August 31
From Hoopedia
- 1915 - Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell, winner of NIT, NCAA and Olympic championships, is born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Newell was well known for running "Pete Newell's Big Man Camp," which almost every great center in the NBA has attended.
- 1952 - Mickey Johnson, "The Rubber Band Man," is born in Chicago, Illinois. He played in the NBA for 12 productive seasons.
- 1968 - Jennifer Azzi, two-time All-American at Stanford and a guard on the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympics US women's team, is born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- 1970 - The American Basketball Association's Louisiana Buccaneers move to Memphis and become the Memphis Pros.
- 1990 - Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (right) passes away. Clifton was the first African American to sign a contract to play in the National Basketball Association. He debuted with the Knicks in 1950.
