Les Burnell Jepsen (born June 24, 1967) is a retired 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 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) during the early 1990s.
[Les Jepsen profile and statistics]
, ''basketballreference.com''
A 7'0"
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
, Jepsen played at Bowbells High School in North Dakota and at The University of Iowa. He was part of
George Raveling
George Henry Raveling (born June 27, 1937) is an American former college basketball player and coach. He played at Villanova University, and was the head coach at Washington State University the University of Iowa and the University of Southern ...
's recruiting class at The University of Iowa in 1985 which included
B. J. Armstrong,
Roy Marble,
Ed Horton
Edward C. Horton (born December 17, 1967) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Washington Bullets in the second round (39th pick overall) of the 1989 NBA draft. He was a 6'8", 230 lb. forward.
Horton ...
and
Kevin Gamble
Kevin Douglas Gamble (born November 13, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association and currently a scout with the Toronto Raptors. At 6'5" (1.96 m) he played as both a shooting guard and smal ...
. All five recruits went on to play in the NBA.
Jepsen was selected 28th overall in the
1990 NBA draft by the
Golden State Warriors where he played the
1990–91 season under
Don Nelson before being traded along with
Mitch Richmond
Mitchell James Richmond III (born June 30, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. He played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and Kansas State University. He was a six-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Tea ...
to the
Sacramento Kings
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 ...
for
Billy Owens on November 1, 1991 (shortly before the opening day of the
1991–92 season).
As a member of a touring team ("Footlocker Allstars"), Jepsen played in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
in 1997. In the 1997–98 season, he played for the
Newcastle Eagles
The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Playing in the top-tier British Basketball League and holding the franchise for Tyne & Wear, they are the most successful team in the League's histor ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and for
New Wave Göteborg in
Sweden.
References
External links
Les Jepsen – Hawkeye Sports NewsLes Jepsen interview@ thedraftreview.com
@ basketballreference.com
Les Jepsen interview@ dailyiowan.com
Recent photo of Les Jepsen@ www.jepsenconsulting.com
1967 births
Living people
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from North Dakota
Centers (basketball)
Fargo-Moorhead Fever players
Golden State Warriors draft picks
Golden State Warriors players
Hartford Hellcats players
Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players
People from Burke County, North Dakota
Rockford Lightning players
Sacramento Kings players
{{1960s-US-basketball-bio-stub