Chariton Arnold Ferrin Jr. (July 29, 1925 − December 27, 2022) 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, executive, and college athletics administrator. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

and earned All-American honors four times. He won an NCAA championship in 1944 and an

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 Cit ...

(NIT) title in 1947. Ferrin played professionally with the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

in the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

(BAA) and

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA). They won league titles in the in 1949 and 1950. After his playing career, Ferrin was general manager of the ABA's

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving t ...

from 1972 through 1974. He served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at his alma mater, the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, from 1976 to 1985.

Early life

Ferrin was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. His mother died when he was three years old. Afterwards, his father, Arn, became busy with work; he owned a service station and a small oil delivery company. As his time away from home for work grew, Arn decided to have his parents assume parental responsibilities for his son. When Ferrin was eleven, his father began dating, and eventually remarried. However, Arn had his son continue to live with his grandparents. Ferrin attended high school at Ogden High in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

College career

At the

, Ferrin won the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player award in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...

when the Utes won the NCAA championship over Dartmouth with a 42–40 overtime win. He scored 22 points in the game and was the first freshman to win the award. In 1945, Ferren averaged 17.5 points per game was named a consensus first-team All-American. Following the end of the regular season, he was drafted into the armed forces, and unavailable for the NCAA tournament. After a year in the Army, he returned to help Utah win the 1947 NIT and was a runner-up for the tournament's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a partic ...

award. At the time, the NIT was as prestegious, if not more so, as the fledgling NCAA tournament. As a senior, Ferrin averaged 14.1 points per game, attempting only 4.8 field goals per game. He became the only four-time All-American at Utah, including consensus second-team honors in 1944, 1947, and 1948. His 22 was retired by the school.

Professional playing career

Ferrin played professionally for three years with the

from 1949 through 1951 under coach

John Kundla John Albert Kundla (July 3, 1916 – July 23, 2017) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He was the first head coach for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its predecessors, the Basketbal ...

. They won the BAA (later known as the NBA) championship in 1949 and won the

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is a ...

in 1950. He was a top-five scorer on both championship teams, averaging 7.3 points per game in 1949 and 5.4 in 1950. Ferrin ended his career with 1,037 total points and an average of 5.8 points per game for the Lakers. Ferrin was inducted into the

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National ...

in 2008 and the

Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor The Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor recognizes former athletes and coaches who have made a significant impact to the tradition and heritage of the Pac-12 Conference. Established in 2002, one honoree is selected by each member institution in the co ...

in 2012.

Later years

After his playing career, Ferrin was a member of the Athletic Council at the Univeristy of Utah and was a radio

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for the school's basketball and football programs. He was the general manager of the ABA's

from 1972 to 1974. He was

at the University of Utah from 1976 to 1985. Under Ferrin, Utah won 10 national championships and 15 conference championships. The Utes' gymnastics program won four national championships under coach

Greg Marsden Greg Marsden (November 8, 1950) was the NCAA women's gymnastics coach at the University of Utah. He led the Utah Red Rocks to 10 national titles and was named National Coach of the Year 7 times. He also served as the U.S.A. National Women's Team ...

and their men's basketball team, led by coach

Jerry Pimm Jerry Pimm is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Utah from 1974 to 1983 and the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1983 to 1998, compiling career college basketball c ...

, advanced four times to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Ferrin died of natural causes on December 27, 2022, at the age of 97.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrin, Arnie 1925 births 2022 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Salt Lake City Minneapolis Lakers draft picks Minneapolis Lakers players National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Ogden, Utah Shooting guards Small forwards Utah Stars executives Utah Utes athletic directors Utah Utes men's basketball players