From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Chuck Cooper (basketball)

American basketball player (1926–1984)

Summary

American basketball player (1926–1984)

Field	Value
name	Chuck Cooper
image	Chuck Cooper.jpg
height_ft	6
height_in	5
weight_lb	208
birth_date
birth_place	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
high_school	Westinghouse (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
draft_year	1950
draft_round	2
draft_pick	13
draft_team	Boston Celtics
career_start	1950
career_end	1956
career_number	11, 15, 6
career_position	Small forward / shooting guard
years1	–
team1	Boston Celtics
years2	–
team2	Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks
years3
team3	Fort Wayne Pistons
stat1label	Points
stat1value	2,725 (6.7 ppg)
stat2label	Rebounds
stat2value	2,431 (5.9 rpg)
stat3label	Assists
stat3value	734 (1.8 apg)
bbr	coopech01
HOF_player	charles-chuck-cooper

West Virginia State (1944–1945)
Duquesne (1946–1950)
Consensus second-team All-American (1950)
No. 15 retired by Duquesne Dukes 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.

Early life and college career

Cooper was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Daniel and Emma Cooper. Daniel was a mailman, and Emma was a school teacher. He attended Pittsburgh's Westinghouse High School and graduated in 1944. For his senior year, he averaged more than 13 points per game and was an All-City first-team center. He then attended and played a semester of basketball for West Virginia State College (University since 2004) before being drafted to serve in the United States Navy in the final stages of World War II.

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. 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.

NBA career

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.<ref>[https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1950.html "1950 NBA Draft".]</ref> 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.<ref name="nba.com">Dave Howell, [http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/bhm_sixwhopavedtheway.html "Six Who Paved the Way"], NBA.com.</ref>

Cooper played four years with the Celtics, 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, 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

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). 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 until he died in Pittsburgh at the age of 57 on February 5, 1984, of liver cancer at Forbes Hospice.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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

Playoffs

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

References

"1950–51 Season Overview". NBA.com.
(April 6, 2019). "Divac, Sikma, Moncrief headline Hall of Fame Class of 2019". National Basketball Association.
"Chuck Cooper, one of the NBA's first black players". African American Registry.
"Duquesne University Official Athletic Site".
[https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1950.html "1950 NBA Draft".]
Dave Howell, [http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/bhm_sixwhopavedtheway.html "Six Who Paved the Way"], NBA.com.
(February 7, 1984). "Chuck Cooper, NBA player". New York Times.
[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W-gNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=1406%2C1120355 "Chuck Cooper dead at 57; Duquesne basketball great"], ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]'', February 6, 1984.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1926-births 1984-deaths all-american-college-men's-basketball-players american-men's-basketball-players basketball-players-from-pittsburgh boston-celtics-draft-picks boston-celtics-players burials-at-homewood-cemetery duquesne-dukes-men's-basketball-players fort-wayne-pistons-players harlem-globetrotters-players milwaukee-hawks-players naismith-memorial-basketball-hall-of-fame-inductees shooting-guards small-forwards st.-louis-hawks-players west-virginia-state-yellow-jackets-men's-basketball-players united-states-navy-personnel-of-world-war-ii 20th-century-african-american-sportsmen 20th-century-american-sportsmen university-of-minnesota-alumni deaths-from-liver-cancer-in-pennsylvania

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Chuck Cooper (basketball) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report