Fascinating and Obscure Basketball Trivia (2) Quiz

Answer: Coach Butch van Breda Kolff against son Jan van Breda Kolff

Butch van Breda Kolff of the New Orleans Jazz coached against his son Jan of the New Jersey Nets in 1976, when Jan entered the NBA. This was the first time that a father ever coached against his son in the NBA.

In 2003, Mike Dunleavy Sr. of the Los Angeles Clippers, coached against his son Mike Jr. of the Golden State Warriors, the second father and son pair to play a game against each other. In 2011, George Karl of the Denver Nuggets coached against his son Coby of the Los Angeles Lakers, the third father/son combo to square off against each other in the NBA. Both men are cancer survivors.

Doc Rivers, while coach of the Boston Celtics, faced his son, Austin Rivers when Austin played for the New Orleans Hornets. Later, Austin would become the first NBA player to play for his father as coach when both men were with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2015.

Answer: Frank McGuire

New York City has been the origin of many basketball legends over the years, many of them high school stars that have gone on to college stardom and the NBA. The CHSAA has had many nationally ranked basketball teams, but only four alumni from that school system have been inducted into the Basketball HOF. Frank McGuire of the Xavier Knights/Cadets was the first of this foursome to be inducted--in 1977. Lou Carneseca of St. Ann's Academy (now Archbishop Malloy High School) was inducted in 1992. Lew Alcindor (now, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) of the Power Memorial Academy Panthers was next--in 1995. Chris Mullin of the Xavieran Clippers was inducted into the Basketball HOF in 2011.

Answer: Florida State

The 2023-24 season is the 75th anniversary of the AP College Basketball poll. The AP poll began in the 1948-49 season. In those landmark 75 years, the first time Kentucky was ranked #1 in the preseason AP poll was in the 1980-81 preseason. Then again in 1995-96, 2013-14, and the fourth time was in 2014-15.

The three other teams ranked #1 in the AP preseason poll more than twice during those 74 years were been North Carolina (11 times), Duke (11 times), and UCLA (8 times). Not only has Florida State NEVER been ranked #1 in the preseason AP Poll, they have NEVER even been ranked #1 at any time ever in that poll whether preseason or during the season in the era of the 75th Anniversary of the Poll.

Answer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Those ten people that have been officially named as honorary members of the Harlem Globetrotters are: Henry Kissinger (1976), Bob Hope (1977), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1989), Whoopi Goldberg (1990), Nelson Mandela (1996), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1999), Pope John Paul II (2000), Jesse Jackson (2001), Pope Francis (2015), and Robin Roberts (2015). While journalist Robin Roberts did play college basketball at Southern Louisiana University, she never played pro basketball. That leaves the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only member of "The Ten" to have been a pro player.

Answer: Universal Pictures Players and McPherson Globe Refiners

After a series of Olympic tryouts via a tournament of games (played between the Universal Pictures Players, McPherson Globe Refiners, University of Arkansas, DePaul, Temple, Utah State, and University of Washington), the Universal Pictures Players won in the finals over the McPherson Globe Refiners 44-43.

The 1936 United States Olympic Basketball team was thus populated by seven players from the Universal Pictures Universals, six from the McPherson Globe Refiners, and one Huskie from Washington's third place team. The Universals were from Hollywood, and the Refiners were from McPherson, Kansas, where basketball legends Dr. James Naismith (the inventor of basketball) and Dr. Forrest "Phog" Allen (the Father of Basketball Coaching) reigned at Kansas University.

Answer: All-American Red Heads

In 2012, the All-American Red Heads became the first women's basketball team inducted into the Hall. They were the first professional women's basketball team (founded in 1936), and played against men's teams under men's rules. At one point in their history, they had won 96 consecutive games, and have been cited as "shattering stereotypes about female athletes and overcoming social barriers that existed on and off the basketball court."

Answer: New York Knickerbockers

On December 29, 1946, the first sellout basketball game at Madison Square Garden (located at the time on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan), was played between the New York Knicks and the Toronto Huskies in the first season of the Basketball Association of America. That league would merge with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949. The Knicks won the game 68-66 in front of 18,496 fans.

Answer: The slam dunk

According to an article in "The New York Times" by Pulitzer Prize winning sports reporter, Arthur Daley, the first recorded dunk in an organized basketball game was scored by Joe Fortenberry of the McPherson Globe Refiners in 1936 at Madison Square Garden. He would go on to play in two Summer Olympics for the USA. Soon, dunks became a much more common occurrence, but the act wasn't seen as favorably as it is today. No, instead it was viewed as a sign of disrespect to opponents.

It was so disliked by opposing players that, oftentimes, a player would position himself under the dunker so as to cause injury to the dunker as he came back down to earth. Perhaps for safety reasons as much as sportsmanship, the NCAA and high schools banned dunking in 1967. So did the NBA in certain instances, but not outright. But the dunking rules were all rescinded in 1976. Edward S. "Ed" Steitz, a 1984 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee reinstated dunking in his capacity as an NBA official. He had also championed the 45-second shot clock and the 3-point shot.

Answer: Bill Russell

It wasn't until 1966 that a National Basketball Association team hired a black coach, when after the Boston Celtics Red Auerbach retired as coach before the 1966-67 season, the job was offered to Bill Russell who was still a player on the team. The Boston Celtics basketball team hired Bill Russell, a well-known professional player, to lead their team. Russell became their player-coach in 1966, and functioned as such until he retired from playing in 1969. In 1973, he became the Seattle Supersonics head coach, not a player-coach.

Answer: False

The Washington Generals functioned as perhaps a foil to the comedic and skillful performances of the Harlem Globetrotters. They are basically part of the Globetrotters exhibition acts as the two teams travel around the world, always playing each other. Founded in 1952 by Louis "Red" Klotz, The Washington Generals actually have had many different names (Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, Baltimore Rockets, Atlantic City Seagulls, New York Nationals, International Elite, Global Select, World All-Stars) and often as part of the fun a local celebrity will join the team for their match against the Globetrotters.

Their games are generally scripted to have the Globetrotters triumph. However, shockingly, the Generals have actually won a scant amount of games. The exact number is hard to pin down but it's about 3 to 6. The Generals' website lists 3, but according to a Santa Cruz Sentinel article there were 6 victories. But as written about in a "Newsday" magazine article, the most notable victory was when they won 100-99 on January 5, 1971, playing as the New Jersey Reds. Klotz had said that the look on some children's faces, and adults too for that matter, was as though the Generals "killed Santa Claus".