Melvin P. Bennett (born January 4, 1955) is a retired 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. He played forward for the

Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, ...

(1975–76) of the American Basketball Association and the Indiana Pacers (1976–78),

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

(1980–81) and Cleveland Cavaliers (1981–82) of 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 ...

. Born and raised in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, he played at Peabody High School and the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

. Currently, he works as an aide at Ocean City Intermediate School in

Ocean City, New Jersey Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the principal city of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Cape May County and is part of the Philadelphia- Wilmington- Camden, ...

. There, he gives students snacks as prizes for answering his trivia questions. In 2015, he was voted by the students to dress like a turkey for

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

References

External links

Databasebasketball's entry on Mel Bennett
1955 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Pittsburgh Cleveland Cavaliers players Hawaii Volcanos players Indiana Pacers players Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Undrafted National Basketball Association players Utah Jazz players Virginia Squires draft picks Virginia Squires players {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub