Wikipedia

Don Kojis

Donald R. Kojis (January 15, 1939 – November 19, 2021) was an American professional basketball player who played twelve seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Kojis is credited as involved in the creation or advancement of the alley-oop dunk.

Don Kojis
Kojis from the 1960 "Hilltop"
Personal information
Born(1939-07-15)July 15, 1939
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 2021(2021-11-19) (aged 82)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High schoolNotre Dame
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
CollegeMarquette (1958–1961)
NBA draft1961: 2nd round, 21st overall pick
Selected by the Chicago Packers
Playing career1961–1975
PositionSmall forward
Number22, 16, 9, 44, 21
Career history
1961–1963Phillips 66ers
1963–1964Baltimore Bullets
1964–1966Detroit Pistons
1966–1967Chicago Bulls
1967–1970San Diego Rockets
1970–1972Seattle SuperSonics
1972–1975Kansas City-Omaha Kings
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points9,948 (12.2 ppg)
Rebounds4,555 (5.6 rpg)
Assists1,112 (1.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Representing  United States
Men's basketball
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1963 São Paulo Team Competition

Early life

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Kojis was born on July 15, 1939, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended Notre Dame High School in Milwaukee, where he was a standout basketball player.[1][2][3]

Basketball career

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College basketball

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Kojis attended Marquette University from 1958 to 1961, where he was a two-time All American.[2][3] Although only 6 ft 5 in, Kojis was often tasked with playing center on Marquette's small-sized team. Kojis also had tremendous leaping ability.[2] Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain would later say Kojis was "'the most jumping white boy I've ever seen.'"[3]

Kojis led the team in rebounding in the 1959-60 season averaging 15.4 rebounds per game. In 1960-61 his rebounding average increased to 17.1 a game. As of 2024, those remain the two highest season averages for a Marquette men's basketball player. (He also has the 7th highest season average, 13.0, from the 1958-1959 season).[4] As of 2024, his 1,222 total rebounds is also first in school history.[2][5] He could also score, averaging 20.9 and 21.4 points per game in his junior and senior years; and was the school's all-time scorer when he graduated.[6]

He was selected to the 1959 NCAA Tournament All-Mideast Team. In 1961, Marquette retired his number 44 jersey. In 1961, Catholic Digest named Kojis to the Catholic All-America Team. He was inducted into the Marquette 'M Club' Hall of Fame in 1972.[2][6]

AAU basketball

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Kojis was drafted by the Chicago Packers in the second round (13th pick) of the 1961 NBA draft.[7] Instead of going into the NBA, Kojis chose to play for the Phillips Oilers (also known as the Phillips 66ers) in the National Industrial Basketball League,[2] also working in the company's marketing department.[3] Teams in that league competed in Amateur Athletic Union basketball. At the time, working for a corporation while playing on its basketball team could be a more desirable career path than playing in the NBA.[8] It was on the 66ers that Kojis and teammate Charlie Bowerman began to develop the "Kangaroo Kram", which would later be known as the "alley-oop".[3]

International basketball

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In 1963, he was captain of the United States men's national basketball team at the 1963 FIBA World Championship that came in fourth place. He was also captain of the U.S. team that won the Gold Medal at the 1963 Pan American Games a few weeks earlier.[3][9]

NBA basketball

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Kojis decided to forego participating in the 1964 Olympics, and joined the NBA for the 1963-64 season.[3] The Packers had changed their name to the Chicago Zephyrs in 1962, and then moved to Baltimore for the 1963 season, and were known as the Baltimore Bullets (after 1997 they became the Washington Wizards).[10] Kojis played forward for the Bullets (1963–64), averaging about 15 minutes a game.[11]

He also played for the Detroit Pistons (1964–66), Chicago Bulls (1966–67) (acquired prior to the season via the expansion draft), San Diego Rockets (1967–70) (acquired prior to the 1967–68 season via the expansion draft), Seattle SuperSonics (1970–72) and Kansas City-Omaha Kings (1972–75).[12][13]

Kojis was taken in three expansion drafts, by the expansion Chicago Packers in 1961, the expansion Chicago Bulls in 1966, and the expansion San Diego Rockets in 1967.[13] He was one of two players ever selected in three expansion drafts (George Wilson – 1967, 1968, 1970[14] – being the other one).[citation needed] Kojis was also one of a small number of players who played for three expansion teams in their first year (Kojis playing for the 1961–62 Packers, the 1966–67 Bulls, and the 1967–68 Rockets).[citation needed] Kojis said he was mistakenly made available on the Bulls list of unprotected players because one of the team's owners replaced his name on that list while drunk on the flight to New York for the expansion draft.[15]

