American basketball player (1926?1984)
Chuck Cooper
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Chuck_Cooper.jpg/220px-Chuck_Cooper.jpg) |
|
Born
| (
1926-09-29
)
September 29, 1926
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, U.S.
|
---|
Died
| February 5, 1984
(1984-02-05)
(aged 57)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
|
---|
Listed height
| 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
|
---|
Listed weight
| 208 lb (94 kg)
|
---|
|
High school
| Westinghouse
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
|
---|
College
|
|
---|
NBA draft
| 1950
: 2nd round, 14th overall pick
|
---|
Selected by the
Boston Celtics
|
Playing career
| 1950?1956
|
---|
Position
| Small forward
/
shooting guard
|
---|
Number
| 11, 15, 6
|
---|
|
1950
?
1954
| Boston Celtics
|
---|
1954
?
1956
| Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks
|
---|
1956
| Fort Wayne Pistons
|
---|
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
|
Points
| 2,725 (6.7 ppg)
|
---|
Rebounds
| 2,431 (5.9 rpg)
|
---|
Assists
| 734 (1.8 apg)
|
---|
|
---|
Stats
at NBA.com
|
Stats
at Basketball-Reference.com
|
|
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
|
|
Charles Henry Cooper
(September 29, 1926 ? February 5, 1984) was an American professional
basketball
player.
Cooper played college basketball for
Duquesne University
and was named an All-American. He was the first African-American to play in a college basketball game south of the
Mason-Dixon line
. In 1950, Cooper and two others--
Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton
and
Earl Lloyd
--became the
first African-American
players in the
National Basketball Association
(NBA).
[1]
Cooper was also the first African-American to be
drafted
by an NBA team; he was chosen by the
Boston Celtics
with the first pick of the second round of the 1950 NBA Draft.
[1]
In a six-season NBA career, Cooper played for the Celtics, the
Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks
, and the
Fort Wayne Pistons
, averaging 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Cooper was inducted into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
on September 9, 2019.
[2]
Early life and college career
[
edit
]
Cooper was born in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, the son of Daniel and Emma Cooper.
[3]
Daniel was a mailman, and Emma was a school teacher.
[
citation needed
]
He attended Pittsburgh's
Westinghouse High School
and graduated in 1944.
[4]
For his senior year, he averaged more than 13 points per game and was an All-City first-team center.
[
citation needed
]
He then attended and played a semester of basketball for
West Virginia State College
(now University) before being drafted to serve in the
United States Navy
in the final stages of World War II.
[3]
Following his service, he enrolled at
Duquesne University
where he was an All-American, started all four years, and set the school record for total points with 990 in four seasons.
[
citation needed
]
During his time at Duquesne, the team had a 78?19 record and was invited to the then-prestigious
National Invitation Tournament
twice. He was a captain for the 1949?50 team, which was the first team from the university to be nationally ranked all season, finishing with a 23?6 record and ranked sixth nationally.
[5]
He was the first African American to participate in a college basketball game south of the
Mason?Dixon line
.
[6]
NBA career
[
edit
]
The 1953?54 Boston Celtics basketball team practicing the
pick and roll
. From left to rightː Bob Donham, Ed Mikan, Bill Sharman and Chuck Cooper.
Coming out of college in 1950, Cooper signed with the
Harlem Globetrotters
. On April 25, 1950, he became the first African American drafted into the NBA when the Boston Celtics chose him with the 14th overall pick.
[7]
Cooper was drafted by Celtics' owner
Walter A. Brown
, coached by the legendary
Red Auerbach
and a teammate of the great Bob Cousy. When officials from other teams learned of Boston's interest in Cooper, they suggested he should not be drafted because he was black; however, Brown's famous quote was: "I don't give a damn if he's striped, plaid or polka dot. Boston takes Charles Cooper of Duquesne." Cooper made his NBA debut on November 1, 1950, against the Fort Wayne Pistons.
[4]
Cooper played four years with the Celtics,
[3]
then was traded to the
Milwaukee Hawks
before ending his career as a member of the
Ft. Wayne Pistons
. After that, he spent a year playing for the
Harlem Magicians
,
[
citation needed
]
before injuring his back in a car crash and leaving basketball. During his NBA career, Cooper played a total of 409 games, scored 2,725 points for an average of 6.66 points per game, had 2,431 rebounds for an average of 5.9 per game, and had 733 assists for an average of 1.79 per game. As some statistics were not kept during that time, it is not known how many blocked shots, steals, or turnovers he had during his career.
After the NBA
[
edit
]
After his NBA career, Cooper graduated with a
Master of Social Work
from the
University of Minnesota
in 1960. He was married twice; first in 1951, and then in 1957 to Irva Lee (with whom he had four children).
[
citation needed
]
He worked to improve his hometown of Pittsburgh, serving on the Pittsburgh school board, and was appointed the director of parks and recreation for the city, becoming the first Black department head. He also helped the
Pittsburgh National Bank
's affirmative action program as an urban affairs officer
[8]
until he died in Pittsburgh at the age of 57 on February 5, 1984,
[3]
of liver cancer at Forbes Hospice.
[6]
NBA career statistics
[
edit
]
Regular season
[
edit
]
Playoffs
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
GP
|
MPG
|
FG%
|
FT%
|
RPG
|
APG
|
PPG
|
1951
|
Boston
|
2
|
?
|
.339
|
.400
|
6.5
|
1.5
|
5.0
|
1952
|
Boston
|
3
|
42.7
|
.320
|
.895
|
5.3
|
1.3
|
11.0
|
1953
|
Boston
|
6
|
32.5
|
.396
|
.815
|
6.5
|
2.3
|
10.0
|
1954
|
Boston
|
6
|
18.0
|
.500
|
.727
|
5.2
|
0.7
|
4.0
|
1956
|
Fort Wayne
|
9
|
6.6
|
.192
|
.667
|
1.9
|
0.2
|
1.3
|
Career
|
26
|
20.4
|
.346
|
.785
|
4.5
|
1.0
|
5.3
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"1950?51 Season Overview"
.
NBA's Color Line is Broken
. NBA.com. Archived from
the original
on March 20, 2015
. Retrieved
March 9,
2013
.
- ^
"Divac, Sikma, Moncrief headline Hall of Fame Class of 2019"
. National Basketball Association. April 6, 2019.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Chuck Cooper, one of the NBA's first black players"
. African American Registry. Archived from
the original
on May 18, 2015
. Retrieved
May 12,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Dave Howell,
"Six Who Paved the Way"
, NBA.com.
- ^
"Duquesne University Official Athletic Site"
. Archived from
the original
on May 18, 2015.
- ^
a
b
"Chuck Cooper dead at 57; Duquesne basketball great"
,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, February 6, 1984.
- ^
"1950 NBA Draft".
- ^
"Chuck Cooper, NBA player"
.
New York Times
. February 7, 1984
. Retrieved
May 12,
2015
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Players
| |
---|
Coaches
| |
---|
Contributors
| |
---|
Teams
| |
---|