height_ft statvalue nationality birth_date career_start years draft_year team draft_pick number image college statlabel name caption high_school weight_lb birth_place draft_team career_end position draft_round letter height_in bbr article_title
6 11,305 -rrb- 1,114 -lrb- 1.6 apg -rrb- -lrb- 15.8 ppg -rrb- 6,508 -lrb- 9.1 rpg american 07 october 1934 1956 1956 1963 start -- 1965 end start 1956 -- 1962 start 1962 -- 1963 1956 st. boston celtics louis hawks new york knicks san francisco warriors 9 33 , 6 , 71 , 12 willie naulls.jpg ucla -lrb- 1953 -- 1956 -rrb- points rebounds assists willie naulls naulls from 1956 ucla yearbook san pedro -lrb- san pedro , california -rrb- 225 dallas , texas st. louis hawks 1966 power forward / center 2 n 6 naullwi01 willie naulls

willie naulls

william dean `` willie '' naulls -lrb- born october 7 , 1934 -rrb- is a retired american basketball player .
a 6 ' 6 '' power forward/center , he played professionally in the national basketball association from 1956 to 1966 .
while attending san pedro high school in san pedro , california he was named as california mr. basketball in 1952 .
after becoming an all-american playing at ucla , naulls was drafted by the st. louis hawks in 1956 .
he spent just 19 games with the hawks , however , before being traded to the new york knicks , with whom he would spend the prime of his career .
he averaged a double-double -lrb- 19.3 points per game , 10 .
7 rebounds per game -rrb- during his seven-year tenure with the team , and he appeared as an nba all-star four times .
while with the knicks , naulls was also the first african-american player to be named captain of a major professional sports team .
during the 1962-63 nba season , the knicks traded naulls to the san francisco warriors , who then traded naulls to the boston celtics .
naulls would spend his last three professional seasons with the celtics , winning three nba championship rings in the process .
he was a member of the 1964-1965 celtics team that was named one of the ten best teams in the nba at the 50th anniversary of the association .
upon retiring in 1966 , he had tallied 11,305 career points and 6,508 career rebounds .
on february 24 , 2005 , naulls , campy russell , and kenny walker were honored by the knicks during their `` hardwood classics night . ''
