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Carl Braun (basketball)

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Carl Braun
Braun, c. 1959
Personal information
Born(1927-09-25)September 25, 1927
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 10, 2010(2010-02-10) (aged 82)
Stuart, Florida, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High schoolGarden City
(Garden City, New York)
CollegeColgate (1945–1947)
BAA draft1947: undrafted
Playing career1947–1962
PositionShooting guard / point guard
Number4
Career history
As player:
1947–1950,
1952–1961		New York Knicks
1961–1962Boston Celtics
As coach:
1959–1961New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points10,625
Rebounds2,122
Assists2,892
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference
Basketball Hall of Fame as player

Carl August Braun Jr. (September 25, 1927 – February 10, 2010)[1] was an American professional basketball and baseball player and professional basketball coach.

Sports career

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Born on September 25, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Braun's German American family moved to Garden City for his senior year of high school. At 6'4" and 185 pounds he had talent as both a right-handed pitcher and as a basketball player. His high school nickname was "bean pole".[2] As a senior at Garden City High School, he helped lead his team to their first-ever Nassau County baseball championship in 1945, and was a star basketball player; he was subsequently one of the inaugural inductees into the Nassau County High School Sports Hall of Fame.[3] He enrolled in Colgate College and played collegiately for the Colgate University Raiders in 1945–1946. In the summer of 1947 was signed by the New York Yankees while still only 19 years old. He played two seasons for Yankee farm teams in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and then Amsterdam, New York, appearing in 35 games compiling a 2–3 won-lost record.[4]

In between those minor league baseball seasons, he also joined the New York Knicks for their 1947–1948 season, effectively playing in two professional sports simultaneously. On December 6, 1947, he set a then NBA single-game scoring record, recording 47 points.[5] Incredibly he pitched one more season in the Yankees organization that following summer, until deciding that basketball was his future.[6] Braun was one of the premier guards of the 1950s and spent 13 seasons in the NBA, all but the last with the Knicks. Braun led the Knicks in scoring during his first seven seasons.[5] He was named to the All-NBA Second Team in 1948 and 1954. He ended his career in 1962, after one season with the Boston Celtics. Braun played in five NBA All-Star Games and scored 10,625 points in his professional career. Braun was a player-coach for the Knicks in 1960 and 1961 as well, compiling a 40–87 head coaching record.

He did not play in the NBA during the 1950–1951 or 1951–1952 seasons after being drafted into the United States Army.[7] After completing basic training at Fort Bragg, Braun served in the cadre to train new recruits and was an athletic and recreational officer.[8] He continued to play basketball on the base, winning back-to-back Fort Bragg championships before being selected to represent the base in the 1952 Third Army Tournament.[8][9] Bragg went 4–1 in the tournament and won the final against Fort Jackson (who gave Bragg their only loss); Braun was voted most valuable player after scoring 151 points.[8][9] The title qualified Bragg for the All-Army Tournament, where they were eliminated by Fort Dix in the first round despite Braun leading all players with 35 points.[10] When his service permitted, Braun also played for the semi-pro Washington Capitols in 1951–52, with whom he recorded 101 points across his first four games before ending his tenure with over 20 points per game.[11][8] He was discharged in September 1952 as a corporal.[8][12]

Braun is featured in the 1948 Bowman set of basketball cards, the 1957 Topps set, and the 1961 Fleer set. Though sportscaster Marty Glickman made the term "swish" a popular basketball colloquialism, he attributed the genesis of the word to Braun, who he heard say it following a good shot during warmup. Glickman used the term frequently in broadcasts throughout the 1950s. Braun was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Personal life

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Braun was born in Brooklyn and moved to Garden City, New York as a teenager where he went to high school and lived most of his adult life.[13] After retiring from professional sports, Braun was a Wall Street stockbroker. He retired to Florida around 1990. He married his wife Joan in 1952 with whom he had four daughters Susan, Patricia, Nancy and Carol, and six grandchildren. He and Joan were married 58 years.[14]

BAA/NBA 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
 †  Won an NBA championship

Regular season

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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1947–48 New York 47 – .323 .650 – 1.3 14.3
1948–49 New York 57 – .330 .760 – 3.0 14.2
1949–50 New York 67 – .364 .762 – 3.7 15.4
1952–53 New York 70 33.1 .400 .825 3.3 3.5 14.0
1953–54 New York 72 33.0 .400 .825 3.4 2.9 14.8
1954–55 New York 71 34.9 .388 .801 4.2 3.9 15.1
1955–56 New York 72 32.2 .372 .838 3.6 4.1 15.4
1956–57 New York 72 32.6 .381 .809 3.6 3.6 13.9
1957–58 New York 71 34.9 .418 .849 4.6 5.5 16.5
1958–59 New York 72 27.2 .420 .826 3.5 4.8 10.5
1959–60 New York 54 28.0 .432 .838 3.1 5.0 12.9
1960–61 New York 15 14.5 .468 .786 2.1 3.2 5.7
1961–62† Boston 48 8.6 .377 .741 1.0 1.5 3.7
Career 788 29.8 .383 .804 3.4 3.7 13.5
All-Star 5 18.0 .481 1.000 2.5 1.6 6.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1948 New York 3 – .293 .600 – .7 10.0
1949 New York 6 – .324 .806 – 3.2 19.3
1950 New York 5 – .412 .763 – 3.8 17.0
1953 New York 11 34.0 .324 .806 4.0 2.8 13.5
1954 New York 4 31.3 .346 .875 3.0 2.3 17.8
1955 New York 3 34.3 .409 .900 4.7 5.3 18.0
1959 New York 2 31.0 .375 .889 2.0 5.0 16.0
1962† Boston 6 7.0 .393 .750 1.2 .3 4.2
Career 40 27.2 .350 .812 3.1 2.7 14.0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Former Knicks star Carl Braun dies at 82 – USATODAY.com". usatoday.com. February 10, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  2. ^ Garden City High School Yearbook 1945. Garden City, New York. June 1, 1945. p. 38.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Herzog, Bob (September 17, 2015). "Jim Brown leads inaugural class of Nassau high school hall of fame inductees". Newsday. New York. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  4. ^ Herrmann, Mark (April 7, 2019). "Carl Braun, Teresa Weatherspoon elected to Basketball Hall of Fame". Newsday. New York. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Goldstein, Richard (February 11, 2010), "Carl Braun, an All-Star With the Knicks, Dies at 82", The New York Times
  6. ^ "Carl Braun". Baseball Reference. New York. April 7, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  7. ^ "Draft To Affect Pro Basket Ranks". The Baltimore Sun. October 3, 1950. Retrieved May 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Lapchick Calls Braun A Perennial Freshman". St. Cloud Times. AP. October 2, 1952. Retrieved May 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "Fort Bragg Will Play In All-Army Tourney". The News & Observer. AP. April 1, 1952. Retrieved May 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Fort Bragg Is Defeated In Army Court Tourney". The Greensboro Record. AP. April 9, 1952. Retrieved May 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Carl Braun Is Top Scorer in Pro Cage League With 101 Points". Bradford Era. AP. November 27, 1951. Retrieved May 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Knicks Get Carl Braun". The Indianapolis Star. AP. September 16, 1952. Retrieved May 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ O'Keeffe, Tim (February 11, 2010). "Carl Braun '49, N.Y. Knicks legend, dies at age 82". Colgate University. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  14. ^ Goldstein, Richard (February 10, 2010). "Carl Braun, an All-Star With the Knicks, Dies at 82". New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
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