Ronnie Lester (born January 1, 1959) is a retired American basketball player and basketball executive. Lester was an NCAA All-American at the University of Iowa, leading Iowa to the 1980 NCAA Final Four. Lester was a member of the 1979 USA Basketball team that won the gold medal in the 1979 Pan-American Games. Lester was the No. 10 overall selection in the first round of the 1980 NBA draft. After an injury-filled career, which included winning an NBA title with the 1985 Los Angeles Lakers, Lester worked as a scout for the Lakers, and eventually became the team's assistant general manager. After 24 years in the Lakers organization, with seven NBA titles, Lester served as a scout for the Phoenix Suns from 2011 to 2015.
Early life
Born in Canton, Mississippi, Lester grew up in a public housing project in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up in the Stateway Gardens housing project near Comiskey Park in Chicago, Lester was raised by his single mother Nadine, along with his with three sisters. Lester attended Dunbar Vocational High School, graduating in 1976.
High school career
Lester started on the varsity team at Dunbar High School of the Chicago Public League as a 5'6" sophomore. In between his sophomore and junior year, Lester grew to 6'2". He averaged ten points and ten assists per game in his junior campaign.
As a senior, Lester averaged 27.0 points per game, playing alongside teammate Ken Dancy, who was a future 1980 NBA draft pick. Lester led the Dunbar Mighty Men to the Chicago Public League Championship playoffs, where they lost 75–60 to Morgan Park High School, with University of Illinois recruit Levi Cobb.
At the beginning of his senior in high school, colleges had shown little interest, until University of Iowa coach Lute Olson and others began seeing his talents during his senior season. Olson was the first to recognize Lester's abilities and began recruiting him.
"As a junior in high school, we had two 20-point scorers. I may have averaged 10 points that season because I needed to get them the ball," Lester said. "The next season those guys had left and I was scoring close to 25 points a game. Iowa was the first school to show a big interest in recruiting me," said Lester.
Lester ultimately chose Iowa after being recruited by Arizona, Creighton, Louisville, Nebraska and Texas-El Paso. Said Lester of Olson and Iowa: "They stuck by me and made me feel I was their number one option."
Every Friday after practice in Iowa City, Olson, accompanied sometimes by his wife Bobbi, would drive to Chicago to visit Lester. "He lived in an area that probably not a lot of people wanted to go into and visit with him and his mom," Olson said in 2015, recalling his recruiting of Lester.
"My recruiting visit felt good (at Iowa)," Lester recalled. "I met all the players that I would be playing with and those guys were really warm and welcoming to me. I knew I had a chance to play as a freshman. I didn't want to go somewhere where I sat and couldn't play the first year."
Lester made a recruiting visit to the University of Arizona "It was after the visit here and he had already made up his mind that (Iowa) is where he wanted to go to school," Olson recalled. "His mom said Ronnie called from Tucson and said 'I don't want to go here, they have funny looking trees.' He was talking about the Saguaro Cactus. I'm glad he didn't like funny-looking trees."
Collegiate and USA Basketball career (1976-1980) After Basketball Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson recruited him to Iowa, Lester made his presence felt immediately after arriving on campus in Iowa City, Iowa. He started as a freshman and played a key role in Iowa's successes over his four seasons. At Iowa, Lester would earn All-American honors in 1979, First Team All-Big Ten honors in 1978 and 1979, lead the Iowa Hawkeyes to a share of the 1979 Big Ten title and to the Final Four of the 1980 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Starting for Iowa as a freshman, Lester made an immediate impact, averaging 13.4 points, 3.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 1976–1977. Iowa finished 18–9, as Lester was second on the team in scoring, behind Bruce "Sky" King's 21.0 points, and he led the Hawkeyes in assists.
As a sophomore in 1977–1978 Lester averaged 19.9 points, 6.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds, as Iowa finished 12–15 with a young team. Lester joined Magic Johnson, Michigan State; Walter Jordan, Purdue; Mike McGee, Michigan; Kelvin Ransey, Ohio State and Mychal Thompson, Minnesota on the All–Big Ten First Team.
