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Game state source: whynba · Retrieved Oct 9, 5:36 pm EDTNBA legend. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.
Chuck Cooper
Career at a glance
Chuck Cooper played 6 NBA regular seasons between 1950 and 1956, appearing in 409 games and averaging 6.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He played for 4 teams: Boston (1950–54, 272 games), Milwaukee (1954–55, 70 games), St. Louis (1955–56, 35 games), Fort Wayne (1955–56, 32 games). His best scoring season was 1950–51 with Boston: 9.3 points per game over 66 games.
He rebounded best in 1950–51 at 8.5 per game. In the playoffs he appeared in 5 postseason runs (26 games, 5.3 points per game). Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 2,700 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total).
whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.
About Chuck Cooper
Charles Henry Cooper (September 29, 1926 – February 5, 1984) was an American professional basketball player. Cooper played college basketball for the Duquesne Dukes and was named a consensus second-team All-American in 1950. According to the November 18, 1950 issue of the Afro-American newspaper, he was the first Black "basketer" [sic] to be named an All-American college athlete. Cooper was the first African-American to be drafted by a National Basketball Association (NBA) team; he was chosen by the Boston Celtics with the first pick of the second round of the 1950 NBA Draft. Cooper and two others—Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton and Earl Lloyd—became the first African-American players in the NBA, in 1950. 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.
- Born
- September 29, 1926 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Listed height
- 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
- Listed weight
- 210 lb (95 kg)
- Position
- Small forward / shooting guard
- High school
- Westinghouse (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- College
- West Virginia State (1944–1945) Duquesne (1946–1950)
- NBA draft
- 1950: 2nd round, 13th overall pick
- Playing career
- 1950–1956
Career highlights and awards
- Consensus second-team All-American (1950)
- No. 15 retired by Duquesne Dukes
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950–51 | Boston | 66 | – | .344 | .753 | 8.5 | 2.6 | 9.3 |
| 1951–52 | Boston | 66 | 29.9 | .361 | .741 | 7.6 | 2.0 | 8.2 |
| 1952–53 | Boston | 70 | 28.5 | .337 | .758 | 6.3 | 1.6 | 6.5 |
| 1953–54 | Boston | 70 | 15.7 | .299 | .672 | 4.3 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
| 1954–55 | Milwaukee | 70 | 25.0 | .339 | .751 | 5.5 | 2.2 | 8.2 |
| 1955–56 | St. Louis | 35 | 16.4 | .337 | .738 | 3.9 | 1.7 | 5.1 |
| 1955–56 | Fort Wayne | 32 | 17.8 | .316 | .776 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 3.9 |
| Career | 409 | 23.2 | .339 | .743 | 5.9 | 1.8 | 6.7 |
| 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 |
Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).
Profile observation date unavailable.
- Height
- 6′ 5″
- Weight
- 210 lb
- Position
- Small forward / shooting guard
- Jersey
- Not listed
- Country
- USA
- School / last affiliation
- Not listed
- Draft year
- 1950
- Draft pick
- Round 2 · Pick 13
Height, Weight, Position, Country, Draft year, Draft pick: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.
Roster observations
These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.
No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.
Profile source
Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.
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