Togo Anthony Palazzi (August 8, 1932 – August 12, 2022) was an American basketball player who played in the

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 St ...

(NBA) for the Boston Celtics and

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

Playing and coaching career

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 ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

born and raised in

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589,Union Hill High School Union Hill High School was a public high school serving students in grades 9–12 from Union City in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, operating as one of two high schools of the Union City Board of Education, an Abbott District. The ...

, where he was recognized as one of the top prep basketball players nationwide. He played at the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

in the 1950s and was captain of the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

team that won the

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

NIT Championship and was named MVP of the tournament. Palazzi was selected by the Boston Celtics with the fifth pick of the 1954 NBA Draft. He played six seasons 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 a member of the Celtics and

and averaged 7.4

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 ...

in his career. Palazzi coached the Holy Cross women's team from 1980 to 1985, going 103–28 as coach; he coached them to an NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament appearance in his final year, the first ever appearance by the women's team.

Later life and death

Palazzi later gave speeches at basketball camps for young adults interested in the sport. He was a prominent fixture at camps such as the Scatlet Hawks Basketball Camp run by Steve Manguso in Milford, MA. Along with conducting area speeches he was the camp director of the Togo Palazzi/Sterling Recreation Basketball Camp in

Sterling, Massachusetts Sterling is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 7,985 at the 2020 census. History Sterling was first settled by Europeans in 1720 and was officially incorporated in 1781. Previous to its incorporation it was "t ...

. Palazzi died on August 12, 2022, at the age of 90.

References

External links

* 1932 births 2022 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from New Jersey Boston Celtics draft picks Boston Celtics players Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Union City, New Jersey Syracuse Nationals players Union Hill High School alumni {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub