Donald Jay Ohl (born April 18, 1936) 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 who spent 10 seasons (1960–1970) 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). His

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

was ''Waxie'' because of his

crew cut A crew cut is a type of haircut in which the upright hair on the top of the head is cut relatively short, graduated in length from the longest hair that forms a short pomp ( pompadour) at the front hairline to the shortest at the back of the crow ...

College career

Ohl attended

Edwardsville High School Edwardsville Senior High School is a public high school located in Edwardsville, Illinois. History Edwardsville High School was first located on North Kansas Street in downtown Edwardsville. Due to the expansion of the town, a new high school w ...

Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,808. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then Governor of the Illinois Territory. ...

, and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

Professional career

Ohl played for the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

, Baltimore Bullets, and St.Louis/Atlanta Hawks. Among the best distance shooters of his time, the 6'3", 190-pound guard scored 11,549 points and appeared in five

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, ...

s in his career. Shortly after the 1963–64 campaign, Ohl was involved one of the first so-called megatrades, this one an eight-player deal between the Pistons and Bullets. On June 9, 1964, the Pistons sent Ohl, center

Bob Ferry Robert Dean Ferry (May 31, 1937 – October 27, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, assistant coach, and general manager (GM) in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the St. Louis Hawks, Detroit Pistons, and ...

, forward Bailey Howell, forward Les Hunter and the draft rights to guard Wally (later Wali) Jones to the Bullets in exchange for forwards

Terry Dischinger Terry Gilbert Dischinger (born November 21, 1940) is an American former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dischinger was a three-time NBA All-Star and the 1963 NBA Rookie of the Year, after averaging 28 points per gam ...

and

Don Kojis Donald R. Kojis (January 15, 1939 – November 19, 2021) was an American professional basketball player who played twelve seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).. Career Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended Marquette Universi ...

and guard

Rod Thorn Rodney King Thorn (born May 23, 1941) is an American basketball executive and a former professional player and coach, Olympic Committee Chairman, with a career spanning over 50 years. In 2018, Thorn was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Baske ...

. The deal turned out to a fortuitous one for the Bullets, as Howell and Ohl became mainstays with the team. Ohl twice scored a career high of 43 points in a single game, on January 23, 1963 in a 123–119 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and on December 25, 1966 in a 129–127 loss to his former team, the Pistons. Ohl experienced his finest hour in the 1965 playoffs, which saw the Bullets eliminate the

St. Louis 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 four games in round one. In the Western Division finals, Ohl and future Hall of Fame guard

Jerry West Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability ...

were locked in a tense shootout that saw West and the Los Angeles Lakers finally prevail in six games, each of which was decided by eights points or fewer. Ohl averaged 26.1 points in 10 games that post-season, and specifically 28.8 points along with 5.7 rebounds in the division finals against the Lakers. In 1968, Ohl was traded to the afformentioned Hawks for Tom Workman and a third round pick. Two years later, he was taken in the 1970 NBA Expansion draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, though he never suited up for the team.

References

External links

Career stats
@ basketball-reference.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohl, Don 1936 births Living people American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) players Basketball players from Illinois Cleveland Cavaliers expansion draft picks Detroit Pistons players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players National Basketball Association All-Stars People from Edwardsville, Illinois People from Murphysboro, Illinois Peoria Caterpillars players Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Point guards Shooting guards St. Louis Hawks players