Luke Edward Whitehead (born February 9, 1981) is a former professional basketball player. Born in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek s ...

, he played forward for the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

College

After graduating from Oak Hill Academy in 2000, Whitehead joined

where he played until 2004. During his career at U of L he accumulated more than 1,000 points and over 600 rebounds. In 2003 he was named the Conference USA Tournament MVP.

Accident during game

In a game against Coppin State on December 12, 2001, Whitehead was upended while making an

alley-oop An alley-oop in basketball is an offensive play in which one player throws the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid-air and dunks or lays it in before touching the ground. The alley-oop combines elements of team ...

when he was undercut by Larry Tucker of Coppin State and landed on the side of his head. He was taken to the hospital to determine if there was any damage to his kidneys or spine.

Playing career

In 2004, he played in the NBA Summer League for the Golden State Warriors. Following the NBA Summer League, he played for the Kentucky Colonels. In 2006, he was drafted in the NBA Development League's draft by the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

, but was later waived due to injury. He played for Alba Berlin during the 2005–06 Basketball Bundesliga season where he won the 2006

German Basketball Cup Basketball Bundesliga-Pokal, commonly known as the BBL-Pokal, is the annual national basketball cup competition in Germany. Since 2009, the title has been awarded to the winner of a tournament competition between top clubs of each Basketball Bunde ...

. In January 2008, Whitehead was signed by the Gold Coast Blaze of the Australian National Basketball League to replace Juaquin Hawkins, who had suffered a stroke.

References

External links

College statistics
a
sports-reference.com
a
basketball-reference.com
* 1981 births Living people Alba Berlin players American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in South Korea Basketball players from California Gold Coast Blaze players Goyang Carrot Jumpers players Iowa Energy players Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Seoul SK Knights players Sioux Falls Skyforce players Small forwards American men's basketball players {{ULouisville-stub