Clifton McNeely (June 22, 1919 – December 26, 2003) was an 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 and coach.Clifton McNeely Obituary
dallasnews.com. December 29, 2003. Retrieved on April 14, 2018. A

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 ...

, he played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Texas Wesleyan Rams Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is t ...

for three seasons and led the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA) in scoring during his senior season in 1946–47. McNeely was the first player ever drafted 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) when he was selected by the Pittsburgh Ironmen as the first pick of the league's inaugural 1947 draft. He never played professional basketball and instead pursued a coaching career at Pampa High School in Texas.

Early life

Clifton McNeely was born in Greenwood, Texas, to Albert McNeely and Fannie Lee Clifton. He attended Greenwood High School for three years before transferring to Slidell High School in

Slidell, Texas Slidell is an unincorporated community in Wise County, Texas, United States. Slidell was named for John Slidell, a 19th-century U.S. Senator and C.S.A. diplomat.Handbook of Texas Online, B. Jane England, "Slidell, TX," accessed April 14, 2017, htt ...

for his senior year. McNeely graduated in 1937.

College and military career

McNeely first attended Decatur Baptist Junior College, where he set high-scoring records on the school's basketball team. He transferred to

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is th ...

in 1940, but his "shot-crazy" style created doubt as to how well he could fit on the team. During his first season at Texas Wesleyan in 1940–41, McNeely established himself as one of the most talented players on the team and was named team captain for the 1941–42 season. He helped guide Texas Wesleyan to an undefeated record during the 1941–42 regular season, with the team's only two defeats coming in the postseason against

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

in the Southwestern AAU Tournament and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

in the Kansas City National Intercollegiate Basketball Tournament. In December 1942, McNeely left the team after volunteering to serve with the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During his service, he played basketball with the Fort Worth Army Air Field team from 1943 to 1944, and then with the Randolph Field team in 1945. He was discharged on December 31, 1945. During 1946, McNeely played with the Globe Aircraft team. McNeely received professional basketball contract offers following his discharge, including a "dollar, two eighty a game" deal with the Leonards "B" team, but elected to return to Texas Wesleyan for the 1946–47 season. He was named team co-captain alongside Hardy Fortenberry. Before the season's start, Texas Wesleyan coach Johnny Edwards stated that McNeely had a good future in professional basketball and could play professionally after he graduated. By the start of 1947, McNeely, nicknamed "The Man of a Million Shots", was leading the nation in scoring by a margin of 116 points. He missed three games in January 1947 after suffering a fractured wrist. McNeely led his team to a school-best 30–4 record, won the conference championship and earned third-team All-American honors after leading the NAIA in scoring with 725 points. He was named to the All- NAIA first-team alongside teammate E. F. Parham. McNeely held the Texas Wesleyan single season scoring record for 62 years until Chris Berry had 740 points in the 2008–09 season. Regarded as a "deadly" free throw shooter, he also held the Texas Wesleyan record for most free throws made with 213 until that too was surpassed by Berry in the 2008–09 season with 216. McNeely studied Administrative Education at Texas Wesleyan, and completed his master's degree after returning to the university in 1953.

BAA draft

McNeely was selected with the first pick of the inaugural

1947 BAA draft The 1947 BAA draft was the 1st draft of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA). The fledgling BAA held a joint draft with the established National Basketball League (NBL). Both le ...

by the Pittsburgh Ironmen, becoming the first player ever drafted in the

. The Ironmen had earned the first pick in the draft after attaining a 14–45 record in the first season of the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

. However, McNeely was not interested in signing with the team, and ultimately never played a game of professional basketball. McNeely and Gene Melchiorre of the

1951 NBA draft The 1951 NBA draft was the fifth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 25, 1951, before the 1951–52 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basket ...

are the only two number-one draft picks in NBA history to never play basketball professionally. The Pittsburgh Ironmen ultimately folded before the start of the 1947–48 season.

Coaching career

After working for

Phillips 66 The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Westchase, Houston, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Compan ...

Bartlesville, Oklahoma Bartlesville is a city mostly in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 37,290 at the 2020 census. Bartlesville is north of Tulsa and south of the Kansas border. It is the county seat of Washington County. The Can ...

for four months in 1947, McNeely returned to Texas and became the head basketball coach at Pampa High School in

Pampa, Texas Pampa (from the Quechua: ''pampa'', meaning "plain") is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,867 as of the 2020 census. Pampa is the county seat of Gray County and is the principal city of the Pampa micropolitan ...

in 1948. He led the Harvesters to state titles in 1953, 1954, 1958 and 1959. Pampa had a 72-game winning streak from 1952 to 1955. McNeely was offered coaching positions at Texas universities including

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

and

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

, but elected to stay at Pampa. He left the Harvesters with a head coaching record of 320–43.

Personal life

McNeely married Peggy Jean Gallagher, who was a fellow student at Texas Wesleyan, on June 14, 1947, in

Cisco, Texas Cisco is a city in Eastland County, Texas. The population was 3,899 at the time of the 2010 census. History Cisco, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 183 and Interstate 20 in northwestern Eastland County, traces its history back to 1878 or 18 ...

. Peggy worked as a teacher at Pampa High School during her husband's tenure there. The couple had three children: twin sons Phillip and Michael, and daughter Sheryl. McNeely's two sons played together at Denton High School where he was the principal and they would both go on to become high school basketball coaches.

Later life and death

McNeely worked in school administration following his retirement from coaching in 1960. He served as an assistant principal at

Castleberry High School Overview Castleberry High School, CHS, is a public high school in River Oaks, Texas. It administers grades 9th-12th and is part of the Castleberry Independent School District. It is located in the Castleberry Independent School District and serv ...

, principal at Bridgeport High School and

Denton High School Denton High School is a public high school located in the city of Denton, Texas and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Denton Independent School District located in central Denton County and was the original high schoo ...

, and administrator at

Irving Independent School District Irving Independent School District is a school district based in Irving, Texas (USA). The district, which covers , serves most of the city of Irving, except for Valley Ranch and a portion of Las Colinas. The district also serves small porti ...

before retiring in 1985. McNeely died December 26, 2003, at the age of 84. McNeely was inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame, the Slidell ISD Hall of Fame, the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame and the Texas Wesleyan University Hall of Fame. Pampa's gymnasium was renamed McNeely Fieldhouse in his honor after his retirement. Former members of the Pampa basketball teams he coached founded the Clifton McNeely Endowed Scholarship in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeely, Clifton 1919 births 2003 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas Dallas Baptist Patriots men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Wise County, Texas Pittsburgh Ironmen draft picks Texas Wesleyan Rams men's basketball players United States Army Air Forces soldiers United States Army personnel of World War II