Charlie Scott (basketball)
Charles Thomas Scott (born December 15, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player. He played two seasons in the now-defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) and eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Early life
Charlie Scott grew up primarily in Harlem, New York.[1] A 6'5" (1.96 m) guard/forward, Scott attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City for one year before transferring to Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, North Carolina.[2] He was valedictorian of his high school senior class.[3]
College career
Scott played college basketball at the University of North Carolina, 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.[1] He was a two-time All-American and a three-time all-ACC selection.[3] Scott led the Tar Heels to their second and third consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances in 1968 and 1969.[3]
He was the first 'African American' to join a fraternity at the University of North Carolina, St. Anthony Hall, in 1967.[4] Scott was a gold medalist at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Professional career
Scott was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1970 but he had already signed a contract with the Virginia Squires of the 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 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. At that point, he briefly went by the name Shaheed Abdul-Aleem.[5]
Scott continued his stellar play in the NBA, representing the Suns in three straight NBA All-Star Games (1973, 1974, and 1975), then went to the Celtics for the 1975-76 NBA season where he 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.
Personal life
While attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Charlie Scott married Margaret Holmes Scott and from that union they had one daughter Holly Scott Emanuel.
Scott and his current wife, Trudy, have three children—sons Shaun and Shannon and daughter Simone—and have lived primarily in Atlanta and Los Angeles.[1] They currently live in Columbus, Ohio, where son Shannon used to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes.[6][7]
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,[8] before owning his own business.[3]
References
- ^ a b c Fowler, S.; Durham, W. (2005). North Carolina Tar Heels: Where Have You Gone?. Sports Pub. L.L.C. p. 65. ISBN 9781582619422. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ McClellan, Michael D. (2005-05-11). "PRODIGAL SUN - The Charlie Scott interview". Retrieved 2007-11-02.
- ^ a b c d "Scott and Smith gave new look to Tobacco Road". sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ "FRATERNITY PLEDGES NEGRO AT CAROLINA". select.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. p. 95. ISSN 0012-9011. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ Scott Henry. "Ohio State Basketball: Is OSU Back on Track After Shannon Scott's Move to Bench? | Bleacher Report". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ "In watching his son with the Buckeyes, Charles Scott has much of which to be proud: Bill Livingston | cleveland.com". cleveland.com. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ "The Sports Illustrated Vault - SI.com". si.com. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
External links
- Career statistics from NBA.com and Basketball Reference
- Charles Scott @ UNC
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1948 births
- Living people
- ACC Athlete of the Year
- African-American basketball players
- American men's basketball players
- Basketball players at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Basketball players at the 1969 NCAA Men's Division I Final Four
- Basketball players from New York
- Boston Celtics draft picks
- Boston Celtics players
- Denver Nuggets players
- Los Angeles Lakers players
- National Basketball Association All-Stars
- North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players
- Olympic basketball players of the United States
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic medalists in basketball
- Phoenix Suns players
- Shooting guards
- Sportspeople from New York City
- Stuyvesant High School alumni
- United States men's national basketball team players
- Virginia Squires draft picks
- Virginia Squires players