Kelvin Parnell Upshaw (born January 24, 1963) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He is a 6'2" (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg)

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

and played competitively at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's Marshall High School,

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

and the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. He played 120 games 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) from 1988 to 1991 averaging 5.4 ppg, 2.1 apg and 1.2 rpg in 12.6 mpg. Upshaw played with the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

, the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

and with the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

. He also played professionally in

Stargard Szczeciński Stargard (; 1945: ''Starogród'', 1950–2016: ''Stargard Szczeciński''; formerly German: ''Stargard in Pommern'', or ''Stargard an der Ihna''; csb, Stôrgard) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 20 ...

, Poland ( Komfort Stargard Szczec), Italy (

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

), Argentina, Philippines, and in the CBA with the Quad City Thunder, Albany Patroons, Rapid City and Jacksonville Jets. He was selected in the second round of the 1986 CBA Draft by the Jets. After spending the 1986–1987 season with the Jacksonville (later Mississippi) Jets, Upshaw signed with the West Palm Beach Stingrays of the

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

in the spring of 1987. The Jets cut Upshaw on May 26, 1987, due to injury but recalled Upshaw in late June. Upshaw returned to the Mississippi Jets later in 1987 and was selected to the 1988 CBA All-Star Game. Upshaw later played for the CBA's

Rapid City Thrillers The Rapid City Thrillers were a semi-professional basketball team in Rapid City, South Dakota, that competed in the Continental Basketball Association beginning in the 1987 season. They were reincarnated in 1998 as an International Basketball Ass ...

for the rest of the season. Upshaw signed with the Palm Beach Stingrays in June 1988. Upshaw then played for the CBA's

Albany Patroons The Albany Patroons are a professional basketball team that plays in The Basketball League (TBL). Previously, the team competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and in the United States Basketball League (USBL). The Patroons won ...

for most of the 1988–1989 season. In January 1989, Upshaw signed with the NBA's

. In two ten-day contracts with the Heat, Upshaw played in nine games and averaged 6.8 points, 1.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists. Upshaw re-joined the Patroons on February 7. The NBA's

signed Upshaw in March 1989 to relieve the injured

Ramón Rivas Juan Ramón Rivas Contreras (born March 16, 1966
basketball-reference.com) is a Puerto Rican retired professional ...

. Upshaw played in 23 games for the Celtics averaging 6.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' noted at the time, "Upshaw has brought to Boston instant up-tempo offense along with tough, chest-to-chest defense against some of the league's best (

Isiah Thomas Isiah Lord Thomas III (born April 30, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who is an analyst for ''NBA TV''. The 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as well as the 75 Grea ...

, Mo Cheeks), as well as a certain sang froid in delivering the big jumper." Originally published by ''The Boston Globe'' as "Credit Celtics with a steal; Signing Upshaw a timely maneuver." A week after being waived, Upshaw re-signed with the Celtics on November 24, 1989, and was waived again on December 26, 1989. In 14 games at the beginning of the season with Boston, Upshaw averaged 7.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. Upshaw signed the first of two ten-day contracts with the

on January 6, 1990, and played three games with the Mavericks with very few minutes per game. On February 28, 1990, Upshaw signed a season-long contract with the

and averaged 5.6 points in 23 games. Upshaw signed with the

on November 12, 1990, and re-signed on December 29 five days after being waived. In 48 games, Upshaw had one start and averaged 5.6 points. In 1991, Upshaw played in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

for the

Swift Mighty Meaties Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, a ...

then went on to join the CBA's Bakersfield Jammers and was traded to the

Fort Wayne Fury The Fort Wayne Fury was a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1991 through the cessation of the CBA on February 8, 2001. History The team played at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne ...

in a

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team ceases to exist or is merged with another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in North America. ...

after the Jammers folded. In the summer of 1992, Upshaw returned to play in the

this time with

Shell Rimula X Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

before joining the Fury. In February 1993, Upshaw left the Fury to spend time with his family and work at a youth center. Upshaw was meted a lifetime ban from the PBA for violating the league's anti-drug policy. But he gained notoriety with Filipino basketball fans for showing his butt to the crowd during a televised game in 1992. He has served as an assistant coach for the CBA's

Gary Steelheads The Gary Steelheads were a professional basketball team. They played in the International Basketball League, Continental Basketball Association, and the United States Basketball League. They were based in Gary, Indiana, United States, and played ...

Quad City Thunder The Quad City Thunder was a Continental Basketball Association franchise that was based in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. They played in the CBA from the 1987–88 season until the CBA folded in 2001. The Thunder were successful on the co ...

, LaCrosse Bobcats, and the

NBDL The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

Charleston Lowgators Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

.NBA.com: NBDL coach profile
/ref> In 2004, he was named as player development coach for the Dallas Mavericks.
October 7, 2004

References

External links

@ basketballreference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Upshaw, Kelvin 1963 births Living people 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players Albany Patroons players American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Poland American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Bakersfield Jammers players Basketball players from Chicago Boston Celtics players Continental Basketball Association coaches Dallas Mavericks players Gimnasia y Esgrima de Comodoro Rivadavia basketball players Golden State Warriors players Jacksonville Jets (CBA) players Miami Heat players Mississippi Jets players Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen basketball players Philippine Basketball Association imports Point guards Pop Cola Panthers players Quad City Thunder players Rapid City Thrillers players Shooting guards Spójnia Stargard players Undrafted National Basketball Association players Utah Utes men's basketball players United States Basketball League players 20th-century African-American sportspeople