Robert J. McNeill (born October 22, 1938) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He played 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 St ...

(NBA) from 1960 to 1962. McNeill was born near 2nd & Allegheny in the Kensington section of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. As a senior at North Catholic High School, McNeill once scored 46 points in a game, which is an all-time school record. He was selected as a 1st team All-Catholic player in 1956. As the team's point guard, McNeill led the 1956 Falcons basketball team to a Philadelphia Catholic League Championship, scoring 14 points in a one-point victory over La Salle. He then led the Falcons to their first ever City Basketball Championship Title by beating

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

. In the city title game, McNeill scored 29 points in a 68–67 victory at the Palestra. McNeill then went on to play collegiately for the

St. Joseph's Hawks The Saint Joseph's Hawks are the athletic teams that represent Saint Joseph's University of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Hawks compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference ...

. He led the team to the NCAA tournament in 1959 and 1960. He was named first-team All-

Big 5 Big Five may refer to: Animals * the Big Five, large African wild animals said to be most difficult to hunt: lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and Cape buffalo * Big Five animals of the Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India: Indian rhinocero ...

in 1958, 1959 and 1960 while he also earned All-American honors as a senior. Upon graduating, McNeill held the St. Joseph's record for assists in a game, a season, and a career. He still owns school record for free throws made and attempted in a game. He was inducted into the St Joseph's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. He was drafted in the 3rd round by the New York Knicks in the

1960 NBA draft The 1960 NBA draft was the 14th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 11, 1960, before the 1960–61 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pl ...

. He played guard during the course of his NBA career and played for the New York Knicks, Philadelphia Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. He averaged 5 points and 3 assists per game in his NBA career. He played in 5 games for the Lakers in the

1962 NBA Finals The 1962 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1962 NBA Playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1961–62 season. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Division champion ...

loss to the Boston Celtics. In 1963 McNeill joined the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League (EPBL) and played alongside Paul Arizin for the Camden Bullets from 1962 until 1966. McNeill helped the Bullets win the 1964 Eastern League Championship where he averaged 20 points per game. He continued to play professional basketball with the Trenton Colonials of the Eastern Basketball League (EBL) in 1967 before finishing up with the Allentown Jets in 1969.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeill, Bob 1938 births Living people Allentown Jets players American men's basketball players Camden Bullets players Los Angeles Lakers players New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players Philadelphia Warriors players Point guards Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball players Basketball players from Philadelphia