December 3
From Hoopedia
Quite a day for collegiate center debuts.
See 1956 and 1966.
- 1913 - Charlie Shipp who made 5 All-NBL 1st teams and 2 All-NBL 2nd teams is born.
- 1924 - Fred Taylor, Hall of Fame coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, is born in Zanesville, Ohio.
- 1946 - "Jumpin' Joe" Fulks (right) of the Philadelphia Warriors sets a league scoring mark with 37 points against the Providence Steamrollers at Philadelphia. Fulks’s 50 field goal attempts (he made 16) were the most by a player during a game in the Basketball Association of America’s inaugural season. The BAA was the forerunner to the NBA.
- 1956 - Wilt Chamberlain makes his debut with the Kansas Jayhawks by scoring a school-record 52 points in an 87-69 victory over Northwestern.
- 1966 - Lew Alcindor (later to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) plays his first game for the UCLA Bruins, scoring a school-record 56 points in a 105-90 triumph over cross-town rival USC at Pauley Pavilion.
- 1993 - The Houston Rockets lose to the Atlanta Hawks, 133-111, to end their 15-game winning streak that started the season. That start ties the all-time NBA record set by the Washington Capitols at the start of the 1948-49 season.
- 1997 - Latrell Sprewell's four-year, $32 million dollar contract is terminated by the Golden State Warriors for attacking coach P. J. Carlesimo on December 1. If successful in the termination, the Warriors would avoid paying the approximately $24 million speedwell was scheduled to earn in the in final three years of the four-year deal signed before the previous season. It marks the first time an NBA player had his contract terminated for insubordination. Both actions are appealed by the NBA Players Association.
