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Kris Marcus Bruton (born January 10, 1971) is 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. Drafted by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

in the second round of the

1994 NBA Draft The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...

, he was with the Bulls for two pre-seasons (1994 and 1995) before a serious thigh injury ended his career. Bruton never appeared in a regular-season NBA game for the Bulls. After recuperating, he was recruited by the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

, carving a niche on the court as a

slam dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

expert.

Pre-professional career

Born in

Greer, South Carolina Greer is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, Greenville and Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Spartanburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 35,308 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census Greer is ...

, Bruton played very little high school basketball. A number of injuries kept him off the court for most of his four years at the local school. After graduating, Bruton enrolled at

Benedict College Benedict College is a private historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1870 by northern Baptists, it was originally a teachers' college. It has since expanded to offer majors in many disciplines across the liberal arts ...

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

, but did not pursue a position on the school's basketball team. Only after a pick-up game in the school gymnasium was he recruited by the team's coach and offered an athletic scholarship. Bruton was selected for NAIA First Team All-American honors as a senior for the 1993–1994 season. That year, he averaged 20.4 points and ten

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

per game, while completing 231 of 380 shots. He also won the Slam Dunk Contest during the 1994

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Final Four Weekend in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, and again in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

in 2003.

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Professional career

Following his graduation from Benedict College, Bruton was drafted by the

in the second round of the

. The 49th pick overall, he was a pre-season cut in both 1994 and 1995 before a thigh injury ended his NBA career. Shortly after, he traveled overseas to play in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, where he played for two years before returning to the United States and playing in the semi-professional

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

. Three years later, he would return overseas playing in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. Bruton returned to his hometown after his tours in Europe. He joined the

National Basketball Development League 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 ...

in Greenville,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, playing under Milton Barnes. Barnes was also serving as a coach for the Globetrotters and arranged a meeting between Bruton and other Globetrotters' staff after observing his play. An agreement was reached shortly thereafter, and Bruton played his first game with the Globetrotters in December 2001. His unique jumping abilities made him an early crowd favorite. During a tour of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

, Bruton and several other Globetrotters attempted to break the world record for highest

. While eyewitnesses allege that he successfully completed a dunk at 12'1", thus breaking the record, on-site judges declared it an illegal dunk.

References

External links

The Original Harlem Globetrotters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruton, Kris 1971 births Living people African-American basketball players Basketball players from South Carolina Benedict Tigers men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls draft picks Harlem Globetrotters players American men's basketball players People from Greer, South Carolina Expatriate sportspeople in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Japan 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople