Howard Shannon (June 10, 1923 – August 16, 1995) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and coach. He played professionally in the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball Lea ...

(BAA) and the early years of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He later coached at the high school and college levels. Shannon played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the North Texas Green and Kansas State Wildcats. After the 1947–48 season with Kansas State, he was ruled ineligible to play by the Big Seven after the conference re-interpreted a rule to count freshman and junior college play against a player's four-year limit of college play. Consequently, Shannon signed a one-year contract to play professionally with the Providence Steamrollers of the BAA. He averaged 13.4 points per game in 1948–49 and was named the league's Rookie of the Year, a designation not currently recognized by the NBA for that season. Although he had already signed and played with Providence, the team was still required to select him in the 1949 BAA draft to secure his rights. He was selected with the first overall pick of the draft. However, the Steamrollers would fold their organization before the start of the first season with the NBA name. As a result, his rights were picked up by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

for the 1949-50 NBA season. Following his playing career, Shannon became head coach at Topeka High School in Kansas, where he coached from 1950 to 1954 before becoming an assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. In 1964, Shannon was named head coach of Virginia Tech. Shannon coached the Hokies to a 104–67 record and its best NCAA Tournament finish in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, reaching the Mideast Regional final before falling to

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. In 1971, Shannon resigned to join Virginia Tech's physical education faculty full-time. Shannon was also coach of the 1960 Puerto Rican basketball team in the

1960 Olympics The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 19 ...

. Howie Shannon died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

on August 16, 1995, in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon, Howie 1923 births 1995 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas Boston Celtics players Deaths from lung cancer in Texas High school basketball coaches in the United States Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball players North Texas Mean Green men's basketball players Providence Steamrollers draft picks Providence Steamrollers players Shooting guards Small forwards Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball coaches People from Munday, Texas American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen