Frank Ramsey (basketball)

Frank Vernon Ramsey ( born July 13, 1931 in Corydon, Kentucky ) is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. At the positions of the forward and the guards he could win in nine years at the NBA team the Boston Celtics seven championships. For his achievements, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1981.

Career

From 1950 to 1954 Ramsey played under the later Hall -of- Fame coach Adolph Rupp for the basketball team of the University of Kentucky. In his first year, Kentucky was the NCAA Championship win. Ramsey was elected to the NCAA All-America Third Team. The following year, you could re- qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but lost in the round of the last eight against the St. John 's University. Ramsey was this time elected to the NCAA All-America Second Team.

For the 1952/53 season, the University of Kentucky was excluded from all competitions college basketball because of a betting scandal. The former player Dale Barnstable, Ralph Beard and Alex Groza had allowed themselves to be bribed in 1949 to move a game, also center Bill Spivey was suspected, but in the end acquitted. This year Ramsey as his teammates Cliff Hagan and Lou Tsioropoulos graduated.

The next year, Kentucky was allowed to participate in the competition and made with 25 victories without defeat, the perfect season. Before the NCAA Tournament officials announced that the three star players may not participate in the tournament because they had obtained their diploma in the previous year. In a vote, a majority of players still spoke it out in the tournament to participate. However, Adolph Rupp vetoed because he saw no point in denying the tournament without the players that played a major part in the qualification. Kentucky is now the only team in the history of college basketball that closed a perfect season without national title. Ramsey was chosen again this year to the NCAA All-America Second Team. He finished his college days with 1344 points and 1038 rebounds.

The year before Ramsey had signed up for the 1953 NBA Draft and was selected fifth by the Boston Celtics. In addition to Ramsey, the Celtics selected with Cliff Hagan and Lou Tsioropoulos from two other players from the University of Kentucky.

In his first season Ramsey quickly became an important part of the team and played an average of 27.4 minutes. The Celtics have qualified with a balanced balance sheet for the playoffs, where they failed in the Eastern Division Finals at the eventual champions Syracuse Nationals. This should remain until the retirement of Frank Ramsey is the worst season for Boston. After his first year in the NBA Ramsey served from 1955 to 1957 as the First Lieutenant of the United States Army Military Police. In early 1957 he returned to the Celtics. In the regular season Boston was the best team. With a 4-3 over the St. Louis Hawks, the Celtics secured the first championship in the history of the franchise. To Victory after double extension in the seventh game Ramsey contributed 16 points.

Play

Ramsey was such a thing as the inventor of the position of the sixth man. He almost always came off the bench and played in his career on average still almost 25 minutes. Especially in critical situations thanks to both Ramsey and he showed his best performances under pressure.