1952 NBA draft
The 1952 NBA draft was the sixth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 26, 1952, before the 1952–53 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In each round, the teams selected in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season, except for the defending champion, the Minneapolis Lakers, who was assigned the last pick of each round. The draft consisted of 17 rounds comprising 106 players selected.
| 1952 NBA draft | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Date(s) | April 26, 1952 |
| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Overview | |
| 106 total selections in 17 rounds | |
| League | NBA |
| First selection | Mark Workman, Milwaukee Hawks |
Draft selections and draftee career notes
Mark Workman from West Virginia University was selected first overall by the Milwaukee Hawks. Bill Mlkvy from Temple University was selected before the draft as Philadelphia Warriors' territorial pick. Don Meineke from the University of Dayton was selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the second round and went on to win the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award.[1] The ninth pick of the draft, Clyde Lovellette from University of Kansas, was the only player from that draft to make it to an NBA All-Star Game at least once and to have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.[2][3]
Tenth-round pick Gene Conley played both professional basketball and baseball. He played six seasons in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks as well as 11 seasons in the Major League Baseball (MLB). He won three NBA championships with the Celtics as well as the 1957 World Series with the Milwaukee Braves, becoming the only athlete to win world championships in both basketball and baseball.[4]
Dick Groat from Duke was picked 3rd overall by the Fort Wayne Pistons and went on to win the National League 1960 MVP, and two World Series championships while playing shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates and then the St. Louis Cardinals.
Key
| Pos. | G | F | C |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
| ^ | Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| # | Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game |
Draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T | – | Bill Mlkvy | F |  |
Philadelphia Warriors | Temple |
| 1 | 1 | Mark Workman | F/C | |
Milwaukee Hawks | West Virginia |
| 1 | 2 | Jim Baechtold | G/F | |
Baltimore Bullets | Eastern Kentucky |
| 1 | 3 | Dick Groat | G | |
Fort Wayne Pistons | Duke |
| 1 | 4 | Joe Dean# | G | |
Indianapolis Olympians | LSU |
| 1 | 5 | Ralph Polson | F/C | |
New York Knicks | Whitworth |
| 1 | 6 | Bill Stauffer# | F | |
Boston Celtics | Missouri |
| 1 | 7 | Bob Lochmueller | F | |
Syracuse Nationals | Louisville |
| 1 | 8 | Chuck Darling# | F/C | |
Rochester Royals | Iowa |
| 1 | 9 | Clyde Lovellette^ | F/C | |
Minneapolis Lakers | Kansas |
| 2 | 10 | Eddie Miller | F/C | |
Milwaukee Hawks | Syracuse |
| 2 | 11 | Blaine Denning | G | |
Baltimore Bullets | Lawrence Tech |
| 2 | 12 | Don Meineke | F/C | |
Fort Wayne Pistons | Dayton |
| 2 | 13 | Walt Davis | F/C | |
Philadelphia Warriors | Texas A&M |
| 2 | 14 | Bob Zawoluk | F/C | |
Indianapolis Olympians | St. John's |
| 2 | 15 | Roy Belliveau# | – | |
New York Knicks | Seton Hall |
| 2 | 16 | Jim Iverson# | G | |
Boston Celtics | Kansas State |
| 2 | 17 | Jim Brasco | G | |
Syracuse Nationals | NYU |
| 2 | 18 | Bryant Ivey# | – | |
Rochester Royals | Alabama |
| 2 | 19 | Tom Ackerman# | – | |
Minneapolis Lakers | West Liberty State |
Other picks
The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one NBA game.[5][6]
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 21 | Chuck Grigsby | G | |
Baltimore Bullets | Dayton |
| 3 | 25 | Dick Bunt | G | |
New York Knicks | NYU |
| 4 | 35 | Bert Cook | G/F | |
New York Knicks | Utah State |
| 4 | 37 | Herm Hedderick | G | |
Boston Celtics | Canisius |
| 4 | 38 | Ronnie MacGilvray | G | |
Rochester Royals | St. John's |
| 5 | 40 | George McLeod | F | |
Milwaukee Hawks | TCU |
| 5 | 43 | Tom Brennan | F | |
Philadelphia Warriors | Villanova |
| 5 | 44 | Gene Rhodes | G | |
Indianapolis Olympians | Western Kentucky |
| 5 | 47 | Ken McBride | G/F | |
Syracuse Nationals | Maryland State |
| 6 | 58 | Jack McMahon | G | |
Rochester Royals | St. John's |
| 6 | 59 | Jim Holstein | G/F | |
Minneapolis Lakers | Cincinnati |
| 7 | 61 | Bob Priddy | F | |
Baltimore Bullets | New Mexico A&M |
| 7 | 64 | Skippy Whitaker | G | |
Indianapolis Olympians | Kentucky |
| 8 | 73 | Moe Radovich | G | |
Philadelphia Warriors | Wyoming |
| 8 | 75 | Dick Surhoff | F | |
New York Knicks | Long Island |
| 10 | 90 | Gene Conley | F/C | |
Boston Celtics | Washington State |
| 11 | 93 | Bob Peterson | F | |
Baltimore Bullets | Oregon |
| 11 | 96 | Carl McNulty | G | |
Minneapolis Lakers | Purdue |
| 12 | 97 | Jim Walsh | F | |
Baltimore Bullets | Stanford |
References
- General
- "1952 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
- "1952–1956 NBA Drafts". The Association for Professional Basketball Research. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
- "1952 NBA Draft". The Draft Review. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
- Specific
- "Rookie of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- http://basketball-players.pointafter.com/stories/5042/2000-nba-draft-re-pick-terrible-awful%5B%5D
- Grossfeld, Stan (January 13, 2008). "Conley had twice as much fun". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
- "1952 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.com.
- "NBA Past Drafts - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com.