Walt Bellamy

For the Canadian ice hockey player, see Walt Bellamy (ice hockey).

Walt Bellamy

Bellamy with the Atlanta Hawks in 1972
Personal information
Born	(1939-07-24)July 24, 1939 New Bern, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	November 2, 2013(2013-11-02) (aged 74) College Park, Georgia, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school	J.T. Barber (New Bern, North Carolina)
College	Indiana (1958–1961)
NBA draft	1961: 1st round, 1st overall pick
Selected by the Chicago Packers
Playing career	1961–1974
Position	Center
Number	8
Career history
1961–1965	Chicago Packers / Zephyrs / Baltimore Bullets
1965–1968	New York Knicks
1968–1970	Detroit Pistons
1970–1974	Atlanta Hawks
1974	New Orleans Jazz
Career highlights and awards
4× NBA All-Star (1962–1965) NBA Rookie of the Year (1962) Consensus second-team All-American (1961) First-team All-American – USBWA (1960) Second-team All-American – NEA (1960) Third-team All-American – UPI (1960)
Career statistics
Points	20,941 (20.1 ppg)
Rebounds	14,241 (13.7 rpg)
Assists	2,544 (2.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Basketball Hall of Fame
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006
Medals Men's basketball Representing United States Olympic Games 1960 Rome Team competition

Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. A four-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

College career

Bellamy chose to play basketball at Indiana University. About the experience, he recalled: "In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana. Indiana at the time was the closest school to the South that would accept African-Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make. Not that I was naive to what was going on in Bloomington in terms of the times, but it didn't translate to the athletic department or the classroom. Every relationship was good."

Bellamy graduated from Indiana University with the most school rebounds in a career with 1,087 in only 70 games, or 15.5 per game. He also averaged 20.6 points per game and shot 51.7 percent from the floor for his college career. As a senior, Bellamy averaged 17.8 rebounds per game (still Indiana's record). He also holds the school records for most rebounds in a season (649) and most double-doubles in a career (59). In 2000, he was selected to Indiana University's All-Century Team.

In his final college game, he set an Indiana and Big Ten Conference record that still stands with 33 rebounds in an 82–67 win over Michigan. Bellamy was named an All-American in both his junior and senior year (1960 and 1961). Bellamy was the first Hoosier taken No. 1 in the 1961 NBA draft and the first Hoosier named NBA Rookie of the Year.

1960 Olympics

Bellamy was the starting center on the gold medal-winning 1960 American basketball team at the 1960 Summer Olympics. 10 of the 12 college players on the undefeated American squad went on to play professionally in the NBA, including fellow Big Ten player Terry Dischinger and fellow future Hall-of-Famers Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry Lucas.

NBA career

Bellamy (No. 8) averaged 31.6 points per game and 19.0 rebounds per game during his rookie season.

Bellamy had a stellar 14-year career in the NBA, and was the NBA first overall draft pick in 1961, drafted by the Chicago Packers. Bellamy was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1962 after having arguably one of the three greatest rookie seasons in NBA history along with Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson. His 31.6 points per game average that season is second all-time for a rookie to Wilt Chamberlain's 37.6, and the 19 rebounds per game he averaged that season is the third-best all-time rookie mark (to Chamberlain's 27 and Bill Russell's 19.6). No NBA rookie has since surpassed Bellamy's 973 field goals during the 1961–62 season. Bellamy also led the NBA in field goal percentage in his rookie season, and had a 23-point, 17-rebound performance in the 1962 NBA All-Star Game.

Members of the 1963–64 Baltimore Bullets, from left to rightː Rod Thorn, Charles Hardnett, Walt Bellamy, Gus Johnson, and Terry Dischinger. Thorn, Bellamy and Johnson were elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

In the 1964–65 season, Bellamy scored 30 points and 37 rebounds in a win against the St. Louis Hawks. His 37 rebounds was his career-high in rebounds. Bellamy played with the Chicago Packers, which became the Baltimore Bullets, for his first four seasons. He was traded from the Bullets to the New York Knicks for Johnny Green, Johnny Egan, Jim Barnes and cash on November 1, 1965. He had been coveted by the Knicks since he entered the league.

