Joe Fulks
From Hoopedia
Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks (October 26, 1921 - March 21, 1976) was the first scoring champ of Basketball Association of America, the forerunner of today's NBA, and also the first to reach 1,000 points in a career. He won a championship in the league's first season, with the Philadelphia Warriors.
Fulks was born in Birmingham, Kentucky, a small town in the state's far-western Purchase region that was inundated in the 1940s after the Tennessee Valley Authority dammed the Tennessee River to create Kentucky Lake. Rejecting an offer to play for Adolph Rupp and his Kentucky Wildcats, he played college ball instead at Murray State Teachers' College. In the midst of World War II, Fulks, like many of his generation, left school early, after only two years. He joined the Marines and saw service in the Pacific. He also played some basketball.
After the War, Fulks joined the BAA's Philadelphia Warriors while in his 20s, and his team won the BAA title in 1947. During his career, he was considered the league's greatest offensive player. During his first three seasons, Fulks averaged 23.9 points per game at a time when, before the advent of the shot-clock, teams rarely scored over 70 points in a game. He won the league's first scoring title in 1946-47 with a 23.2 point per game average, and had a career best 26.0 per game average in the 1948-49 season.
Sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards," Fulks perfected the jump shot. The 63 points Fulks scored on February 10, 1949 -- the most in an NBA game until Elgin Baylor scored 64 on November 8, 1959. Fulks' 63-point outburst came during the Warrior's 108-87 victory over the Indianapolis Jets. Fulks made 27 of 56 shots and nine of 14 free throws. Along the way he shattered the record for most points in one half (33); field goals; and field goal attempts.
The 6'5" (1.96 m) Fulks was known both for his athletic drives to the basket as well as his jump shot. In 1961 he was named NBA 25th Anniversary Team. Inexplicably, he was not included in the NBA - 50 Greatest Players list commemorating the NBA's first 50 years.
Upon his retirement he returned to Marshall County, Kentucky where he lived the remainder of his life. He was shot and killed during an argument with Gregg Bannister over a handgun on March 21, 1976.
