William George Uhl Sr. (born January 7, 1933) is a retired American

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. The center was a consensus second team All-American player at the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

in 1956. Uhl starred at

McClain High School McClain High School is a public high school in Greenfield, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools district. History The school was a gift to the community in 1912 from the inventor and local industrialist ...

Greenfield, Ohio Greenfield is a large village in Highland and Ross counties, Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,639. Since the population declined to under 5,000, the Census Bureau may still call it a city, but by Ohio's laws it is ...

, graduating in 1951. He accepted a scholarship offer to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, following in the footsteps of Greenfield's

Don Grate Donald Grate (August 27, 1923 – November 22, 2014) was an American former professional baseball and pro basketball player. He played both Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies (seven games pitched ...

. However, Uhl experienced adjustment issues and dropped out shortly after the beginning of the second semester. Uhl played three varsity seasons at Dayton, from 1953–56, and was the school's first seven-footer which earned him the nickname of the "Greenfield Goliath." For his career, Uhl averaged 18.5 points and 14.6 rebounds per game. He finished with 1,627 points for his career. The Flyers also had great team success during Uhl's tenure, going 75-15 over his three years, with three NIT appearances—including trips to the championship game in both

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

. The Flyers also achieved the highest national ranking in their history during the 1955–56 season, tanked #2 behind undefeated defending national champion

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Following the completion of his collegiate career, Uhl was drafted by the

Rochester 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 ...

in the

1956 NBA draft The 1956 NBA draft was the tenth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 30, 1956, before the 1956–57 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pla ...

. However, he opted to instead enter the insurance business, a career he continued until his retirement. Uhl's son, Bill Uhl, Jr., who also played basketball at Dayton, continues his father's insurance business. Uhl was inducted into the University of Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame in 1968 and was named to the school's All-Century team during the 2003–04 season. In 2013, he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Uhl married his wife, Cynthia, in 1957 and they reside in Washington Township near Dayton. The Uhls have five children and 11 grandchildren.

References

External links

Ohio basketball Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uhl, Bill 1933 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Ohio Centers (basketball) Dayton Flyers men's basketball players People from Greenfield, Ohio Rochester Royals draft picks