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Raymond Townsend

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Raymond Townsend
Personal information
Born (1955-12-20) December 20, 1955 (age 68)
San Jose, California
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High schoolCamden (San Jose, California)
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, California)
CollegeUCLA (1974–1978)
NBA draft1978: 1st round, 22nd overall pick
Selected by the Golden State Warriors
Playing career1978–1985
PositionPoint guard
Number11
Career history
1978–1980Golden State Warriors
1980–1981Alberta Dusters (CBA)
1981–1982Indiana Pacers
1984–1985Virtus Banco di Roma (Italy)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Raymond Anthony Townsend (born December 20, 1955) is a Filipino-American retired professional basketball player. He played three seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Golden State Warriors and the Indiana Pacers. Parks played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, earning all-conference honors in the Pacific-8 (known later as the Pac-12). He was selected by the Warriors in the first round of the 1978 NBA draft with the 22nd overall pick, and became the first Filipino-American to play in the NBA.

Life and career

Townsend was born in San Jose, California. He is half-Filipino; Townsend's mother, the former Virginia Marella, is a Filipina from Balayan, Batangas while his father, Ray Sr., is American.[1][2] His brother, Kurtis Townsend, is currently an assistant coach for the University of Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team which won the 2008 NCAA Championship.

A 6'3", 175-lb point guard, Townsend attended Camden High School and Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California before playing college basketball at UCLA. As a high school senior, he averaged close to 28 points a game for the Camden High Cougars. This was prior to the 3 point line being regulated years later. He was a member of the 1975 UCLA Basketball National Championship team, legendary coach John Wooden's 10th and final NCAA championship team. He earned first-team All-Pac-8 honors as a senior in 1978.

He was selected with the last pick in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. He concluded his NBA career in 1982 as a member of the Indiana Pacers. He was the first Filipino-American to play in the NBA.[3] He also played in Italy for Banco Roma during the 1984-85 season.[4]

A 1976 Sports Illustrated issue featured Townsend's father, Ray Sr., in its "Faces in the Crowd" section. He was recognized as "the oldest junior college basketball player in history." At age 39, he was the second man off the bench.[5]

Townsend, now a youth sports development coordinator in San Jose, California, was honored as UCLA Pilipino Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumnus of the Year on May 2, 2009.[3]

References

  1. ^ Henson, Joaquin (January 19, 2004). "Filipinos love this game". NBA.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. The Philippines, a hoops hotbed in the Far East, has yet to send a player to the NBA although a US-born half-Filipino, half-American guard Raymond Townsend saw action for the Golden State Warriors in 1978-79 and 1979-80 and the Indiana Pacers in 1981-82.
  2. ^ Ding, Kevin (September 3, 2010). "Lin is the NBA's Asian-American inspiration". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on November 18, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Raymond Townsend and Rex Walters followed more recently, their stories begun when born to Asian mothers but hard to read from their bi-racial faces.
  3. ^ a b Townsend honored as alum of year by the UCLA Pilipino Alumni Association
  4. ^ Ray Townsend
  5. ^ KUSports.com: Fathers’ examples still guide Kansas coaches
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