Robin R. Freeman (April 8, 1934 – September 23, 2014) 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 who was a two-time All-American at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Freeman, a 5'11 guard from

Hughes High School Hughes High School (HHS) was an accredited comprehensive public middle and high school located in Hughes, Arkansas, a part of the Hughes School District, until its entire school district was closed due to declining enrollment in 2015. The Hughe ...

in Cincinnati, set an Ohio state high school scoring mark of 39.5 points per game as a senior in 1951–52. Robin Freeman played at OSU from 1953–56, has been called one of the most exciting players in Buckeye history. He broke out as a junior in 1954–55, scoring at a 31.5 point per game clip. His season was limited to just 13 games due to a variety of health issues, but Freeman was still named a Consensus second team All-American at the season's end. He picked up where he left off as a senior, averaging 32.9 points per contest (good for second in the nation behind Furman's

Darrell Floyd Darrell Floyd (May 11, 1932 – March 7, 2000) was an American college basketball All-American while playing for Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina from 1953–56. He was a two-time national scoring champion, two-time Consensus NC ...

). Freeman became Ohio State's first repeat All-American and the first player in

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

history to average 30+ points per game in back to back years. Freeman was also named Big Ten MVP by the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

. Following the conclusion of his Ohio State career, Freeman was selected in the

1956 NBA draft The 1956 NBA draft was the tenth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 30, 1956, before the 1956–57 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pla ...

by the Saint Louis Hawks. However, he never played in the

NBA 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 ...

, as he severed the tips of two fingers while chopping wood. He instead attended law school and practiced law in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

. He is a member of the Ohio basketball Hall of Fame and the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame. Freeman died on September 23, 2014.

References

External links

Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame profile
1934 births 2014 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Cincinnati Guards (basketball) Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball players St. Louis Hawks draft picks {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub