Albert Amos Tucker Jr. (February 24, 1943 – May 7, 2001) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. Born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, Tucker is sometimes credited with inventing the alley-oop with his brother Gerald while at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma.

College Records

With his brother Gerald, Al was recruited from Dayton to Oklahoma Baptist University, where he played 3 seasons. Although he played before the introduction of the 3-point shot, he set a number of records, some of which remain 50 years later. He had 27 rebounds in one game, 2,788 career points, 996 points in a season, 50 points in a game, a 31.1-point season scoring average, a 28.7-point career scoring average, 21 field goals in a game, 365 field goals in one season, 266 free throws in one season, 1,252 rebounds in a career, 467 rebounds in a season.

Professional career

A 6'8"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, Tucker played four seasons (1967–1971) in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

and one season (1971–1972) in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics,

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, Chicago Bulls, Baltimore Bullets, and The Floridians. He averaged 10.1

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

in his career and earned NBA All-Rookie Honors at the end of the

1967–68 NBA season The 1967–68 NBA season was the 22nd season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 2 in the 1968 NBA Finals, NBA Finals. Notable oc ...

. Tucker is notable as the Seattle SuperSonics' first ever NBA draft pick, selected sixth overall in the

1967 NBA draft The 1967 NBA draft was the 21st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 3 and 4, 1967 before the 1967–68 season. In this draft, 12 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball play ...

. Tucker was also selected in the 1967 ABA Draft by the

Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: * Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey t ...

Other

Tucker's father played for the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

in 1940.

References

External links

Career statistics

Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Al 1943 births 2001 deaths American men's basketball players Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) players Basketball players from Dayton, Ohio Chicago Bulls players Cincinnati Royals players Miami Floridians players Oakland Oaks draft picks Oklahoma Baptist Bison basketball players Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Shooting guards United States men's national basketball team players 1967 FIBA World Championship players

College Records

Professional career

Other

See also

References

External links