Kenneth Robert Sears (August 17, 1933 – April 23, 2017) 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 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). He was the first basketball player on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' magazine, appearing on the December 20, 1954, issue during his senior season in college. Born and raised in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self ...

, Sears graduated from its high school in 1951 and played college basketball at nearby Santa Clara University. As a freshman, Sears led the Broncos to the final four (semifinals) of the NCAA tournament in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, held in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. A forward, Sears was a first round selection of the New York Knicks in the

1955 NBA draft The 1955 NBA draft was the ninth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 13, 1955, before the 1955–56 season. In this draft, eight remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college bask ...

and played eight seasons (1955–1961, 1962–1964) in the NBA with the Knicks and

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1 ...

. He averaged 13.9 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game in his NBA career, appearing as an

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...

in and . Sears also led the NBA in

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the genera ...

in consecutive years (

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

). Sears spent the 1961–62 season with the San Francisco Saints in the short-lived American Basketball League (ABL).History of the American Basketball League
Retrieved May 31, 2007.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

1933 births 2017 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from California National Basketball Association All-Stars New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players People from Watsonville, California Power forwards (basketball) Rochester Royals draft picks San Francisco Saints players San Francisco Warriors players Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball players Small forwards {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub