Melvin Eugene Payton (July 16, 1926 – May 12, 2001) was 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 born in

Martinsville, Indiana Martinsville is a city in Washington Township, Morgan County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 11,828 at the 2010 United States Census. The city is the county seat of Morgan County. History Martinsville was founded in 1822. It is ...

. A 6'4"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, Payton attended college at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. He played for four years for the

Tulane Green Wave The Tulane Green Wave are the athletic teams that represent Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). There are 14 Green Wave interco ...

, averaging 11.8 points per game.Mel Payton
The Draft Review Payton was selected in the second round (19th pick overall) of

1951 NBA draft The 1951 NBA draft was the fifth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 25, 1951, before the 1951–52 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basket ...

by the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

. He played one season with the Warriors before being traded to the

Indianapolis Olympians The Indianapolis Olympians were a founding National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded in 1949 and folded in 1953. Their home arena was Butler Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University--now known as Hin ...

in exchange for

Don Lofgran Donald James Lofgran (November 18, 1928 – June 17, 1976) was an American basketball player who was a consensus All-American in 1950 while at the University of San Francisco. He also played professionally in the National Basketball Associati ...

. Payton played 111 games in his two-year career, scoring 595 points, grabbing 396

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 ...

, and playing 1,895 minutes.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

Playoffs

References

1926 births 2001 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana High school basketball coaches in Indiana Indianapolis Olympians players People from Martinsville, Indiana Sportspeople from the Indianapolis metropolitan area Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Philadelphia Warriors players Small forwards Tulane Green Wave men's basketball players {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub