Floyd W. Volker (June 21, 1921 – January 5, 1995) 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. He played professionally in the National Basketball League (NBL), the National Professional Basketball League (NPBL), and 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) in the early days of professional basketball. Volker, a 6'4 forward from Casper High School in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in the state, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger. Casper is nic ...

, went on to play collegiately at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. He was a starting forward on the Cowboys' 1943 national championship team as a junior. After a pause in his career to serve in the US military during

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 ...

, Volker returned to campus for his senior year in 1946–47. After his college playing days, Volker signed with the

Oshkosh All-Stars The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling, the team was a member of the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League, a forerunner t ...

of the NBL in 1947. In 1949, when the NBL and 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 ...

merged to form the NBA, the All-Stars were disbanded and Volker was assigned to the

Indianapolis Olympians The Indianapolis Olympians were a founding National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded in 1949 and folded in 1953. Their home arena was Butler Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University--now known as Hin ...

for the inaugural season of the NBA. During the season, his rights were sold to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

. He averaged 7.4 points and 2.1 assists in his lone NBA season. He then played one season in the short-lived NPBL in 1950–51 until the demise of that league at the end of the season. Volker died in January 1995, aged 73.

References

1921 births 1995 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Wyoming Centers (basketball) Denver Nuggets (1948–1950) players Indianapolis Olympians players Oshkosh All-Stars players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Casper, Wyoming Undrafted National Basketball Association players Wyoming Cowboys basketball players American military personnel of World War II {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub