Walt Bellamy

Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He played 14 seasons as a center in the National Basketball Association, playing for four different teams. As a star for Indiana University in basketball in rebounds, he was invited to join the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team. In the Games that year, the team won every game by an average of over 40 points and is considered among the best amateur level basketball teams of all time. Bellamy was the first overall pick of the 1961 draft, where he was selected by the expansion team Chicago Packers. In his rookie season, he averaged 31.6 points per game and 19 rebounds on his way to winning Rookie of the Year in what has been called one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.

After over four seasons with the team (which moved to Baltimore in 1963), he was traded to the New York Knicks in 1965. He played nearly four seasons before being traded to the Detroit Pistons, whereupon he played two seasons before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the close of the 1969-70 season. He played four seasons for the team before playing one game for the New Orleans Jazz to close his career. Bellamy reached the Conference Finals twice in his career but never played in the NBA Finals. An durable player who played over 70 games in thirteen consecutive seasons, he was an efficient scorer and rebounder who averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds for a career while being named an NBA All-Star four times in his career. Bellamy was the second player (after Wilt Chamberlain) to obtain 20,000 points and 14,000 rebounds for a career; only seven other players have achieved the mark since Bellamy. Bellamy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice: 1993 for his individual career and again in 2010 as a member of the 1960 team.