NC Sports Hall of Fame » Basketball

Lennie Rosenbluth

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:31 +0000

Watershed events often are recognized only in hindsight when the passage of time reveals that something really special happened way back when. Today sports fans know that “something really special” occurred in the spring of 1957 when the North Carolina Tar Heels capped a perfect 32-0 season by defeating the Kansas Jayhawks to win the NCAA basketball championship.
That magical season catapulted college basketball ahead of football as the No. 1 sport in the state in the minds of many North Carolinians. It raised the credibility of the Atlantic Coast Conference throughout the nation. It spawned an immediate avalanche of TV coverage of games throughout the conference. Before 1957 the ACC and Dixie Classic tournaments were the highlights of the season; afterward the NCAA Tournament took precedence.
Although others played important roles, the principal figure in this upheaval was a Jewish kid from New York named Leonard Robert “Lennie” Rosenbluth.
The 6-foot-5 forward, a consensus first-team All-American in 1957, scored 20 points in the triple overtime 54-53 championship game victory over the Wilt Chamberlain-led Jayhawks. He was the tournament’s overall top scorer, averaging 28 points per game.
Rosenbluth averaged 27.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during the regular season and the Helms Hall of Fame named him Collegiate Player of the Year over Chamberlain. In addition he was honored as the ACC Player of the Year and its Athlete of the Year. In fact, he was named to the All-ACC team in all three years of his college varsity playing eligibility, having averaged 25.5 points (and 11.7 rebounds) per game as a sophomore and 26.7 points per game as a junior.
In 2002, the ACC selected Rosenbluth to its 50th anniversary basketball team and named him one of the 50 greatest athletes in the history of the conference. He was selected to the All-Decade Final Four team for the 1950s. He is in the Helms College Basketball Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.
He holds a number of UNC records, including most points in a single season (895) and highest single season average (28.0) in a career that preceded the 3-point shot. Following his college career he had a brief stint with the professional Philadelphia Warriors after being drafted in the first round.
Rosenbluth then completed courses at UNC for a teaching degree. He taught and coached in Wilson before moving to Florida for 35 years where he coached high school basketball and taught American history.
When his wife, Pat, with whom he had a son and a daughter during a 53-year marriage, was stricken with cancer the Rosenbluths moved back to North Carolina so she could be treated at the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC Hospitals. She died in 2010. Rosenbluth remarried and now lives in Chapel Hill with his present wife, the former Dianne Stabler.

M.L. Carr

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:31 +0000

A native of Wallace who excelled as a multi-sport star at Wallace-Rose Hill High School, M.L. Carr was one of the greatest basketball players in Guilford College history, as evidenced by the No. 30 jersey that was retired in 2009 and hangs in Ragan-Brown Field House.
Carr was a freshman when the Quakers placed fourth in the 1970 NAIA Tournament. As a senior three years later, the 6-foot-6 All-American forward led coach Jack Jensen’s team to a 29-5 record that was capped by a victory over the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in the NAIA championship game. The 6-6 forward averaged 18.4 points and 12.5 rebounds per game and was named an NAIA First Team All-American.
After graduating from the Greensboro school with academic honors and a history degree, Carr was drafted by both the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA and the Kansas City Kings of the NBA. He chose neither, opting to play for the Israel Sabras in the European Pro Basketball League, where he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player for guiding his team to the championship.
In 1975, Carr joined the Spirits of St. Louis in the ABA and was named to the league’s All-Rookie team. When the ABA and NBA merged, he joined the NBA’s Detroit Pistons in 1976-79, where he was selected to the All-Defensive second team in the 1978-79 season after leading the league in steals.
A free agent, he signed with Boston and was a mainstay for the next six years with the Celtics, playing a key role on two championship teams (1981 and 1984). Carr perhaps is best remembered for the steal and dunk he made in the 1984 NBA finals to seal the victory for the Celtics against the Lakers.
Carr retired following the 1985 season and launched M.L. Enterprises, a sports marketing, motivational speaking and business consulting firm. He went on to become a spokesperson for such companies as Bank of Boston, New Balance Athletic Shoe, Putnam Investments, and Massachusetts Financial Services. In 1994, he returned to the Celtics’ organization as director of basketball operations and also served as the club’s head coach for the 1994-95 and 1996-97 seasons. Later in 1997, he was named the club’s director of corporate development. In all, he spent 21 years in various roles for one of sport’s landmark organizations.
Today, Carr is president of the Dream Company, LLC, a multi-faceted insurance marketing firm that provides affordable family protection, legacy giving and future planning protection. He also is extensively involved in community service and is the founder of the M.L. Carr Scholarship Fund at Guilford College and the John Henry Carr Alzheimer’s and Aging Foundation.
A member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame, Carr remains an active part of the Quakers’ community, having served on its board of trustees and as tri-chair of the school’s successful “Our Time in History” capital campaign that netted over $56 million.

Genia Beasley

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:28 +0000

Genia Beasley never intended to be a standard-bearer. She never contemplated being a legend. But both were bestowed upon her when she finished her basketball career at NC State in 1980.
Beasley, a 6-2 forward/center from Benson, N.C., established standards and records by which Wolfpack Women will be measured for many, many years to come. Twenty-seven years have passed and Beasley’s name is still at the top of points scored and rebounds grabbed in the NC State record book.
Beasley was the first NC State women’s basketball player to score 2,000 or more points, finishing with 2,367. Only one other player in Wolfpack history has scored more points — Rodney Monroe with 2,551. She produced career averages of 18.5 points and 9.7 rebounds in 128 games.
Her jersey No. 50 hangs retired in the rafters of Reynolds Coliseum.
Beasley was Coach Kay Yow’s (NCSHoF 1999) first prime-time recruiting catch from the state of North Carolina. The NC State program was just beginning its third year of existence when Beasley arrived.
During Beasley’s record-setting career (1977-80), the Wolpack women went 105-23 overall, 59-0 against in-state competition, and 46-4 in Reynolds Coliseum. NC State won the first-ever ACC Regular Season championship in 1978 and captured the school’s first-ever ACC Tournament title in 1980. During the Beasley era, State finished 10th, 3rd, 11th, and 10th, respectively in the season-ending Associated Press polls.
Here awards are too many to list here. She was a Kodak All-American in 1978 and was a North Carolina AIAW honoree as well as a NC-AIAW all-Tournament selection four straight years. Beasley earned all-ACC Tournament accolades in the three tourneys in which she participated and was MVP of the 1980 event. Beasley was twice a Region II Kodak All-American, and in 1978 she was selected the North Carolina AAU Female Amateur Athlete of the Year.
Not only did Beasley distinguish herself at NC State, she was also a force on United States international teams. In 1979, she was a member of the U.S. National Team that captured the gold medal at the World University Games in Mexico City. Beasley played on other gold medal winning U.S. Select teams that competed in the Junior Pan American and Senior Pan American Games.
“Genia Beasley is the closest thing to a legend in Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball,” said Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal in February of 1979.
Basketball analyst Billy Packer (NCSHoF 1996) once said, ‘Any guy in the ACC would love to have the shooting form of Genia Beasley.’
Beasley’s impact on women’s basketball at NC State was immense. She was a humble star that played with passion, efficiency and productivity. Her dominating presence in the early days of women’s basketball at State helped build a solid foundation, which still exists today.
Beasley secured a BS degree in zoology from NCSU in December of 1981. In the months preceding, she won a World League Championship, playing with the Nebraska Wranglers of the Women’s Pro Basketball League (WBL), the first pro women’s basketball league.
Coaching was Beasley’s next step. She was an assistant coach at Tennessee-Martin during the 1982-83 season, and then moved to the University of South Florida, where she spent five years (1983-88) as an assistant.
In 1988, Beasley’s pursuits went a totally new direction. From ‘88 through 1994, she went back to school, earning her doctorate from Nova Southeastern’s College of Optometry in Ft. Lauderdale.
Following graduation, Beasley spent a year in a Philadelphia eye clinic, specializing in pediatric vision therapy. She returned to Nova Southeastern as an assistant professor, teaching in the pediatric clinic as well as working in private practice.
On January 1, 1999, Beasley came back home to North Carolina, accepting a job in pediatric vision at a Charlotte eye clinic, where she remains today.
Where did Beasley learn to play the game of basketball? It may have been while she ran up and down the court in the barn-turned-gym Meadow Junior High School, or possibly under the leadership of Coach Tom Jackson at South Johnston High School, where, during her sophomore year, she led her team to a state championship. No matter where she learned (maybe it’s inborn), Genia Beasley will always be known as a pioneer of women’s basketball at her home courts in Benson, at NC State, and in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
by Carter Cheves
2007

Pete Brennan

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:28 +0000

         To appreciate the accomplishments of North Carolina’s Pete Brennan in Atlantic Coast Conference basketball, one needs only to look at the record books. The figures speak volumes about the handsome young man who followed his dream from the streets of New York to Chapel Hill and became an integral part of the Tar Heels’ storied NCAA championship team of 1957.
            The undefeated (32-0) Tar Heels of ‘57 always will be remembered as “Lennie Rosenbluth’s team,” but Rosenbluth himself would be the first to tell you that there would have been no national championship without the 14.7-point scoring average and 10.4 rebound average of Pete Brennan. “He was an unselfish teammate, a great player,” Rosenbluth said recently.
            Perhaps most impressive of Brennan’s record was the 21.3 scoring average and 11.7 rebound average that elevated him to ACC Player of the Year honors in 1958. His scoring average would have made him the ACC’s top scorer in 10 of the most recent 15 ACC seasons, and his rebound average would have led the conference in each of the past 10 years. He is one of the few ACC players who averaged a career “double double” – 16.4 points, 10.5 rebounds.
            He also will be long remembered as one of the major heroes of the successive triple-overtime victories over first Michigan State and then Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in the ’57 NCAA Final Four. Joe Quigg, who made the two game-winning free throws in the third OT of the title game, played with and against Brennan beginning in junior high school days in New York and characterizes Brennan as “fierce and intense.” This was best exemplified, he says, by Brennan as time wound down in the second overtime of their semifinals game against Michigan State.
            Brennan rebounded a missed Michigan State free throw with less than 10 seconds left, “dribbled coast-to-coast and made the basket that sent us into overtime again,” Quigg recalls. “Because of Pete’s hustle, we moved on…and completed that remarkable season.”
            An All-American whose jersey hangs among the greats in the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, Brennan averaged a city-leading 29 points as a schoolboy in New York City and was named to its City Catholic Hall of Fame in 1990. He led the UNC freshman team to a 25-1 record with a 25-point average, and he averaged13.3 points and 9.5 rebounds as a sophomore starter in 1956.
            Brennan also was an MVP in the prestigious Dixie Classic, All-ACC and was honored by the ACC media for scholarship and sportsmanship. Among UNC’s greats, he still ranks tied for 13th with Doug Moe in scoring average, and third only behind the legendary Billy Cunningham and Moe in career rebound average. He was a first round draft pick of the New York Knicks but left the pros two years later when he satisfied himself that he was not going to be a major success in the NBA.
            The son of immigrant parents and the first in his family to graduate from college, he returned to North Carolina and joined Burlington Industries for two years, then launched a highly successful career in the apparel business. He presently is enjoying a second career in real estate in the Southern Shores community near Kitty Hawk.
By Irwin Smallwood
Written March 28, 2007

Fred “Curly” Neal

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:28 +0000

One of the truly magical dribblers and shooters in basketball history, Fred “Curly” Neal embraced the imagination of fans all over the world, playing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries as a key member of the World Famous Harlem Globetrotters. Number 22 played for 22 seasons in the red, white and blue, from 1963 to 1985. In addition to being known as one of the greatest all-time dribblers, “Curly” was an incredible shooter.

“Curly” was part of one of the most extraordinary eras in the team’s history, appearing on several popular television programs and specials, including “ABC’s Wide World of Sports,” “The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine,” and “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.” He was also immortalized in animation on “The Harlem Globetrotters” cartoon series and on episodes of “Scooby Doo.”

Still sporting the trademark shaved head, wide smile and infectious laugh that made him a pop culture icon for decades, “Curly’s” number 22 Globetrotter jersey was retired by the team at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, during the team’s performance in New York on Feb. 15, 2008. “Curly” became just the fifth Globetrotter in the team’s illustrious 82-year history to have his jersey number retired, joining some of the biggest names in basketball lore: Wilt Chamberlain (13), Meadowlark Lemon (36), Marques Haynes (20) and Goose Tatum (50).

“Curly Neal represents the purity of sport and everything that is great about the Globetrotters and the game of basketball,” said Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. “He helped build this organization into a worldwide phenomenon, and he truly personifies wholesome family entertainment and elicits fond memories for millions of fans around the world.”

“Curly” is also one of only 27 people honored in the Harlem Globetrotters’ prestigious “Legends” ring, presented to those who have made a major contribution to the success and the development of the Globetrotters organization. A special advisory board selects honorees that have excelled off the court, in athletic ability, showmanship, humanitarian contributions, and crowd appeal. “Curly” was inducted into the Globetrotters’ “Legends” ring on June 25, 1993.

After an outstanding career at James B. Dudley High School in Greensboro, N.C., “Curly” moved on to Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., where he averaged over 23 points per game and led his team to the CIAA title his senior year. He lives in Greensboro with his wife, Rose, and continues to make appearances for the Globetrotters as an “Ambassador of Goodwill.”
2008

Darrell Floyd

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:21 +0000

The conventional reasons for Darrell Floyd’s selection for the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame are plentiful, but his qualifications go well beyond the norm, and there have been distinctions beyond his achievements on the basketball courts. The place to begin talking about Floyd is, of course, his basketball recognition. As a basketball player at Furman University Floyd was named first team All-America on the Associated Press teams in both his junior and senior seasons 1955 and ’56. Earlier while he was a student at then Wingate Junior College Floyd was selected for All-America honors and later to the Junior College Hall of Fame. Floyd’s other achievements included that at his 1956 Furman graduation he owned the second and third best seasonal scoring averages in NCAA history. Those averages were 35.9 his junior year and 33.8 his senior year. It’s probably worth mentioning that those figures were posted from a six foot one inch frame. And they were accomplished before the three-point field goal rule was adopted and when the common foul allowed only one point on free throws; the one-and-one rule then meant that if the shooter made the first try, there was no second free throw. A couple of other conclusions seem certain: At his height a great percentage of Floyd’s field goals came on outside shooting, and with his 78.3 per cent accuracy on free throws, his seasonal averages would have been appreciably higher under today’s bonus free throw rules, when making the first free throw is rewarded by an opportunity for another point. Some of Darrell’s performances came against the best competition Furman was able to schedule, including in his last two college seasons NYU, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, St. Joseph’s, Virginia Tech, LaSalle, George Washington, Clemson, South Carolina and other quality teams. The NBA, still in its youth, didn’t pay anything close to the millions it now is paying. That is one of the factors responsible for the nation’s two-time leading college scorer never having gone into the league. Floyd had to go into military service right out of college. When he got out of the Army in the spring of 1958 he got a good paying job selling heavy equipment, and he was married to the former Kay Harling. The Atlanta Hawks did not guarantee him more money than he was making, so he did not respond to their invitation to join them. He and Kay invested in some sandwich shops and in their own marketing business, and so we had the rarity of a two-time national college scoring champion never joining the NBA. In Greenville Darrell coached a highly successful girl church team and enjoyed a non-NBA life as an active citizen and Furman booster until his death March 8, 2000. Darrell and Kay parented three daughters—Diane Odom, Nancy Turner and Libby Floyd. Diane is a Furman alumna and now a business woman in Greenville (SC). She has a son, John. Nancy and Richard Turner are parents of daughter Meredith and son Luke. Nancy was an outstanding basketball and tennis player. Libby, like Nancy, is a University of South Carolina graduate. Libby is a national television host for Shop NBC in Minneapolis and is married to Tony Cane-Honeysett, an Emmy Award documentary filmmaker. By Dan FosterRetired sports editorGreenville SC NewsMarch 20, 2006

Bobby Jones

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:17 +0000

College and pro basketball star. Played at UNC, 1972–1974. Second-team all-ACC, 1973; first-team, 1974. Second-team AP all-American, 1974. Mobile 6-ft.-9-in. forward/center. Averaged 13.7 points and 8.9 rebounds in 92 college contests. Member of 1972 silver medal–winning U.S. Olympic team. Played 1975–1976 with Denver, leading ABA in field goal percentage. ABA all-rookie, 1975. Second-team all-ABA, 1976. Traded to Philadelphia, 1979, playing until retirement in 1986. Key player for 1983 NBA champs. Won Sixth Man Award, 1982–1983. Led NBA in field goal percentage, 1978. Only player to lead ABA and NBA in category. Considered best defensive forward in pro history. First-team all-defensive team, 1977–1984; second-team, 1985. Averaged 14.9 points per game in 167 ABA games, 11.5 points in 774 NBA games. ABA All-Star Game, 1976, NBA All-Star Game, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982. Averaged 11.6 points per game in 125 NBA play-off games. Coach at Charlotte Christian Academy. Born 1951, Charlotte.

Jeff Mullins

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:17 +0000

Player and coach. Duke star forward, 1962–1964. First-team all-ACC, 1962–1964. ACC Player of the Year, 1964. Second-team AP and UPI all-American, 1964. McKelvin Award as ACC’s outstanding athlete, 1964. MVP, 1963 and 1964 Eastern Regionals. Led Duke to 1963 and 1964 Final Fours. All-Final Four, 1964. Member of U.S. men’s gold-medal Olympic team, 1964. Scored 1,888 college points, averaging 21.9 per game. Fifth pick, 1964 NBA draft. Played with St. Louis Hawks, 1965–1966, and San Francisco/Golden State Warriors, 1967–1976. High-scoring, 6-ft.-4-in. guard averaged over 20 points per game four times. Played 1969, 1970, 1971 NBA All-Star Games. Helped Golden State to 1975 NBA title. Career total 13,017 points, 16.2 per game. Head coach, UNC-Charlotte, 1986–1996. Record 182-142. Three NCAA appearances. Sunbelt Conference Coach of the Year, 1988. Born 1942, Astoria, N.Y.

Sam Jones

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:17 +0000

Star for the Boston Celtics, 1957–1969. Attended Laurinburg Institute and North Carolina College, now North Carolina Central, around two-year stint in U.S. Army. Drafted in first round by Boston Celtics in 1957. Helped fabled Celtics win ten NBA titles in twelve-year career. Scored 15,380 points in NBA, averaging 17.6 points per game. Averaged 18.9 points in 154 play-off games. Best season was 1965, when he averaged 25.9 points per game, fourth in league. Scored 51 points in 1965 game against Detroit. All-NBA second team in 1965, 1966, 1967. Played in five all-star games. Coached at North Carolina A&T and Federal City College. Member of NBA Silver Anniversary Team, NAIA Hall of Fame, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Born 1933, Wilmington.

Billy Packer

ncshofadmin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:39:17 +0000

College star and television commentator. Guard at Wake Forest, 1960–1962. Helped Wake Forest to 1962 Final Four. First-team all-ACC, 1961. Second-team all-ACC, 1960. At 5 ft. 10 in., he scored 1,316 points at Wake Forest, averaging 14.8 points per game. Assistant coach at Wake Forest, 1965–1969. Began broadcasting ACC basketball games, 1972. Began covering national games, 1974. Spent 27 seasons as lead analyst for CBS Sports’ college basketball coverage and covered 34 consecutive Final Four’s. Regarded as expert and outspoken analyst. Named to 1987 Silver Anniversary All-America Team by National Association of Basketball Coaches. Retired from broadcasting after the 2007-08 basketball season.