Carl Edwin McNulty (February 14, 1930 – January 14, 2020) 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. He played

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for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

, and later played for the

Milwaukee Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

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 ...

(NBA).

Early life

McNulty was born in

Logansport, Indiana Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,366 at the 2020 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana at the junction of the Wabash and Eel rivers, northwest of Kokomo. Hi ...

.Carl McNulty
basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2013.

College career

McNulty played at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

from 1949 to 1952. Despite standing at just , he played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

Boilermakers A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

. As a senior, he averaged 18 points per game for Purdue, setting school records for single-game and single-season scoring for the second consecutive season. During his college career he was a first team All-Big Ten selection and a two-time Purdue Most Valuable Player. At the time of his death he still held the Purdue record for rebounds in one game with 27, set on February 19, 1951.

Later life

McNulty was selected in the

1952 NBA draft The 1952 NBA draft was the sixth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 26, 1952, before the 1952–53 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basket ...

by the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

. He toured the United States as a member of the College All-Stars, playing a series of games vs. 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 ...

, then entered the U.S. military. After spending two years in the U.S. Navy to meet his military obligation, he returned to civilian life. He played for the

in one game in February

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 scored two points. He chose a career as a high school coach and educator. He spent 29 years as a coach; at Rochester, Elwood, LaPorte and Indianapolis' Warren Central; achieving a record of 413-277 (.599) and 21 winning seasons. In his 18 years (1967-1984) at

Kokomo High School Kokomo High School (merged with Haworth High School in 1984) is a four-year public high school in Kokomo, Indiana, USA. The school is the only high school in the Kokomo School Corporation. History The earliest Kokomo High School found in rec ...

, he had a record of 256-172 (.598) and won 13 Sectional titles. McNulty and his 1979-80 Kokomo High School team were at the center of a story in the April 14, 1980 issue of The New Yorker. Written by Herbert Warren Wind, the story was about Indiana basketball in general, and the Kokomo High School team was chosen as a good representative of the state's high school basketball culture. Wind profiled McNulty and followed the team's progress through that year's state tournament.

Death

McNulty died on January 14, 2020, in Kokomo, Indiana. He was 89 years old.

References

External links

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcnulty, Carl 1930 births 2020 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana High school basketball coaches in Indiana Military personnel from Indiana Milwaukee Hawks players Minneapolis Lakers draft picks People from Logansport, Indiana People from Porter County, Indiana Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Kokomo, Indiana