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 Forrest "Phog"
Allen learned how to play basketball
under the game's inventor, Dr. James Naismith,
while a player at the University of Kansas. He
then became a coach at KU, where he compiled a
590-212 win-loss record, 24 conference titles, 3
Final Four appearances, and the 1952 NCAA
Championship. He was also the driving force
behind basketball becoming an official Olympic
sport in 1936, and was one of the coaches of the
gold medal-winning 1952 U.S. Olympic Basketball
Team. |
 Charles Wade Barkley
was a member of the U.S. gold medal-winning
basketball teams at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
In 1996 he became only the fourth player in NBA
history to total at least 20,000 points, 10,000
rebounds and 3,500 assists. By the time his
professional career ended in 2000 he had scored a
total of 23,757 points. |
 Larry Joe Bird
was the first player ever to shoot at least .500
(.525) from the floor and .900 (.910) from the
free-throw line in the same season, which he did
during the 1986-87 season. The following season
he shot .527 from the floor and .916 from the
line. In 1987-88 he became the first Celtic ever
to record a 40-20 game, with a 42-point,
20-rebound effort against Indiana. He was a
member of 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream
Team." |
 Wilton Norman
Chamberlain was a star player in
both high school and college. His college numbers
were so good, in fact, that the NCAA even changed
its rules in an effort to prevent future players
from so dominating the game. As a professional
player, he was the first (and to date only)
player to score 100 points in a single game (in
1962). His record total of 31,419 career points
has only been surpassed by three other players. |
 James Naismith
invented basketball in 1891 as a game "that
would be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to
play in the winter and by artificial light."
By 1892 it was being played in college gymnasiums
across the United States. |
 Dean Edwards Smith
was the head basketball coach at the University
of North Carolina from 1961 to 1997. During his
tenure he took the Tarheels to a
record 32 consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearances, including 13 consecutive Sweet
Sixteens, and had amassed a total of 879 wins,
making him second only to Bobby Knight on the
list of all-time wins. |
 Lynette Woodard
scored a total of 3,649 points over a four-year
college career to set a record as the top-scoring
woman basketball player in the history of the
NCAA. In 1984 she helped the U.S. Women's
Basketball Team win a gold medal. In 1985 she
became the first woman ever to play with the
world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. |
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