeton had three of the five first-team All-Ivy team members, including Petrie plus second-team member John Hummer, they lost the one-game league playoff to the Jim McMillian-led 1968 Columbia Lions men's basketball team. That year the team rose to as high as 8th in the AP Poll. The following season, Petrie led the Ivy League in scoring (23.9 points/game in conference games), and the team accumulated a 19-7 (14-0) record, including an appearance in the 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to St. John's in the tournament, but Petrie was again on the first-team All-Ivy squad. As a senior, Petrie was second-team All-Ivy, but the Tigers placed third in the conference to the undefeated (in Ivy League games) Corky Calhoun-led Penn Quakers men's basketball team and McMillian's Lions. Although Princeton did not appear in the 1970 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, they hosted Penn's game. All three of his varsity years were spent under head coach Pete Carril. Petrie was co-captain of the 1969-70 team with classmate Hummer. Petrie was All-East both as a junior and a senior.

Petrie scored 1321 points in collge, third in school history at the end of his career in 1970 and still seventh after the 2009-10 season. His 541 in 1968-69 was fourth to each of Bill Bradley's single-season totals until Brian Taylor moved him down to sixth where he still stands. He continued to rank fourth in school history with a 18.3 points/game average through the 2009-10 season. His 1969-70 single season average of 22.3 is sixth behind only Bradley and Taylor and his 20.8 average the prior year stands eighth. His 530 career field goal stands fourth on the school list behind Bradley Kit Mueller and Craig Robinson. 216 field goals in 1968-69 ranks fifth behind Bradley and Taylor, while his 189 the following year ranks eighth. 17 made against Fordham, January 26, 1970 trails only Bradley's three best nights.

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