Joseph C. Roberts (May 18, 1936 – October 10, 2022) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who played three seasons 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) and one season in the American Basketball Association (ABA). He played for the

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

and Kentucky Colonels from 1960 to 1968, having earlier played for

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

's 1960 NCAA champions. After retiring from playing, he served as assistant coach of the Golden State Warriors and

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

Early life

Roberts was born in Columbus, Ohio, on May 18, 1936. He attended East High School in his hometown. He then studied biological studies and physical education at

, where he played for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

from 1957 to 1960. He was a senior co-captain of the 1960 team – which included

Jerry Lucas Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a p ...

John Havlicek John Joseph Havlicek ( ; April 8, 1940 – April 25, 2019) was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics, winning eight NBA championships, four of them coming in his first four seasons with ...

, Mel Nowell, Bob Knight, and Gary Gearhart – that lost only three games en route to the 1960 NCAA title. Roberts was selected in the third round of the

1960 NBA draft The 1960 NBA draft was the 14th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 11, 1960, before the 1960–61 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pl ...

by the

Playing career

Roberts made his NBA debut on October 22, 1960, scoring six points to go along with three rebounds against the Philadelphia Warriors. He led the league in games played (80) the following year. He ultimately played three seasons with the Nationals, during which time there was an unspoken rule that restricted teams to three

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

players. The franchise qualified for the NBA playoffs in each of those years, but lost to the Boston Celtics, Warriors, and

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, respectively. Roberts returned to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio for the 1966–67 season as the player/manager for the Columbus Comets of the newly-formed and short-lived North American Basketball League (NABL). There, he played with former East High and Ohio State teammate Mel Nowell as well as former Ohio State alumni Dick Reasbeck,

Gary Bradds Gary Lee "Tex" Bradds (July 26, 1942 – July 15, 1983) was an American basketball player. After a successful college career at Ohio State, where he was the 1964 College Player of the Year, he played an integral role with the 1968–69 Oakland O ...

, and Jim Doughty. Roberts did return to play for the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA for one season in 1967, the ABA's first year.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Roberts became an assistant coach for

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

, then

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in the Big Ten, before being an assistant for the NBA's Golden State Warriors and coach Al Attles for five years. The Warriors, led by MVP

Rick Barry Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (born March 28, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player who starred at the NCAA, American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) levels. Barry ranks among the ...

, won the NBA championship in 1975. Roberts coached the Warriors to their fourth win in the NBA finals against the Washington Bullets after Attles was ejected from the game.

Personal life and death

Roberts was married to Celia for 65 years until his death. Together, they had three children. Roberts died on the morning of October 10, 2022, at his home in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. He was 86, and suffered from cancer prior to his death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Joe 1936 births 2022 deaths African-American basketball players Allentown Jets players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Columbus, Ohio Golden State Warriors assistant coaches Kentucky Colonels players Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio Syracuse Nationals draft picks Syracuse Nationals players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople