Thomas Alvin Stith (January 21, 1939 – June 13, 2010), born in Greenville County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, was an American 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, formerly of 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 ...

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 ...

. A 6' 5"

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 ...

, Stith was an All-American at St. Bonaventure University in 1960 and 1961.

College career

Stith attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Brooklyn and committed to St. Bonaventure University, where he and older brother Sam formed a formidable 1-2 punch. The Stith brothers posted a 52.0 points per game combined scoring average for the 1959-1960 season. Tom Stith became St. Bonaventure's first consensus All-American in 1960 and 1961. Stith left St. Bonaventure as the school's all-time leading scorer, ending his career with 2,052 points. Stith finished second in the nation in scoring to

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

in 1960, averaging 31.5 points per game, and he then finished third in 1961 with 29.6 points per game.

Professional career

After completing his collegiate eligibility, Stith was selected by the New York Knicks as the second pick overall in the

1961 NBA Draft The 1961 NBA draft was the 15th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 27, 1961, before the 1961–62 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball playe ...

, behind Indiana's

Walt Bellamy Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. A four-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. College career Bellamy chose to play basket ...

. He made the team and played in 46 games over the 1961–62 seasons. However, Stith contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

only a month into the season, and his NBA career was cut short at 25 games and 3.2 points per game.

Death

Stith died on June 13, 2010, at the age of 71.New York Times obituary
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stith, Tom 1939 births 2010 deaths African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players Allentown Jets players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Virginia New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Augusta County, Virginia Small forwards St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people