Walt Bellamy - WikiHQ

Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He played 14 seasons as a center in the National Basketball Association, playing for four different teams. As a star for Indiana University in basketball, he was invited to join the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team. In the Games that year, the team won every game by an average of over 40 points and is considered among the best amateur level basketball teams of all time. Bellamy was the first overall pick of the 1961 draft, where he was selected by the expansion team Chicago Packers. In his rookie season, he averaged 31.6 points per game and 19 rebounds on his way to winning Rookie of the Year in what has been called one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.

After over four seasons with the team (which moved to Baltimore in 1963), he was traded to the New York Knicks in 1965. He played nearly four seasons before being traded to the Detroit Pistons, whereupon he played two seasons before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the close of the 1969-70 season. He played four seasons for the team before playing one game for the New Orleans Jazz to close his career. Bellamy reached the Conference Finals twice in his career but never played in the NBA Finals. A durable player who played over 70 games in thirteen consecutive seasons, he was an efficient scorer and rebounder who averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds for a career while being named an NBA All-Star four times in his career. Bellamy was the second player (after Wilt Chamberlain) to obtain 20,000 points and 14,000 rebounds for a career; only seven other players have achieved the mark since Bellamy. Bellamy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice: 1993 for his individual career and again in 2010 as a member of the 1960 Olympic team.

Early life

Bellamy was born on July 24, 1939, in New Bern, North Carolina. Money was tight and food sparse for his family. His father and grandfather were Masons, and his older brother was an early advocate against segregation. Bellamy attended West Street School and J.T. Barber High School where the 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 14-year-old learned basic basketball skills from coach Simon Coates. As a senior in 1956, he was on the football team that won a state championship, with Bellamy gaining All-State honors as a football player. In the same year, he had 47 points in a state playoff basketball game, averaged 31 points per game, and was All-State in basketball. He graduated in 1957. There is a street named for him in New Bern.

College career

Bellamy chose to play basketball at Indiana University. About the experience, he recalled: "In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana. Indiana at the time was the closest school to the South that would accept African-Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make. Not that I was naive to what was going on in Bloomington in terms of the times, but it didn't translate to the athletic department or the classroom. Every relationship was good".

Bellamy graduated from Indiana University holding the school record for most rebounds in a career with 1,087 in only 70 games, or 15.5 per game. He also averaged 20.6 points per game and had a 51.7 percent field goal percentage for his college career. As a senior, Bellamy averaged 17.8 rebounds per game, had 649 rebounds, and 59 double-doubles, all school records. Bellamy was named an All-American in both his junior and senior year (1960 and 1961). Bellamy was picked No. 1 in the 1961 NBA draft and named NBA Rookie of the Year, becoming the first player from Indiana University to do so. 10 of the 12 college players on the undefeated American squad went on to play professionally in the NBA, including fellow Big Ten player Terry Dischinger (a future Bellamy NBA teammate in Chicago and Baltimore), and fellow future Hall of Famers Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry Lucas. The team produced four consecutive NBA rookies of the year, and three members of the NBA's 50 greatest players list announced in 1996.

NBA career

thumb|left|150px|Bellamy (No. 8) averaged 31.6 points per game and 19.0 rebounds per game during his rookie season.

Chicago Packers/Zephyrs and Baltimore Bullets

Bellamy had a stellar 14-year career in the NBA, and was the NBA first overall draft pick in 1961, drafted by the Chicago Packers. Bellamy was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1962 after having arguably one of the three greatest rookie seasons in NBA history along with Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson. His 31.6 points per game average that season is second all-time for a rookie to Wilt Chamberlain's 37.6, and the 19 rebounds per game he averaged that season is the third-best all-time rookie mark (to Chamberlain's 27 and Bill Russell's 19.6).

Bellamy also led the NBA in field goal percentage in his rookie season (ahead of Chamberlain), and had a 23-point, 17-rebound performance in the 1962 NBA All-Star Game. From 1964-1966 he was the all-time leader in field goal percentage, but was passed by Chamberlain.

thumb|left|Members of the 1963–64 Baltimore Bullets, from left to rightː [[Rod Thorn, Charles Hardnett, Walt Bellamy, Gus Johnson, and Terry Dischinger. Thorn, Bellamy and Johnson were elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.]]

In the 1964–65 season, Bellamy scored 37 points and had 37 rebounds in a win against the St. Louis Hawks. His 37 rebounds was his career-high in rebounds. Bellamy played with the Chicago Packers (1961-1962), renamed the Chicago Zephyrs the next season (1962-1963), and then the Baltimore Bullets, for his first four seasons.

New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons

Bellamy was traded from the Bullets to the New York Knicks for Johnny Green, Johnny Egan, Jim Barnes and cash on November 1, 1965. He had been coveted by the Knicks since he entered the league.

Due to trades to teams with offset game schedules during the 1968–69 season when he was traded (with Howard Komives) from the Knicks to the Detroit Pistons for Dave DeBusschere, Bellamy set a still-standing record for NBA games played in a single season with 88,

Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Jazz

He later played for several seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. He was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz in the 1974 NBA expansion draft. Bellamy played in the first game of the franchise on October 17, 1974, playing fourteen minutes and scoring six points while recording five rebounds in the 89-74 loss to the New York Knicks. It was his final NBA game as he was waived shortly after the game ended.

When Bellamy retired, he was the sixth all-time leading scoring and third all-time in rebounding. From 1977-81 he was Senate sergeant-at-arms in Georgia's General assembly, was chair of the Fulton County Democratic Committee, and was a delegate to the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Democratic National Conventions.

Bellamy was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. His half-brother is professional boxer Ron Bellamy.

Death

Bellamy died on November 2, 2013, at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife of 53 years, Helen Hollie Ragland Bellamy, son Derrin Bellamy, and two grandsons. He was buried at Atlanta's South-View Cemetery.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

| style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;"|Chicago

| 79 || – || 42.3 || style="background:#cfecec;"|.519* || – || .644 || 19.0 || 2.7 || – || – || 31.6

| style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;"|Chicago

| style="background:#cfecec;"|80* || – || 41.3 || .527 || – || .674 || 16.4 || 2.9 || – || – || 27.9

| style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;"|Baltimore

| 80 || – || 42.4 || .513 || – || .651 || 17.0 || 1.6 || – || – || 27.0

| style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;"|Baltimore

| style="background:#cfecec;"|80* || – || 41.3 || .509 || – || .685 || 14.6 || 2.4 || – || – || 24.8

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|

| style="text-align:left;"|Baltimore

| style="background:#cfecec;"|8* || – || 33.5 || .452 || – || .597 || 12.8 || 2.3 || – || – || 19.0

| style="text-align:left;"|New York

| style="background:#cfecec;"|72* || 72 || 42.8 || .512 || – || .627 || 16.0 || 3.0 || – || – || 23.2

| style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;"|New York

| 79 || 78 || 38.1 || .521 || – || .636 || 13.5 || 2.6 || – || – || 19.0

| style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;"|New York

| 82 || 64 || 32.9 || .541 || – || .662 || 11.7 || 2.0 || – || – || 16.7

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|

| style="text-align:left;"|New York

| style="background:#E0CEF2; width:3em"|35 || 31 || 32.5 || .507 || – || .619 || 11.0 || 2.2 || – || – || 15.2

| style="text-align:left;"|Detroit

| style="background:#E0CEF2; width:3em"|53|| 31 || 38.2 || .512 || – || .663 || 13.5 || 1.9 || – || – || 18.8

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|

| style="text-align:left;"|Detroit

| 56 || – || 20.9 || .547 || – || .562 || 7.1 || 1.0 || – || – || 10.0