Phil Hankinson (July 26, 1951 – November 19, 1996) was an American

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. He was born in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

. Hankinson attended what is now

Great Neck North High School John L. Miller Great Neck North High School or simply "Great Neck North," is a public high school, including grades 9 through 12, in the village of Great Neck, New York, operated by the Great Neck School District. As of the 2018–19 school year ...

in Great Neck, New York, where he scored 28.7 points and pulled down 17 rebounds per game in 1968–69, his senior year. A 6'8"

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 ...

, Hankinson played at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

from 1970 to 1973. He participated on three

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

championship teams that reached the NCAA Tournament, and he was named team MVP in 1973. After college, Hankinson was selected by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

in the second round of the NBA Draft. He appeared in two seasons with the Celtics before a knee injury ended his playing career. Hankinson held NBA career averages of 3.9

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

and 1.8

rebounds per game '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 ...

. He also won an NBA championship ring with the Celtics in 1974. In November 1996, Hankinson was found shot in his car in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, the victim of an apparent

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. His father said that Hankinson had suffered from depression ever since his injury occurred.

Notes

1951 births 1996 suicides American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York (state) Boston Celtics draft picks Boston Celtics players Great Neck North High School alumni Penn Quakers men's basketball players People from Great Neck, New York Small forwards Basketball players from Augusta, Georgia Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York Suicides by firearm in Kentucky {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub