Collis Temple Jr. (born November 8, 1952) is an American former professional
basketball player for
Louisiana State University and the
San Antonio Spurs in the
NBA
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 ...
.
Career
College
The
Kentwood, Louisiana native was the first African-American to play varsity basketball at
Louisiana State University (LSU). When he joined the team in 1971, the
Louisiana National Guard was called to protect him from angry
segregationists.
[Mark Schlabach.]
LSU's First Black Player Revels in Legacy's Growth
. ''Washington Post''. March 30, 2006. Retrieved on February 11, 2010. In the fourth season of the
''Slate'' podcast
''Slow Burn'', Temple shared his experiences interacting with a young
David Duke while they were both students at LSU.
As a senior, Temple earned All-
Southeastern Conference honors after averaging 15.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. In 2017, Temple was elected to the
Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Professional
Temple was selected by the
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
with the 94th pick of the
1974 NBA draft
The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual NBA Draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 NBA season, 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur ...
. He spent one season (1974–75) with the
San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 24 games.
In February 1975, he joined the
Iberia Superstars of the
European Professional Basketball League
The European Professional Basketball League (EPBL) was a professional basketball league held in Europe in 1975. Despite being played in five European countries (Belgium, Israel, Spain, Switzerland and West Germany) it was for the most part owned ...
.
Personal
Temple has three sons and one daughter. Collis III and
Garrett Temple both played at LSU.
[ His daughter-in-law is Miss USA 2017 winner ]Kára Temple
In Norse mythology, Kára is a valkyrie, attested in the prose epilogue of the '' Poetic Edda'' poem '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''.
The epilogue details that "there was a belief in the pagan religion, which we now reckon an old wives' tale, ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Collis
1952 births
Living people
American men's basketball players
Baptists from Louisiana
LSU Tigers men's basketball players
People from Kentwood, Louisiana
Phoenix Suns draft picks
San Antonio Spurs players
Small forwards