# 1951 NBA draft

The 1951 NBA draft was the fifth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 25, 1951, before the 1951–52 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In each round, the teams select in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. The Tri-Cities Blackhawks participated in the draft, but relocated to Milwaukee and became the Milwaukee Hawks prior to the start of the season. The draft consisted of 12 rounds comprising 87 players selected.

## Draft selections and draftee career notes

Gene Melchiorre from Bradley University was selected first overall by the Baltimore Bullets. However, he never played in the NBA due to his involvement in a point shaving scandal while playing college basketball. Melchiorre would be joined by fellow Bradley teammates Bill Mann (the 21st pick of the draft) and Aaron Preece (the 72nd pick of the draft) in terms of players selected in this year's draft to never play in the NBA due to their involvement in the aforementioned point shaving scandal (other individuals involved and named at the time either went undrafted at the time, were already selected in previous drafts before this year, or were already disqualified from entering the draft this year due to the discovery at hand). Whitey Skoog from University of Minnesota was selected before the draft as Minneapolis Lakers' territorial pick.

## Key

| Pos. | G | F | C |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
| $^+$ | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
| $^#$ | Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game |

## Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | College |
| T | – | Whitey Skoog | G | United States | Minneapolis Lakers | Minnesota |
| 1 | 1 | Gene Melchiorre$^#$ | G | United States | Baltimore Bullets | Bradley |
| 1 | 2 | Mel Hutchins$^+$ | F/C | United States | Tri-Cities Blackhawks | Brigham Young |
| 1 | 3 | Marc Freiberger$^#$ | C | United States | Indianapolis Olympians | Oklahoma |
| 1 | 4 | Zeke Sinicola | G | United States | Fort Wayne Pistons | Niagara |
| 1 | 5 | John McConathy | F | United States | Syracuse Nationals | Northwestern State |
| 1 | 6 | Ed Smith | F | United States | New York Knicks | Harvard |
| 1 | 7 | Ernie Barrett | G/F | United States | Boston Celtics | Kansas State |
| 1 | 8 | Sam Ranzino | G | United States | Rochester Royals | NC State |
| 1 | 9 | Don Sunderlage$^+$ | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Illinois |
| 2 | 10 | Jack Stone$^#$ | G/F | United States | Baltimore Bullets | Kansas State |
| 2 | 11 | Bill Gossett$^#$ | F/C | United States | Tri-Cities Blackhawks | Colorado A&M |
| 2 | 12 | Scotty Steagall$^#$ | G | United States | Indianapolis Olympians | Millikin |
| 2 | 13 | Jack Kiley | G | United States | Fort Wayne Pistons | Syracuse |
| 2 | 14 | Don Savage | G/F | United States | Syracuse Nationals | Le Moyne |
| 2 | 15 | Roland Minson$^#$ | G | United States | New York Knicks | Brigham Young |
| 2 | 16 | Bill Garrett$^#$ | F | United States | Boston Celtics | Indiana |
| 2 | 17 | Ray Ragelis | F | United States | Rochester Royals | Northwestern |
| 2 | 18 | Mel Payton | G/F | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Tulane |
| 2 | 19 | Lew Hitch | F/C | United States | Minneapolis Lakers | Kansas State |

## Other picks

The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one NBA game.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | College |
| 3 | 23 | Jake Fendley | F | United States | Fort Wayne Pistons | Northwestern |
| 3 | 24 | Bato Govedarica | G | United States | Syracuse Nationals | DePaul |
| 3 | 27 | Fred Diute | G | United States | Rochester Royals | St. Bonaventure |
| 4 | 31 | Jim Slaughter | C | United States | Tri-Cities Blackhawks | South Carolina |
| 4 | 32 | Bill Tosheff | G | United States | Indianapolis Olympians | Indiana |
| 4 | 37 | Elmer Behnke | C | United States | Rochester Royals | Bradley |
| 5 | 48 | Mike Kearns | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Princeton |
| 6 | 51 | John Rennicke | G | United States | Tri-Cities Blackhawks | Drake |
| 6 | 55 | Al McGuire | G/F | United States | New York Knicks | St. John's |
| 6 | 56 | James Luisi | G | United States | Boston Celtics | St. Francis (NY) |
| 7 | 68 | George Dempsey | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | King's (NY) |
| 8 | 77 | James Phelan | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | La Salle |

## Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1951 draft, but played at least one game in the NBA.
| Player | Pos. | Nationality | School/club team |
| John O'Boyle | G | United States | Colorado State |