Michael Todd Tripucka
(born September 16, 1954) is an American former basketball player best known for his college career at
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...
during the 1970s. A native of
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.
History
The initial patent for the land that w ...
, Tripucka played three varsity seasons at Lafayette and led the
Leopards
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...
to a 58–22 overall record and
one appearance in the
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
(NIT).
He was twice selected as a first-team all-
East Coast Conference
The East Coast Conference (ECC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of C ...
(ECC) player, and at the end of his senior year of 1975–76 he was named the
ECC Player of the Year.
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
men's basketball.[ In one game against Saint Joseph's he scored 42 points, still the fourth-best single game effort in school history.][ Other still-standing single season school records include points in one season (679) and field goals attempted (520).][ He went undrafted in the ]1976 NBA draft
The 1976 NBA draft was the 30th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 8, 1976, before the 1976–77 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players a ...
, but was later inducted into Lafayette's Hall of Fame in 1989.[
]
Family
Todd is the son of Frank Tripucka
Francis Joseph Tripucka[Profile](_blank)
, polishsportshof.com; accessed December 28, 2015. , an American collegiate and professional football quarterback, at Notre Dame, in the National Football League, in the Canadian Football League, and in the early American Football League. He is the brother of former Notre Dame and National Basketball Association
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 S ...
(NBA) star Kelly Tripucka
Peter Kelly Tripucka (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1991. He was a two-time NBA All Star and averaged over twenty points a game i ...
.[ He is also the uncle of football players Shane Tripucka and Travis Tripucka as well as professional lacrosse player Jake Tripucka.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tripucka, Todd
1954 births
Living people
American men's basketball players
Bloomfield High School (New Jersey) alumni
Lafayette Leopards men's basketball players
Sportspeople from Bloomfield, New Jersey
Basketball players from Essex County, New Jersey
Shooting guards