Leonard J. Kosmalski (born November 21, 1951) is a retired American basketball player. He played collegiately at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

and professionally for 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 ...

Kansas City 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 (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division ( ...

. Kosmalski, a 7-foot center from

Maple Heights High School Maple Heights High School is a public high school located in Maple Heights, Ohio, southeast of Cleveland, Ohio. It graduated its first class in 1925. It was the first high school in America to offer a credit class in popular culture studies, creat ...

in Ohio, was a three-year starter for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

and a three-time first team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

pick and was a starter on the Vols' 1972 SEC championship team. For his college career, Kosmalski averaged 17.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. During the 2012–13 season, Kosmalski was named an SEC legend as a part of the 2013 SEC tournament. Following the close of his college career, Kosmalski was drafted in both the

1974 NBA draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

by the

Kansas City–Omaha 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 ...

(24th pick overall), and by the Utah Stars in the American Basketball Association

Draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

(20th overall). Kosmalski played parts of two seasons for the Kings, averaging 1.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 76 games. He then played a season in Italy for

Stella Azzurra Roma Associazione Sportiva Stella Azzura ( en, Blue Star) is an Italian amateur basketball club based in Rome. It plays in the third division Serie B as of the 2015–16 season. The club is mainly known for its excellent youth teams, which participate ...

. His son Landry Kosmalski is the current head basketball coach at Swarthmore College.

References

External links

Italian League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosmalski, Len 1951 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from Cleveland Centers (basketball) Kansas City Kings draft picks Kansas City Kings players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Tennessee Volunteers basketball players Utah Stars draft picks