John O. Underman (August 17, 1925 – October 23, 1969) 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. Underman was selected in the

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

St. Louis Bombers The St. Louis Bombers were a National Basketball Association team based in St. Louis from 1946 to 1950. Franchise history The St. Louis Bombers were originally part of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946. The BAA merged wit ...

after a collegiate career at

Ohio State 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 public ...

(OSU), although he never played professionally. Underman went to West High School in

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

prior to choosing hometown OSU for college. He led the

Big Nine Conference The Big Nine Conference, formerly the Big Eight Conference, was a high school sports conference in Genesee County, Michigan, that ended with four high schools in 2012. History Formed in 1960 as the Big Eight Conference, the conference became th ...

in scoring as a

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in 1945–46, the same season the Buckeyes made the NCAA Final Four and won the Third Place game. Underman then became an oral surgeon. He died in a car crash on October 23, 1969, at age 44.

References

1925 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American dentists American men's basketball players Basketball players from Ohio Centers (basketball) Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball players People from Elyria, Ohio Sportspeople from Lorain County, Ohio Road incident deaths in Ohio St. Louis Bombers (NBA) draft picks {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub