Charlie Scott (basketball)

Early life

Scott was born in New York City and grew up primarily in Harlem, New York. There, his father was a cab driver.

A 6 ft guard/forward, Scott attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City for one year before transferring to Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Scott transferred to Laurinburg which was famous at the time for preparing basketball players for college. Scott said, "It had a well-known basketball program. I knew my family wouldn't be able to afford college, so a scholarship was going to be my ticket." Scott was valedictorian of his high school senior class. He was also a legend at Rucker Park.

While in high school, Scott spent one summer at a basketball program at Davidson College with coach Lefty Driesell. Driesell recruited Scott who was accepted for early admission at Davidson. However, Scott also explored Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University at the suggestion of his coach at Laurinburg. He ultimately accepted the offer to play at UNC because he felt that, as a larger public university, it would be more open to a black player "breaking the color barrier".

College career

Scott played college basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where he was the first black scholarship athlete. Scott averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game at UNC, and a career-best 27.1 points per game in his senior season. He was a two-time All-American and a three-time all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection. Scott led UNC to their second and third consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances in 1968 and 1969.

Woody Durham, a long-time radio announcer for UNC basketball said, "He really was something. He was the first Carolina player that really would compare to today's player. His build, his speed, his ability—you could take him out of the late 1960s and drop him into today's game, and he wouldn't miss a beat."

In addition to breaking the color barrier in UNC basketball, he was also the first African-American to pledge a fraternity at UNC, accepting an offer to join St. Anthony Hall, in 1967. However, three weeks after pledging, Scott withdrew from the fraternity because of his demanding basketball schedule.

Scott was a gold medalist at the 1968 Summer Olympics playing for the 1968 United States men's Olympic basketball team. Scott was the fourth leading scorer on the team (8.0) coached by Henry Iba.

Professional career

Scott was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1970 but he had already signed a contract with the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association (ABA). Scott was named ABA Rookie of the Year after averaging 27.1 points per game. During his second season with the Squires, he set the ABA record for the highest scoring average in one season (34.6 points per game). However, he became dissatisfied with life in the ABA and joined the NBA's Phoenix Suns in 1972. The Suns traded Paul Silas to the Celtics after the season in order to keep him. At that point, he briefly went by the name Shaheed Abdul-Aleem.

Scott continued his stellar play in the NBA, representing the Suns in three straight NBA All-Star Games (1973, 1974, and 1975), then was traded to the Boston Celtics for Paul Westphal and two draft picks. With the Celtics in the 1975-76 NBA season, Scott won a championship ring against the Suns. Scott later played for the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. He retired in 1980 with 14,837 combined ABA/NBA career points.

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Personal life

Scott was childhood friends with actor Demond Wilson of Sanford & Son fame.

While attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Scott married Margaret Holmes. They had a daughter, Holly Scott Emanuel.

Scott and his current wife, Trudy, have three children—sons Shaun Scott and Shannon Dean Scott and daughter Simone Scott—and have lived primarily in Atlanta and Los Angeles. They currently live in Columbus, Ohio, where son Shannon used to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

After retiring from the NBA, Scott served as a marketing director for the sports apparel company Champion for several years, then as executive vice president of CTS, a telemarketing firm, before owning his own business.

ABA and NBA statistics

Regular season

|- | 84 || – || 37.9 || .463 || .246 || .746 || 5.2 || 5.6 || – || – || 27.1 |- | 73 || – || 41.9 ||.449 || .264 || .803 || 5.1 || 4.8 || – || – ||bgcolor="#E0CEF2"| 34.6 |- | 6 || – || 29.5 || .425 || – || .810 || 3.8 || 4.3 || – || – || 18.8 |- | 81 || – || 37.8 || .446 || – || .784 || 4.2 || 6.1 || – || – || 25.3 |- | 52 || – || 38.5 || .459 || – || .781 || 4.3 || 5.2 || 1.9 || 0.4 || 25.4 |- | 69 || – || 37.6 || .441 || – || .781 || 4.0 || 4.5 || 1.6 || 0.3 || 24.3 |- | 82 || – || 35.5 || .449 || – || .797 || 4.4 || 4.2 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 17.6 |- | 43 || – || 36.8 || .444 || – || .746 || 4.4 || 4.6 || 1.4 || 0.3 || 18.2 |- | 31 || – || 34.8 || .433 || – || .712 || 3.3 || 4.6 || 1.6 || 0.2 || 16.3 |- | 48 || – || 29.0 || .442 || – || .775 || 3.1 || 4.9 || 1.2 || 0.2 || 11.7 |- | 79 || – || 29.0 || .442 || – || .775 || 3.1 || 4.9 || 1.2 || 0.4 || 12.0 |- | 69 || – || 33.1 || .460 || .182 || .749 || 2.7 || 5.4 || 1.2 || 0.3 || 9.3 |- class="sortbottom" | 157 || – || 39.8 || .456 || .257 || .775 || 5.2 || 5.2 || || || bgcolor="#E0CEF2"|30.6 |- class="sortbottom" | 560 || – || 34.4 || .444 || || .772 || 3.6 || 4.8 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 17.9 |- class="sortbottom" | 717 || – || 35.6 || .448 || || .773 || 4.0 || 4.9 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 20.7

Playoffs

|- | 12 || – || 42.0 || .409 || .258 || .755 || 6.6 || 6.8 || – || – || 26.8 |- | 18 || – || 35.1 || .391 || – || .764 || 4.2 || 3.9 || 1.2 || 0.4 || 15.4 |- | 9 || – || 37.6 || .406 || – || .846 || 4.2 || 4.2 || 1.4 || 0.2 || 16.4 |- | 3 || – || 34.3 || .300 || – || .750 || 4.3 || 4.7 || 1.3 || 0.0 || 10.0 |- | 3 || – || 34.7 || .476 || – || .571 || 4.7 || 3.3 || 0.7 || 0.7 || 16.0 |- class="sortbottom" | 45 || – || 37.4 || .400 || .258 || .766 || 4.9 || 4.8 || 1.2 || 0.4 || 18.3

References

References

1. "Charlie Scott Stats".
2. (2005). "North Carolina Tar Heels: Where Have You Gone?". Sports Pub. L.L.C..
3. McClellan, Michael D.. (May 11, 2005). "Prodigal Sun - The Charlie Scott interview".
4. Lapchick, Richard. (February 28, 2008). "Scott and Smith gave new look to Tobacco Road".
5. (May 17, 2012). "Elite 24: Rucker Park legends".
6. (February 26, 1967). "Fraternity Pledges Negro at Carolina". The New York Times.
7. (February 19, 1967). "Scott Pledges in St. Anthony". The Daily Tarheel.
8. (February 15, 1968). "To the Editor". The Daily Tarheel.
9. (February 9, 2015). "SI writers past and present share personal memories of Dean Smith".
10. "Games of the XIXth Olympiad – 1968".
11. (July 1975). "Ebony". Johnson Publishing Company.
12. "Charlie Scott: Paving the Way for Future Generations".
13. (December 27, 2023). "Demond Wilson Interview".
14. Livingston, Bill. (January 16, 2012). "In watching his son with the Buckeyes, Charles Scott has much of which to be proud: Bill Livingston".
15. Henry. (February 5, 2014). "Ohio State Basketball: Is OSU Back on Track After Shannon Scott's Move to Bench?".
16. "The Sports Illustrated Vault".