Reginald Gene Cross (born August 12, 1966) is an American former 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. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

with the Miami Dade Sharks and the

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes at ...

. Cross was selected in the

1987 NBA draft The 1987 NBA draft was held on June 22, 1987, in New York City. This draft included two future members of the NBA 50 Greatest Players list, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, as well as fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was named to th ...

by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

but never played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA). He instead played professionally in the American

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) and in France, Spain and Turkey. Cross is the most recent player from the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors to be selected in an NBA draft.

College career

Cross emerged as a promising prospect while playing at

South Plantation High School South Plantation High School is a four-year public high school located in the city of Plantation, Florida in the United States. SPHS is part of the Broward County Public Schools school district, which is the sixth-largest district in the nation ...

Plantation, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 91,750. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the E ...

, and received multiple scholarship offers from

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

colleges. However, he was not initially academically eligible and instead played his first two seasons of

with the Miami Dade Sharks. During his sophomore season, he was selected to the All-State Team and named by ''Basketball Weekly'' as being among the top junior college transfer candidates. In 1986, Cross was offered a scholarship by the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, who had first attempted to recruit him during his high school career. He was required to spend the 1986–87 season at

Leeward Community College Leeward Community College is a public community college in Pearl City, Hawaii. It is one of 10 campuses of the University of Hawaii system and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. Leeward's open ad ...

while not playing basketball to become academically eligible for Hawaii. Cross financially supported himself while taking classes by working full-time as a courier for a legal firm. Cross made his debut for the

during the 1987–88 season, and averaged 15.7 points per game. During his senior season in 1988–89, Cross led Hawaii to its first postseason bid since 1974 while averaging 18.6 points per game. Cross was subsequently selected to the All-WAC First Team, while he was named as Hawaii's most outstanding player during both of his seasons with the team. He gained further attention from NBA teams following a promising showing at an All-Star Game in Japan and earned invites to multiple NBA tryout camps.

Professional career

Cross was selected in the

1989 NBA draft The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn ...

by the

as the 44th overall pick. He was waived by the 76ers on October 19, 1989. Cross spent the 1990 season in the

, splitting his season between the

Grand Rapids Hoops The Grand Rapids Hoops were a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their first season was in 1989 and their final season was in 2003. Professional basketball later returned to Grand ...

and the

Yakima Sun Kings The Yakima SunKings are a basketball team located in Yakima, Washington, covering the central Washington sports market of Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Ellensburg and plays at the Yakima SunDome. The team competed in the Continental Basketball Associa ...

. At the end of the 1990 CBA season, Cross joined the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was estab ...

for training camp but did not make the team's final roster. He spent part of the 1990–91 season playing in Spain with the Grupo IFA Granollers, replacing Tom Sheehey. After a stint in France playing for Le Mans Sarthe during the 1991–92 season, Cross returned to the United States in 1992 to play for the Palm Beach Stingrays of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

(USBL) and the

Columbus Horizon The Columbus Horizon is a defunct basketball team from Columbus, Ohio that played for five seasons in the Continental Basketball Association from 1989 to 1994. History Plans to bring professional basketball to Columbus were unveiled in September ...

of the CBA. Following the conclusion of the CBA season, he joined the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

for training camp but missed time with the team due to an illness in his family. In June 1993 he played for the Winnipeg Thunder of the Canadian National Basketball League after having been part of the

Montreal Dragons The Montreal Dragons were a professional Canadian basketball team based in Montreal, Quebec. They competed in the now defunct National Basketball League in 1993, but did not complete their first season and disbanded on June 10, 1993. During their ...

roster. He spent three consecutive seasons playing in Turkey from 1993 to 1996.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1987–88 , style="text-align:left;",

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

, 29 , , – , , 33.9 , , .477 , , .500 , , .730 , , 8.6 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 15.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1988–89 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , – , , 33.6 , , .529 , , – , , .767 , , 8.1 , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , .6 , , 18.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 59 , , – , , 33.7 , , .506 , , .500 , , .749 , , 8.3 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , 17.2

Personal life

Cross' first child, a daughter, was born while he was attending Miami Dade. He married the child's mother, Gwenell, in 1986. His second child, a son, was born during his first season at Hawaii.

References

External links

French league stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Reggie 1966 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Anadolu Efes S.K. players Basketball players from Florida Centers (basketball) Columbus Horizon players Grand Rapids Hoops players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball players Le Mans Sarthe Basket players Liga ACB players Miami Dade Sharks men's basketball players Oyak Renault basketball players Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Yakima Sun Kings players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople