Woodrow Sauldsberry Jr. (July 11, 1934 – September 3, 2007) was an American

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) player. Sauldsberry was born in

Winnsboro, Louisiana Winnsboro is a city in, and the parish seat of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,910, down from 5,344 in 2000. The city is 59 percent African American. U.S. Highway 425 passes north–south t ...

and graduated from Compton Union High School, where he was the star of his basketball team, and then went on to attend

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...

. In 1957 he was drafted in Round 8 by the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

(now the Golden State Warriors). The following year in 1958, he was named the league's Rookie of the Year — the second

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

ever to win the award and becoming the lowest overall draft pick ever to win the award, a record he still holds. In 1959 he played in the

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, ...

. Later in his career he played for the St. Louis Hawks, Chicago Zephyrs and

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

. Statistically, Woody Sauldsberry was an extremely poor shooter, having a field goal percentage of just 34.8% for his career. As a result, he has the lowest number of win shares of any player in NBA history, -7.9. During the 1950s Sauldsberry was part of the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of ...

. After becoming bitter over discrimination and shunning the basketball world, he died in poverty in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

after having a foot amputated due to diabetes.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

* Brodie, James Michae
"Life and Basketball: The Redemption of Woody Sauldsberry"
''Baltimore City Paper'', March 28, 2001

provided by BasketballReference.com
Fond Farewell – National Basketball Retired Players Association.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauldsberry, Woody 1934 births 2007 deaths African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Louisiana Boston Celtics players Centers (basketball) Chicago Packers players Chicago Zephyrs players Compton High School alumni Harlem Globetrotters players National Basketball Association All-Stars New Haven Elms players People from Winnsboro, Louisiana Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Philadelphia Warriors players Power forwards (basketball) St. Louis Hawks players Texas Southern Tigers men's basketball players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people