Benjamin Coleman (November 14, 1961 – January 6, 2019) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. In college, he played for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

and the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. Professionally, he played five 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 St ...

(NBA) as well as in Italy and Spain.

Early life

Coleman was born on November 14, 1961, in Minneapolis. He played basketball at North Community High School. After graduation, he received a scholarship to play at the University of Minnesota. In 1979, he became the first player from Minneapolis North to receive a scholarship from a Division I college. He was also the first African-American player from a

Minneapolis City Conference The Minneapolis City Conference is the Minnesota State High School League-sponsored high school sports league for schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hen ...

school to play for Minnesota. He spent much of his time at Minnesota coming off the bench. In his redshirt freshman year of 1980–1981, he averaged 8.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. After that season, he decided to transfer to the University of Maryland. Coleman commented that he was able to make a statement for his community by playing for his hometown Gophers, but also faced a lot of pressure playing there. Under transfer rules, he sat out the 1981–1982 season. At Maryland, Coleman teamed up with

Len Bias Leonard Kevin Bias (November 18, 1963June 19, 1986) was an American college basketball player who attended the University of Maryland. During his four years playing for Maryland, he was named a first-team All-American. Two days after being selec ...

, who went on to be the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft. He won two All-ACC honors and helped the team to the 1984 Atlantic Coast Conference championship and to a Sweet Sixteen appearance in the 1984 NCAA tournament. After graduation, he was selected by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

in the second round (37th overall) in the 1984 NBA draft. He did not make the Bulls roster and decided to sign with

Stefanel Trieste Pallacanestro Trieste 2004 is an Italian professional basketball club based in Trieste. They play in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) since the 2018–19 LBA season, 2018–19 season. The PalaTrieste, Allianz Dome serves as the club's home arena. Hi ...

in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

. The Bulls traded his rights to the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

for Mike Smrek, but he again failed to make the team and returned to Italy. After two years in Italy, he returned to the United States and signed with the

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 ...

. In the middle of his second season with the Nets, New Jersey traded him and

Mike Gminski Michael Thomas Gminski (born August 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player and a college basketball TV analyst for CBS Sports. In 2003, Gminski, of Polish descent, was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall ...

to the Philadelphia 76ers for Roy Hinson and

Tim McCormick Timothy Daniel McCormick (born March 10, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player from Detroit who played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He currently is a pre- and post-game analyst for the Detroit Pi ...

. He played the remainder of the 1988–89 season in Philadelphia. Before the 1989–90 NBA season, he signed with the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

but his season was cut short due to injury in February and he was waived. The following season he began a three-year stint in Spain, signing with

Baloncesto León Club Baloncesto León was a basketball team, based in León, Spain. History Early years (1981-1988) Baloncesto León was founded by José Antonio Moirón García, Enrique Emperador Marcos, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Villanueva, Lisardo Mourelo Gonz� ...

in Spain. He moved to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

and

CB Peñas Huesca Club Baloncesto Peñas Huesca is a Spanish professional Basketball team based in Huesca, Aragón. The team currently plays in league LEB Plata. History The team played in Liga ACB, where they stayed from 1983 to 1996. After winning the relegati ...

. For the

1983–84 NBA season The 1983–84 NBA season was the 38th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 3 for the second time since 1969 in the NBA Fi ...

, Coleman returned to the U.S. with the

Rapid City Thrillers The Rapid City Thrillers were a semi-professional basketball team in Rapid City, South Dakota, that competed in the Continental Basketball Association beginning in the 1987 season. They were reincarnated in 1998 as an International Basketball As ...

of the Continental Basketball Association. He signed a ten-day contract with the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

. After Detroit did not retain him, he played on a rest-of-season contract with Roma and the following season with Montecatiniterme Basketball in Italy. He ended his playing career with the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

and

Omaha Racers The Omaha Racers were an American minor league basketball team based in Omaha, Nebraska. The franchise played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1989 to 1997. The team's franchise liage started in 1982 as the Wisconsin Flyers. Th ...

of the CBA. After he retired, Coleman coached in the greater Minneapolis area with the private coaching service,

CoachUp CoachUp is a venture-funded startup company that connects athletes with private coaches. History CoachUp was founded in 2011 by former professional basketball player Jordan Fliegel with engineers Arian Radmand and Gabe Durazo. Its site, Coach ...

.www.coachup.com/coaches/benc
/ref> Coleman died on January 6, 2019, at age 57.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1986–87 , align="left" ,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, 68 , , 7 , , 15.1 , , .581 , , .000 , , .727 , , 4.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 6.6 , - , align="left" , 1987–88 , align="left" ,

, 27 , , 10 , , 24.3 , , .483 , , .000 , , .774 , , 6.4 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 11.0 , - , align="left" , 1987–88 , align="left" ,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, 43 , , 14 , , 19.6 , , .516 , , .000 , , .752 , , 4.1 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 6.9 , - , align="left" , 1988–89 , align="left" ,

, 58 , , 11 , , 12.1 , , .485 , , .000 , , .792 , , 3.1 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 5.1 , - , align="left" , 1989–90 , align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, 22 , , 0 , , 13.9 , , .474 , , .000 , , .829 , , 4.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 5.7 , - , align="left" , 1993–94 , align="left" ,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, 9 , , 0 , , 8.6 , , .480 , , .000 , , .500 , , 2.9 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 3.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 227 , , 42 , , 15.9 , , .516 , , .000 , , .759 , , 4.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 6.6

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1988–89 , align="left" ,

, 3 , , 0 , , 7.7 , , .750 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.7 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 4.7

References

External links

College & NBA statistics
@ basketballreference.com
Italian League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Ben 1961 births 2019 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Baloncesto León players Basketball players from Minneapolis CB Peñas Huesca players Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls draft picks Detroit Pistons players FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Liga ACB players Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players Milwaukee Bucks players Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players Montecatiniterme Basketball players New Jersey Nets players North Community High School alumni Omaha Racers players Pallacanestro Trieste players Pallacanestro Virtus Roma players Philadelphia 76ers players Power forwards (basketball) Rapid City Thrillers players Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) players