Ray Felix

Ray Felix
Personal information
Born (1930-12-10)December 10, 1930
New York City, New York
Died July 28, 1991(1991-07-28) (aged 60)
Queens, New York
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school Metropolitan
(New York City, New York)
College LIU Brooklyn (1949–1951)
NBA draft 1953 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Baltimore Bullets
Playing career 1953–1962
Position Center
Number 25, 19, 14
Career history
1953–1954 Baltimore Bullets
1954–1960 New York Knicks
1960–1962 Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 6,974 (10.9 ppg)
Rebounds 5,652 (8.9 rpg)
Assists 458 (0.7 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Raymond Darlington Felix (December 10, 1930 – July 28, 1991) was an American professional basketball player. He was born in New York City. He played high school basketball at Metropolitan High School in New York and college basketball at Long Island University.

Career

A 6' 11" center from Long Island University, Felix was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the first pick in the 1953 NBA Draft. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1954 after averaging 17.6 points and 13.3 rebounds. Felix was also the second African-American, following Don Barksdale, to be named an All-Star. Felix spent nine seasons in the league, and played for the Bullets, New York Knicks, Minneapolis Lakers, and Los Angeles Lakers. Felix had an incident with future hall of famer Bill Russell in Russell's rookie season, when after Russell felt Felix had been trying to intimidate him, he knocked Felix unconscious with a punch to the head.[1] Toward the end of his career, after having several of his shots blocked by Russell, Felix took the ball the flung it off the side of the backboard, saying to Russell, smiling, "You didn't get that one!"[2] Felix averaged 10.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, with career totals of 6,974 points and 5,652 rebounds. He retired in 1962.

After Basketball

Following his retirement he worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation[3] where he sponsored a basketball tournament in Elmhurst, Queens[4] and later worked as a supervisor at Harlem men's shelter.[5] He died of a heart attack on July 28, 1991. He had a son, Ray Jr., with his wife Gloria.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1953–54 Baltimore 72 37.1 .417 .638 13.3 1.1 17.6
1954–55 New York 72 28.1 .438 .622 11.4 0.9 14.4
1955–56 New York 72 23.6 .415 .706 8.7 0.7 12.3
1956–57 New York 72 22.5 .416 .747 8.2 0.5 12.0
1957–58 New York 72 23.7 .442 .697 10.4 0.7 12.2
1958–59 New York 72 22.1 .371 .713 7.9 0.7 10.4
1959–60 New York 16 11.6 .330 .576 5.1 0.1 5.1
1959–60 Minneapolis 31 22.5 .402 .646 8.3 0.9 8.4
1960–61 L.A. Lakers 78 19.4 .372 .699 6.9 0.5 6.6
1961–62 L.A. Lakers 80 18.5 .430 .692 5.9 0.7 5.4
Career 637 23.8 .412 .678 8.9 0.7 10.9
All-Star 1 32.0 .500 1.000 11.0 1.0 13.0

Playoffs

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1955 New York 3 21.0 .125 .619 4.0 0.3 5.7
1959 New York 2 22.5 .429 .500 11.5 1.0 13.0
1960 Minneapolis 8 18.4 .415 .720 6.6 1.1 6.5
1961 L.A. Lakers 12 28.3 .422 .769 10.4 0.8 10.2
1962 L.A. Lakers 13 18.6 .492 .684 5.9 0.5 6.5
Career 38 22.0 .419 .701 7.6 0.8 7.9

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, John (2006). The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball. Random House. p. 77.
  2. ↑ Hundley, Rod; McEachin, Tom (1998). Hot Rod Hundley: "You Gotta Love It, Baby". Sports Publishing LLC. p. 31.
  3. ↑ Ray Felix, 60, Is Dead; Knicks Center in 50's. New York Times obituaries, July 31, 1991. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  4. ↑ Mallozzi, Vincent (June 17, 2003). Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament. Knopf Doubleday.
  5. ↑ Berkow, Ira (August 1, 1991) Sports of The Times; Ray Felix Is Not Forgotten. New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2017.

(1950–1953)


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