Ossie Schectman - wikipedia Ossie Schectman Ossie Schectman ( 1919 - 03 - 30 ) March 30, 1919 Queens, New York July 30, 2013 ( 2013 - 07 - 30 ) ( aged 94 ) Delray Beach, Florida Nationality American Listed height 6 ft 0 in ( 1.83 m ) Listed weight 175 lb ( 79 kg ) Career information High school Samuel J. Tilden ( Brooklyn, New York ) College LIU Brooklyn ( 1938 -- 1941 ) Playing career 1941 -- 1948 Position Shooting guard / Small forward Number 6 Career history 1941 -- 1946 Philadelphia Sphas 1946 -- 1947 New York Knicks 1947 -- 1948 Paterson Crescents Career highlights and awards All - ABL First Team ( 1948 ) Consensus second - team All - American ( 1941 ) Oscar Benjamin `` Ossie '' Schectman ( March 30, 1919 -- July 30, 2013 ) was an American professional basketball player. He is credited with having scored the first basket in the Basketball Association of America ( BAA ), which would later become the National Basketball Association ( NBA ). Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Professional career 2.1 Philadelphia Sphas ( 1941 -- 1946 ) 2.2 New York Knicks ( 1946 -- 1947 ) 2.3 Paterson Crescents ( 1947 -- 1948 ) 3 Later life and death 4 BAA career statistics 4.1 Regular season 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Early life and career Schectman was born on March 30, 1919, in Kew Gardens in Queens, New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He had four siblings. He played basketball while attending Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn, New York, and played under coach Clair Bee at Long Island University. He was a member of the team in 1939, when they won the National Invitation Tournament and National Championship. He was named to the Converse All - American first team in 1941. Professional career Philadelphia Sphas ( 1941 -- 1946 ) After obtaining his degree from LIU, Schectman played for Eddie Gottlieb 's Philadelphia Sphas in the American Basketball League. The Sphas joined the ABL in 1933 and won the league championship in 1942 -- 43. He was second in the league in scoring with 199 points ( 10.5 average ) in 1943 -- 44. He played with the Sphas until 1946, when he joined the New York Knicks of the Basketball Association of America. New York Knicks ( 1946 -- 1947 ) On November 1, 1946, in the first ever game of the Basketball Association of America ( BAA ), Schectman made the first basket when the Knicks played the Toronto Huskies at Toronto 's Maple Leaf Gardens. The Knicks won the game 68 -- 66. In 1949, the league expanded and became the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) ; thus, Schectman 's basket is considered the first in NBA history. Schectman played 54 games for the Knicks in his one season with the team. In that one season, Schectman averaged 8.1 points per game, ranking 39th in the league. This helped him have the highest win share for his team. Schectman ended his BAA career with 435 points. Paterson Crescents ( 1947 -- 1948 ) Schectman joined the Paterson Crescents of the ABL. The team won the league championship in 1947 -- 48, and Schectman was named to the All - ABL first team. Later life and death He was made a member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Long Island University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. Schectman appeared in the 2008 documentary film The First Basket. On July 30, 2013, Schectman died at age 94 in Delray Beach, Florida. He was survived by his sons Stewart and Peter, his sister and two grandchildren. BAA career statistics Legend GP Games played FG % Field - goal percentage FT % Free - throw percentage APG Assists per game PPG Points per game Regular season Year Team GP FG % FT % APG PPG 1946 -- 47 New York 54. 276. 620 2.0 8.1 Career 54. 276. 620 2.0 8.1 See also List of select Jewish basketball players The First Basket References ^ Jump up to : `` Ossie Schectman, N.B.A. 's First Scorer, Dies at 94 ''. NY Times. Retrieved 31 July 2013. ^ Jump up to : Goldstein, Richard ( July 30, 2013 ), `` Ossie Schectman, N.B.A. 's First Scorer, Dies at 94 '', The New York Times Jump up ^ `` LIU Brooklyn to honor Knick who scored the first basket in NBA history ''. liu.edu. Retrieved 31 July 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` Schectman, Ossie ''. Jews in Sports. Retrieved February 26, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Do you know who scored THE FIRST BASKET in the NBA ? ''. Thefirstbasket.com. November 1, 1946. Archived from the original on June 25, 2003. Retrieved February 25, 2014. Jump up ^ `` The Story ''. The First Basket. November 1, 1946. Retrieved October 19, 2010. Jump up ^ `` 1946 - 47 BAA Player Stats : Per Game Basketball-Reference.com ''. Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2017 - 03 - 28. Jump up ^ Ossie Schectman at the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame External links Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com The First Basket -- Documentary Film Links to related articles 1941 NCAA Men 's Basketball Consensus All - Americans First Team John Adams Gus Broberg Howard Engleman Gene Englund George Glamack Second Team Frank Baumholtz Bob Kinney Paul Lindemann Stan Modzelewski Ossie Schectman Philadelphia Sphas 1942 -- 43 ABL Champions Davis Goldfaden Gotthoffer Klotz Lautman Morganstine Newman Opper Rosan Rosenberg Schectman Schwartz Torgoff Wolfe Head coach Gottlieb Philadelphia Sphas 1944 -- 45 ABL Champions Fleishman Garfinkel Hillhouse Klotz Lautman Levine Morganstine Opper H. Rader L. Rader Rosenberg Rothenberg Schectman Torgoff Head coach Gottlieb Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ossie_Schectman&oldid=827591578 '' Categories : 1919 births 2013 deaths All - American college men 's basketball players Basketball players from New York ( state ) Jewish American sportspeople Jewish men 's basketball players LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men 's basketball players New York Knicks players Paterson Crescents players People from Kew Gardens, Queens Philadelphia Sphas players Samuel J. Tilden High School alumni Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Brooklyn Sportspeople from Queens, New York Burials at New Montefiore Cemetery Hidden categories : Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Français Italiano Malagasy Polski Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 25 February 2018, at 16 : 44 ( UTC ). 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Question: who scored the first basket in the nba
Answer: Oscar Benjamin "Ossie" Schectman