Collis Temple
American basketball player (born 1952)
Collis Temple Jr. (born November 8, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs in the American Basketball Association (ABA). He played college basketball for the LSU Tigers.
01Career
College
The Kentwood, Louisiana native was the first African-American to play varsity basketball at Louisiana State University (LSU). When he joined the team in 1971, the Louisiana National Guard was called to protect him from angry segregationists. In the fourth season of the Slate podcast Slow Burn, Temple shared his experiences interacting with a young David Duke while they were both students at LSU.
As a senior, Temple earned All-Southeastern Conference honors after averaging 15.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. In 2017, Temple was elected to the Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Professional
Temple was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 94th pick of the 1974 NBA draft. He spent one season (1974, 75) with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 24 games. In February 1975, he joined the Iberia Superstars of the European Professional Basketball League.
02Personal
Temple has three sons and one daughter. Collis III and Garrett Temple both played at LSU. His daughter-in-law is Miss USA 2017 winner Kára Temple.
03Career statistics
| 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 |
ABA
Source
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974-75 | San Antonio | 24 | 4.3 | .415 | .000 | .800 | 1.3 | .6 | .2 | .2 | 1.8 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Collis Temple”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Collis Temple Jr Kentwood Rotary 2011-05-13.JPG by Richard David Ramsey, CC0
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