Todd Carlyle MacCulloch (born January 27, 1976) is a Canadian former professional

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 played four seasons 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 S ...

(NBA). He was drafted 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 Eas ...

as the 47th overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft after playing college basketball for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. MacCulloch played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

and

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

before being forced to retire prematurely due to a genetic neuromuscular disorder that affected his feet, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. After retiring from professional basketball, MacCulloch had a successful

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

career. He was inducted into the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

in 2014.

Early life

A graduate of

Shaftesbury High School Shaftesbury High School is a public high school located in the Tuxedo neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It has a population of 750 students from Tuxedo, Charleswood, and Linden Woods. They are included in the Pembina Trails School Division' ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, MacCulloch was in 1999 named Honorable Mention All-America as a senior at the

, when he averaged 24.7 points, 15.9 rebounds, and a .662 field goal percentage. He led the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I in field goal percentage in his final three years of college, only the second player ever to accomplish the feat. He was an All-Pac-10 First Team selection in his final two years at Washington. He was drafted by the 76ers in the 2nd round (47th overall) of the 1999 NBA Draft.

Basketball career

MacCulloch played four seasons in the NBA before being forced to retire prematurely due to a genetic neuromuscular disorder that affected his feet, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. In his first two seasons with the

, MacCulloch played reserve centre, averaging 9.4 minutes, 2.6 rebounds and just under 9 points in 56 and 63 games respectively from 1999 to 2001. In the 2001 off-season, he signed as a free agent with the

and as their starting centre averaged 9.7 points and 6.1 rebounds a contest. MacCulloch was then traded back to the 76ers for the 2002–2003 season, in which he averaged just under 20 minutes, 9.1 points, and 4.7 rebounds a contest. Due to an inherited neurological disorder, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which affects the peripheral nerves of the hands and feet he went on the injured reserve list at mid-season, did not play the following season, and announced his retirement in September 2004. MacCulloch played for the Canadian national team of various sorts 93 times, most notably at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

where the Canadians topped

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

to win their group only to lose to eventual silver medalist

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in the quarterfinals and finish seventh. In an episode of ''

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'', in a skit where African Americans get their

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, the

play the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

but none of the black players are playing, so MacCulloch plays one-on-one, beating

Travis Knight Travis Andrew Knight (born September 13, 1973) is an American animator, producer, director, and former rapper who has worked as the lead animator and current CEO for the stop-motion animation studio Laika, and directed the films ''Kubo and the Tw ...

Pinball career

MacCulloch played pinball whenever he could growing up, at malls, arcades and bowling alleys around town. He began buying up pinball machines when he signed as a free agent with the Nets in 2001 and got his first house. His collection is now greater than 60 pinball and non-pinball arcade games. MacCulloch has played in several pinball tournaments. He competed in the European pinball championship in Stockholm in 2007, and has played in the PAPA World Pinball Championships since 2005, qualifying in the B Division multiple times. In October 2011, MacCulloch won the Pinball Expo in Chicago, beating world champions Keith Elwin and Lyman Sheats on his way to his first major pinball title and a $3,000 cash prize. MacCulloch says there are indeed some similarities between pinball and basketball. He relates: "Hand-eye coordination is really important in both, and maintaining your focus is definitely important. I've been in some pressure situations in big asketballgames, and nerves wouldn't affect me, but I've found that in pinball tournaments, I can't seem to keep those nerves at bay. My heart beats faster, my chest gets tight. Competition is competition, and I thought I'd respond well, but I haven't been able to rein that in yet."

References

External links

MacCulloch's pro stats at ''www.basketball-reference''MacCulloch's player page on pinballrankings.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macculloch, Todd 1976 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players from Winnipeg Basketball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Centers (basketball) National Basketball Association players from Canada New Jersey Nets players Olympic basketball players of Canada Pan American Games competitors for Canada Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Pinball players Universiade bronze medalists for Canada Universiade medalists in basketball Washington Huskies men's basketball players Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade