William Rodney "Bird" Averitt, 68, died Saturday, December 12, 2020 at his residence of natural causes.

A native of Hopkinsville, KY, William was born July 22, 1952, the son of the late Julian and Mary Helen Wall er Averitt.

William was a member of Mt. Olive Baptist Church. .

Averitt enjoyed the two greatest seasons in Pepperdine men's basketball history, as he averaged 28.9 points as a sophomore in 1971-72 and then led the NCAA in scoring with 33.9 points per game as a junior in 1972-73. He still holds West Coast Conference records for points in a game and scoring average for both a season and career.

The Hopkinsville, Kentucky native, 6-foot-1 left-hander headed west for college. During his first season of 1970-71 he was unable to play with the varsity due to the NCAA rule of freshmen being ineligible at the time. But his legend began when he scored 43 and 44 points in games against UCLA during freshman games.

Averitt then broke Pepperdine's season scoring record as a sophomore, and again as a junior. His single-game best of 57 points vs. Nevada in 1973 set a school record, one of 11 times he scored at least 40 points. Averitt scored in double-figures in all 49 of his games in a Pepperdine uniform. His career scoring average of 31.5 points per game is nearly 13 points more than the second-ranked Wave. He scored a remarkable 1,541 points in just two seasons, which was a school record that has since been broken.

He earned All-American honorable mention honors from both the Associated Press and UPI after his junior year, and was the 1973 WCC Player of the Year.

Pepperdine moved to Malibu from Los Angeles during his career. But because Firestone Fieldhouse had yet to be built, all of his records were set off campus, 20 miles away, at the Culver City Auditorium.

Averitt turned professional after his junior season, and though he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1973 NBA Draft, he instead signed with the San Antonio Spurs of the ABA. He moved on to the Kentucky Colonels, where he won the ABA championship in 1974-75 playing alongside the likes of Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel and being coached by Hubie Brown.

Averitt averaged double-figures in points in each of his three ABA seasons, including a career-best 17.9 with the Colonels in 1975-76. When Kentucky was disbanded as part of the ABA-NBA merger, he played two seasons in the NBA with the Buffalo Braves and the New Jersey Nets.

Averitt was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and into the WCC's Hall of Honor in 2017.

William is survived by two daughters-Temeshia Faulkner Jones, Hopkinsville, KY; Shayla Averitt, Louisville, KY. Three sisters-Valerie Tate, June West, Hopkinsville, KY; Kim Chastine, Clarksville, TN; brother-Raym ond Averitt, Lawrence, KS; six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. One grandson Emorie Brown preceded him in death.