 Naulls from 1956 UCLA yearbook | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1934-10-07)October 7, 1934 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | November 22, 2018(2018-11-22) (aged 84) |
| Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Listed weight | 225 lb (102 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | San Pedro (San Pedro, California) |
| College | UCLA (1953–1956) |
| NBA draft | 1956: 2nd round, 9th overall pick |
| Drafted by | St. Louis Hawks |
| Playing career | 1956–1966 |
| Position | Small forward |
| Number | 33, 6, 71, 12 |
| Career history | |
| 1956 | St. Louis Hawks |
| 1956–1962 | New York Knicks |
| 1962–1963 | San Francisco Warriors |
| 1963–1966 | Boston Celtics |
| Career highlights | |
| |
| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 11,305 (15.8 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 6,508 (9.1 rpg) |
| Assists | 1,114 (1.6 apg) |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |
William Dean Naulls (October 7, 1934 – November 22, 2018) was an American professionalbasketball player for 10 years in theNational Basketball Association (NBA). He was a four-timeNBA All-Star with theNew York Knicks and won threeNBA championships with theBoston Celtics.
Naulls grew up in California, where he was named thestate's Mr. Basketball in high school. He playedcollege basketball with theUCLA Bruins, and earnedAll-American honors as a senior in 1956. Naulls was selected by theSt. Louis Hawks (known now as the Atlanta Hawks) with the ninth overall pick of the1956 NBA draft. He played briefly with St. Louis before being traded to New York, where he spent most of his career. With the Knicks, he became the firstAfrican American to be named acaptain of a professional team in a major American sport. After a brief stint with theSan Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors), Naulls finished his career withBoston Celtics. In December 1964, he was part of a Celtics unit that became the first all-blackstarting lineup in the NBA history.
Naulls was born inDallas, Texas, to Daily and Bettie (Artis) Naulls. DuringWorld War II, the family moved to Los Angeles when he was nine to escaperacial segregation.[1][2] His father worked atshipyards inSan Pedro, and his mother was adomestic worker. Naulls was a basketball star atSan Pedro High,[1] where he was namedCalifornia Mr. Basketball in 1952.[3]
Naulls attended theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he played for theBruins under futureBasketball Hall of Fame coachJohn Wooden.[1] In December 1954 during his junior year, UCLA won 47–40 overSan Francisco, who were led by Naulls' future Boston teammatesBill Russell andK. C. Jones.[1] Naulls outplayed Russell in the Dons' lone defeat of the season en route to their first of two consecutive national championships.[1][4]
As a senior in1955–56, Naulls set the Bruins single-gamerebounding record with 28 againstArizona State, and he finished the season with 582field goal attempts to set the school's single-season record.[2] UCLA won thePacific Coast Conference championship and advanced to theNCAA tournament that season,[2] while Naulls was named a consensus second-teamAll-American.[5]
In his three seasons at UCLA, Naulls averaged 15.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.[1][2] At the time his career ended, he was the Bruins' career leader in both points (1,225) and rebounds (900).[6] He was inducted into theUCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.[2]
Naulls was selected by theSt. Louis Hawks in the second round of the1956 NBA draft with the ninth overall pick.[2] He called it a "culture shock" to see the segregation that existed inSt. Louis, the likes of which he had not seen since he was eight before moving to Southern California.[1] He spent just 19 games with the Hawks before being traded to theNew York Knicks, with whom he would spend most of his career.[1]
Naulls averaged adouble-double (19.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game) during his seven-year tenure with the Knicks, and he appeared as anNBA All-Star four times.[7] The Knicks named him theircaptain in 1960, making him the firstAfrican-American athlete to hold the position for any pro team in a major American sport.[1][8][9] In1960–61, Naulls scored a single-season team record of 1,846 points, averaging 23.4 points per game.[1] The record was broken the following season by teammateRichie Guerin.[10] On March 2, 1962, Naulls scored 31 points and established another team record with his seventh straight game scoring 30 points or more.[8] In that same game,Philadelphia Warriors centerWilt Chamberlain notched hisNBA record 100-point game against the Knicks.[1][8] Naulls' 30+ streak stood until2010, when it was broken byAmar'e Stoudemire.[8]
During the1962–63 NBA season, the Knicks traded Naulls to theSan Francisco Warriors, with whom he played briefly before being traded to theBoston Celtics. Naulls spent his last three professional seasons with the Celtics, winning three consecutiveNBA championships in the process.[1] In December 1964 against St. Louis, he replaced an injuredTom Heinsohn to form NBA's first all-blackstarting lineup along with Russell atcenter,K. C. andSam Jones at theguards andSatch Sanders at forward.[1][11] That1964–65 Celtics team was named one of the 10 best teams in NBA history during the league's 50th anniversary.[12] The 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) Naulls finished his 10-year NBA career with averages of 15.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.[2]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| † | Won anNBA championship | * | Led the league |
| Year | Team(s) | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956–57 | St. Louis | 19 | 23.1 | .365 | .683 | 8.8 | 1.2 | 10.3 |
| 1956–57 | New York | 52 | 25.8 | .355 | .504 | 8.7 | 1.2 | 10.1 |
| 1957–58 | New York | 68 | 34.8 | .397 | .826 | 11.8 | 1.4 | 18.1 |
| 1958–59 | New York | 68 | 30.3 | .378 | .830 | 10.6 | 1.5 | 15.7 |
| 1959–60 | New York | 65 | 34.6 | .428 | .836 | 14.2 | 2.1 | 21.4 |
| 1960–61 | New York | 79* | 37.7 | .428 | .816 | 13.4 | 2.4 | 23.4 |
| 1961–62 | New York | 75 | 39.7 | .415 | .842 | 11.6 | 2.6 | 25.0 |
| 1962–63 | New York | 23 | 29.4 | .413 | .813 | 8.7 | 1.9 | 16.9 |
| 1962-63 | San Francisco | 47 | 26.1 | .420 | .793 | 6.7 | 1.2 | 11.0 |
| 1963–64† | Boston | 78 | 18.1 | .417 | .796 | 4.6 | 0.8 | 9.8 |
| 1964–65† | Boston | 71 | 20.5 | .384 | .813 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 10.5 |
| 1965–66† | Boston | 71 | 20.2 | .402 | .794 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 10.7 |
| Career | 716 | 28.8 | .406 | .812 | 9.1 | 1.6 | 15.8 | |
| All-Star | 4 | 19.3 | .340 | .750 | 6.5 | 0.5 | 10.0 | |
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | New York | 2 | 31.5 | .333 | .750 | 10.5 | 1.5 | 17.0 |
| 1964† | Boston | 10 | 16.7 | .389 | .739 | 4.6 | 0.8 | 9.1 |
| 1965† | Boston | 12 | 15.0 | .411 | .667 | 4.3 | 0.8 | 7.3 |
| 1966† | Boston | 11 | 6.8 | .257 | .810 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 3.2 |
| Career | 35 | 13.9 | .371 | .746 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 7.1 | |
Naulls died on November 22, 2018, inLaguna Niguel, California, from respiratory failure due toeosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis,[1] which he had been battling for eight years.[2]
· Basketball Reference