Jerome Purcell Chambers (born July 18, 1943) is an American former professional

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. At 6'5" and 185 pounds, he played as a

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

Early life

Chambers attended Spingarn High School in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, transferring to Eastern High School after being cut from the basketball team.

College career

Chambers then attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

from 1963 to 1966, winning the

NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player The Most Outstanding Player (MOP) is awarded to one player after the conclusion of the championship game of the NCAA Division I NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, men's and NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, women's basketb ...

award in 1966, despite his Runnin' Utes finishing fourth at the 1966 Final Four. Chambers is the only player to ever earn MOP for a fourth-place team (the 3rd place game was eliminated in 1981). His 143 points in four games remains an NCAA Tournament record, with 70 of them coming in the Final Four—38 against eventual national champion Texas-Western, and 32 more in the third-place game against the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the N ...

. For his career at Utah Chambers averaged a double-double, 24.6 points and 11.2 rebounds. As a senior in 1965–1966, he averaged 28.8 points and 11.6 rebounds. His 892 points in 1965–1966 remains second all time at Utah.

Professional career

He played four professional seasons in 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 ...

as a member of the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

(1966–1967),

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

(1969–1970),

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

(1970–1971) and

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference ...

(1971–1972). Chambers then played two seasons in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

as a member of the San Diego Conquistadors (1972–1973) and the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

(1973–1974). His best season was with San Diego under Coach K.C. Jones, when he averaged 11.9 points and 4.4 rebounds. He missed the 1967–1968 and 1968–1969 seasons due to military service. In 1968, he was involved in one of the most significant transactions in NBA history when he was traded by the Lakers, along with Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff to the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

for Hall-of-Famer

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

. Chambers never played for the 76ers, as they subsequently traded him to Phoenix. Chambers retired with 2,667 combined NBA/ABA career points, averaging 8.3 points and 3.2 rebounds.

Honors/Personal

Chambers and the 1966 Final Four Utah team were honored on March 4, 2017, at halftime of the Utah game against

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. Chambers worked for the Los Angeles City Parks and Recreation department for many years.

Career statistics

NBA/ABA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - ! Year ! Team ! GP ! MPG ! FG% ! 3P% ! FT% ! RPG ! APG ! SPG ! BPG ! PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A Lakers , 69 , , 14.7 , , .452 , , , , .731 , , 3.0 , , .6 , , , , , , 7.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 79 , , 14.4 , , .430 , , , , .72 , , 2.8 , , .7 , , , , , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 65 , , 18.0 , , .451 , , , , .791 , , 3.8 , , .9 , , , , , , 8.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 26 , , 14.2 , , .433 , , , , .688 , , 2.6 , , .9 , , , , , , 6.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

(ABA) , 43 , , 20.6 , , .425 , , .200 , , .862 , , 4.4 , , 1.1 , , , , , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

(ABA) , 38 , , 15.2 , , .456 , , – , , .750 , , 2.7 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .1 , , 5.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (NBA) , 239 , , 15.4 , , .442 , , , , .747 , , 3.1 , , .8 , , , , , , 8.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (ABA) , 81 , , 18.1 , , .435 , , .200 , , .831 , , 3.6 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .1 , , 9.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (overall) , 320 , , 16.1 , , .440 , , .200 , , .774 , , 3.2 , , .8 , , .3 , , .1 , , 8.3

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - ! Year ! Team ! GP ! MPG ! FG% ! FT% ! RPG ! APG ! PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", L.A. Lakers , 3 , , 14.7 , , .522 , , 1.000 , , 2.7 , , .3 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, style="text-align:left;", Phoenix , 7 , , 10.4 , , .378 , , .625 , , 2.4 , , 1.0 , , 4.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 4 , , 5.5 , , .333 , , .500 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 1.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 14 , , 9.9 , , .420 , , .765 , , 2.1 , , .6 , , 5.1

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Jerry 1943 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Washington, D.C. Buffalo Braves players Eastern High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Los Angeles Lakers players Phoenix Suns players Portland Trail Blazers expansion draft picks San Antonio Spurs players San Diego Conquistadors players Small forwards Utah Utes men's basketball players