Leroy Patrick Chollet (March 5, 1925 – June 10, 1998) was an American professional basketball who led then-segregated Loyola University to its first national championship. After his African American heritage was revealed, Chollet moved from New Orleans to New York State and played three seasons for Canisius College. In New York, he again passed as white; Canisius would later claim Chollet to be the school's first African-American basketball player.

He played for several professional teams, including the Syracuse Nationals, where he feuded with Syracuse player-coach Al Cervi. During the inaugural season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Chollet came off the bench as a role player behind established vets. An argument after a loss resulted in Cervi making Chollet coach for a game. Chollet responded by benching his coach. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Holy Cross School, Loyola, and Canisius.

Early life and high school
Leroy Chollet was born to Olga and Alfred Chollet on March 5, 1925. His paternal great-grandmother was black, making Chollet and his siblings one-eighth black. By the standards of the time this meant that Leroy Chollet and his family, could be subject to racial segregation laws in the South. The family moved from New Roads to New Orleans where they passed as white. The Chollet brothers—Leroy, Al, and Hillary—all attended Holy Cross, which refused admission to black students. The brothers excelled at sports, and Leroy Chollet led the basketball team to consecutive state titles.

College career

Leroy Chollet served eleven months in the U.S. Navy before being discharged and moving on to college. He attended Loyola University New Orleans from 1944 to 1945 as a student athlete, during a season that played out against the backdrop of World War II. Loyola alumni followed the team from overseas, writing battlefield letters back to the current players, and the school held Mass in memory of former students who were killed in action. The team faced traditional Dixie Conference opponents and armed forces teams from across the Southern United States.

During his freshman year, Chollet led the Loyola Wolf Pack to Louisiana's first national basketball championship. After a quiet start, he became the team's leading scorer. In the low-scoring semifinals of the 1945 NAIA basketball tournament, Loyola fell behind 30–21, before Chollet and team captain John Casteix led the Wolf Pack on a late-game scoring run; they beat Southern Illinois by a single basket. In their final game, Loyola defeated Pepperdine University with Chollet scoring a game-high eighteen points.

His younger brother Hillary Chollet had become a high school football star, recruited by rival colleges Louisiana State University (LSU) and Tulane. After Hillary chose Tulane, the family's genealogy came under increased scrutiny. Louisiana colleges were segregated, and neither Tulane nor Loyola accepted black students. Chollet's Wolf Pack teammates wanted him to stay at Loyola but could not influence the unfolding events. Amidst public rumors of their African ancestry, the Chollet parents endured harassment, the family was ostracized socially, and the children were pushed out of New Orleans' white universities. Hillary went out of state to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Leroy transferred to Canisius, a private Jesuit college in Buffalo. Older brother Al and their parents followed them to New York State after an experience the family described as "being run out of town."

Chollet played three seasons for Canisius and became their first player to total 1,000 points. While Chollet was on the team, LSU traveled to New York twice to play against Canisius and lost both times. In the final game of his senior season, Chollet scored 14 to push the school record to 1,116 total points. 

In New York, the Chollet family again passed as white. Louisiana newspapers did not openly publish their ancestry, and the family was not a part of the black community. Canisius later claimed Leroy Chollet as their first African American basketball player. Chollet was inducted into the Canisius Hall of Fame in 1964, and the Loyola Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.

Professional career

Chollet signed with the Syracuse Nationals during the NBA's inaugural season after the BAA and NBL merger. In the NBA's early days, the most successful and popular franchises were the smaller Midwest teams that had originated in the NBL. Syracuse was one of the league's smallest markets. One of Chollet's teammates remarked that the State Fair Coliseum, the team's home venue, would get so "smoky you often had real trouble seeing through the haze." The NBA was ostensibly a white league at the beginning, with Wataru Misaka the only openly non-white player. 

In the NBA, Chollet was a reserve guard tasked with facilitating. No longer a primary scoring option, his role was to set up plays and distribute the ball to the teams' vets. The Nationals were led by future Basketball Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, all-star Billy Gabor, and player-coach Al "The Digger" Cervi. Syracuse made it to the first NBA Finals but fell to the Lakers in six games.

During his time with the Nationals, Chollet feuded with Al Cervi over playing time. Chollet told Cervi that he would make a better coach during an argument. When Cervi responded by making Chollet coach for a game, the rookie benched his own coach. According to teammate Alex Hannum, "Chollet did not send Cervi in until the last 30 seconds or so—about the usual time Cervi sent in Leroy."

For a season, Chollet was player-coach of the Utica Pros, an American Basketball League team that farmed players to larger NBA teams including the Nationals and the New York Knicks. Chollet became a top-scorer in the ABL and was recalled by Syracuse but barely played after an early ankle injury. His last season of professional basketball was with another ABL team, the Elmira Colonels. He announced during the season that he was retiring from professional basketball to seek a stable coaching position.

Later life 
After his professional basketball career, Chollet moved to his wife's hometown, Lakewood, Ohio. Upon learning of the new Catholic high school being built for the area, St. Edward High School, Chollet got a construction job there. After construction was completed, St. Edwards hired him as a teacher and coach. Chollet was the varsity head coach from 1956 to 1960 and retired in 1985. He was an administrator for community sports programs at the Lakewood Recreation Department from 1960 to 1980 and tended bar at local landmark Kluck's. Chollet died in 1998 and was buried at Milan Cemetery.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

Playoffs

Source:

ABL

Source:

College  

Sources: ,

Notes

Citations

References

 
 
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External links

ABL statistics from Stats Crew

1925 births
1998 deaths
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from New Orleans
Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball players
Holy Cross High School, New Orleans alumni
Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball players
Small forwards
Syracuse Nationals players
Utica Pros players
African-American Catholics