February 5
From Hoopedia
- 1960 - (Right) Bill Russell pulls down 51 rebounds to set an NBA record, as his Celtics down the Syracuse Nationals, 124-100. It's the first time that anyone in the NBA recorded more than 50 rebounds. That record would be broken nine months later by Russell's arch-nemesis, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors, who would grab 55 rebounds against the Celtics on November 24, 1960.
- 1967 - Francis "Stretch" Meehan, a giant (6' 7") in his day, and one of the few gentiles to play for the Philadelphia SPHAs, passes away at age 70. He left Seton Hall in 1919 to turn pro.
- 1972 - Robert Douglas, founder of the New York Rens, becomes the first African American elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
- 1984 - Chuck Cooper, the first African American drafted by an NBA team, passes away at age 57.
- 1989 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes first NBA player to score 38,000 points.