In his first year with the Bulls, Kojis played with future Naismith Hall of Fame point guard Guy Rodgers, who was known for his exceptional passing.[16][17] Rodgers had led the league in assists in 1962-63 (10.44) and would lead the league in the Bulls inaugural 1966-67 season (11.21).[18] Rodgers and Kojis worked together and "introduced the back door baseline lob slam dunk to the NBA", which became the team's most popular play that year in Chicago.[19] The precise origins of the alley-oop are not wholly clear. Among other claims, basketball legend Bill Russell and K.C. Jones are said to have developed the alley-oop, or a version of it, at the University of San Francisco in the 1950s.[20]

His best years came with the San Diego Rockets. In the 1967-68 season, he averaged 19.7 points per game and 10.3 rebounds a game (a career high). In the 1968-69 season, he averaged 22.5 points (a career high) and 9.6 rebounds a game.[12] He was named to the 1968 and 1969 NBA West All-Star Teams, as a San Diego Rocket, and was a starter in the 1969 game.[13]

He holds the Pistons' record for most field goal attempts per 48 minutes (25.35).[citation needed]

In 12 seasons he played in 814 Games, had 19,241 Minutes Played, 3,947 Field Goals Made, 8,853 Field Goals Attempted, .446 Field Goal Percentage, 2,054 Free Throws Made, 2,853 Free Throws Attempted, .720 Free Throw Percentage, 4,555 Rebounds, 1,112 Assists, 1,937 Personal Fouls and 9,948 Points.[12]

Personal life

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Kojis resided in the San Diego County community of Julian, California and was the director of Whispering Winds Catholic Conference Center for 34 years, serving hundreds of thousands of people over that time.[2][3] He died on November 19, 2021, at the age of 82.[2]

Career statistics

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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

NBA

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Source[12]

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1963–64 Baltimore 78 14.7 .419 .562 4.0 .7 6.3
1964–65 Detroit 65 12.9 .433 .633 3.7 1.0 6.5
1965–66 Detroit 60 13.1 .415 .539 4.3 .7 7.3
1966–67 Chicago 78 21.2 .426 .604 6.1 .9 10.2
1967–68 San Diego 69 36.9 .446 .726 10.3 2.6 19.7
1968–69 San Diego 81 38.6 .434 .748 9.6 2.6 22.5
1969–70 San Diego 56 28.2 .447 .751 6.9 1.4 15.3
1970–71 Seattle 79 27.1 .446 .778 5.5 1.6 14.6
1971–72 Seattle 73 25.4 .469 .793 4.6 1.1 11.4
1972–73 Kansas City–Omaha 77 16.1 .480 .774 2.6 1.0 8.5
1973–74 Kansas City–Omaha 77 27.2 .478 .772 5.0 1.4 1.0 .2 13.1
1974–75 Kansas City–Omaha 21 11.0 .469 .667 1.9 .5 .6 .0 5.3
Career 814 23.6 .446 .720 5.6 1.4 .9 .2 12.2
All-Star 2 1 13.0 .333 .800 3.5 2.0 6.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1967 Chicago 3 34.7 .479 .625 10.0 1.3 17.0
1969 San Diego 6 38.7 .440 .806 8.5 3.5 20.2
1975 Kansas City–Omaha 4 5.5 .167 .833 1.0 .3 .3 .0 1.8
Career 13 27.5 .442 .778 6.5 2.0 .3 .0 13.8

References

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  1. ^ "Don Kojis | National Basketball Retired Players Association". February 17, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Steele, Ben (November 19, 2021). "Milwaukee native Don Kojis, Marquette's all-time leading rebounder dies at 82". Journal Sentinel. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Denbow, Ken (December 10, 2021). "NBA star, Whispering Winds co-founder Don Kojis dies at 82". SDNews.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  4. ^ "Marquette Men's Basketball Leaders & Records - Season". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  5. ^ "Marquette Men's Basketball Leaders & Records - Career". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Don Kojis (1972) - Marquette 'M Club' Hall of Fame". Marquette University Athletics. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  7. ^ "1961 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  8. ^ Smith, Sam (November 26, 2021). "Rest In Peace To Don Kojis, The Original Bull". www.nba.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  9. ^ "USA Basketball: Men's World Championship Team History -- 1963". www.usabasketball.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  10. ^ "Washington Wizards Historical Statistics and All-Time Top Leaders". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  11. ^ "1963-64 Baltimore Bullets Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d "Don Kojis NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "Don Kojis, Rockets' first All-Star, dies at 82". NBC Sports. November 22, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  14. ^ "George Wilson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  15. ^ Smith, Sam (October 15, 2015). "The one that started it all". www.nba.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  16. ^ "Hall Pass – Guy Rodgers". www.nba.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  17. ^ "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: Guy Rodgers". www.hoophall.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  18. ^ "NBA & ABA Year-by-Year Leaders and Records for Assists Per Game". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  19. ^ Smith, Sam (November 26, 2021). "Rest In Peace To Don Kojis, The Original Bull". www.nba.com. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
  20. ^ "The USF Dons' Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, and the Alley-Oop Origin Story". SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports. August 2, 2022. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
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