Due to trades to teams with offset game schedules during the 1968–69 season when he was traded (with Howard Komives) from the Knicks to the Detroit Pistons for Dave DeBusschere, Bellamy set a still-standing record for NBA games played in a single season with 88, playing 35 games with the Knicks and 53 with the Pistons. He later played for several seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, and finished his career with the New Orleans Jazz.

Bellamy ended his NBA career with 20,941 points and 14,241 rebounds, and is a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, being inducted in 1993 for his individual career, and in 2010 as a member of the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team.

Personal life

After his retirement from the NBA, Bellamy was active with the NAACP, the Urban League and the YMCA in the Atlanta area. He served as a Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Executive Committee of the NAACP's Georgia State Conference.

Bellamy was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. His half-brother is professional boxer Ron Bellamy.

Bellamy died on November 2, 2013, at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife of 53 years, Helen Hollie Ragland Bellamy, son Derrin Bellamy, and two grandsons. He was buried at Atlanta's South-View Cemetery.

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1961–62	Chicago	79	–	42.3	.519	–	.644	19.0	2.7	–	–	31.6
1962–63	Chicago	80	–	41.3	.527	–	.674	16.4	2.9	–	–	27.9
1963–64	Baltimore	80	–	42.4	.513	–	.651	17.0	1.6	–	–	27.0
1964–65	Baltimore	80	–	41.3	.509	–	.685	14.6	2.4	–	–	24.8
1965–66	Baltimore	8	–	33.5	.452	–	.597	12.8	2.3	–	–	19.0
1965–66	New York	72	–	42.8	.512	–	.627	16.0	3.0	–	–	23.2
1966–67	New York	79	–	38.1	.521	–	.636	13.5	2.6	–	–	19.0
1967–68	New York	82	–	32.9	.541	–	.662	11.7	2.0	–	–	16.7
1968–69	New York	35	–	32.5	.507	–	.619	11.0	2.2	–	–	15.2
1968–69	Detroit	53	–	38.2	.512	–	.663	13.5	1.9	–	–	18.8
1969–70	Detroit	56	–	20.9	.547	–	.562	7.1	1.0	–	–	10.0
1969–70	Atlanta	23	–	37.2	.491	–	.605	13.5	3.8	–	–	15.5
1970–71	Atlanta	82	–	35.5	.493	–	.604	12.9	2.8	–	–	14.7
1971–72	Atlanta	82	–	38.9	.545	–	.585	12.8	3.2	–	–	18.6
1972–73	Atlanta	74	–	37.9	.505	–	.538	13.0	2.4	–	–	16.1
1973–74	Atlanta	77	–	31.7	.486	–	.608	9.6	2.5	.7	.6	13.1
1974–75	New Orleans	1	–	14.0	1.000	–	1.000	5.0	.0	.0	.0	6.0
Career		1,043	–	37.3	.516	–	.632	13.7	2.4	.7	.6	20.1
All-Star		4	3	20.8	.500	–	.526	7.5	1.0	–	–	12.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1965	Baltimore	10	–	42.7	.468	–	.663	15.1	3.4	–	–	20.9
1967	New York	4	–	39.3	.519	–	.586	16.5	3.0	–	–	18.3
1968	New York	6	–	46.2	.421	–	.625	16.0	3.5	–	–	20.0
1970	Atlanta	9	–	40.9	.468	–	.717	15.6	3.9	–	–	16.8
1971	Atlanta	5	–	43.2	.594	–	.759	14.4	2.0	–	–	20.8
1972	Atlanta	6	–	41.2	.488	–	.628	13.7	1.8	–	–	18.5
1973	Atlanta	6	–	41.2	.395	–	.452	12.2	2.2	–	–	13.7
Career		46	–	42.2	.471	–	.642	14.8	3.0	–	–	18.5

See also

• List of NBA career scoring leaders
• List of NBA career rebounding leaders
• List of NBA career personal fouls leaders
• List of NBA career free throw scoring leaders
• List of NBA career minutes played leaders
• List of NBA rookie single-season scoring leaders

External links

• Walt Bellamy at IMDb
• Basketball Hall of Fame profile for Walt Bellamy
• Walt Bellamy's NBA career stats
• Walt Bellamy – A reflection