Robert Joseph Mullens (November 1, 1922 – July 22, 1989) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. An All-American at Fordham University, Mullens played one full season in the Basketball Association of America (which merged with the National Basketball League in 1949 to create 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 ...

), splitting the 1946–47 season between the New York Knicks and the

Toronto Huskies The Toronto Huskies were a team in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which was a forerunner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), during the 1946–47 season. They were based in Toronto. The team compiled a 22–38 win–loss r ...

. Mullens played high school basketball at Brooklyn Prep, where he was a prodigious scorer, setting the New York City Catholic League scoring mark. Upon graduation, Mullens chose hometown Fordham. At Fordham, Mullens led the Rams to the 1943 National Invitation Tournament semifinals and at the close of the season was named an All-American by Sporting News magazine and the Helms Athletic Foundation. Mullens later was a player in the inaugural season of the BAA. He started the season with the New York Knicks, averaging 2.9 points in 26 games. He was traded to the Toronto Huskies for fellow Fordham alumnus

Bob Fitzgerald Robert James Fitzgerald (born 1966) is an American sports broadcaster who is currently the TV play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Golden State Warriors on NBC Sports Bay Area and was a co-host of the radio talk show ''Fitz and Brooks'' on KNB ...

on January 21, 1947."Bob Mullens Stats"
Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 21, 2017. With the Huskies, he averaged 8.5 points per game in 28 contests. Following the close of his professional basketball career, Mullens became a bond specialist in New York City. He died on July 22, 1989 in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and ...

BAA career statistics

Regular season

References

1922 births 1989 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York City Brooklyn Preparatory School alumni Fordham Rams men's basketball players Guards (basketball) New York Knicks players Sportspeople from Brooklyn Toronto Huskies players {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub