Leonard Robert Rosenbluth (January 22, 1933 – June 18, 2022) was an American 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 (appr ...

player in the

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

(NBA), but he is remembered, first and foremost, for his college basketball player days. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

, where he was

Helms Foundation Player of the Year The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men′s player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in ...

(

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

), consensus first-team All-American (

), second-team All-American – AP,

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

INS INS or Ins or ''variant'', may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flies * INS, the gene for the insul ...

(

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

), third-team All-American – NEA, ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...

'' (1956), ACC Player of the Year (

), and 3× first-team All-

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

(1955–1957).

Early life

Rosenbluth was born in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

on January 22, 1933. His family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He was the son of Rose (Kaufman) and Jack Rosenbluth. He attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx, and

Staunton Military Academy Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable American political ...

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

, for the 1952–53 school year. Rosenbluth played only eight games in high school.

College career

During his first year of varsity basketball at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1955, Rosenbluth was the

Tar Heels Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace back to North Carolina's promi ...

' leading scorer. He was named third team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

, averaging 25.5

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

(PPG) and 11.7 rebounds. He later achieved All-America honors during his

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

year, but this time they were split between various first and second team selections. He again led the Tar Heels in scoring with a 26.7 average. In his senior season in 1957, Rosenbluth averaged 27.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while leading the Tar Heels to a 32–0 record. His regular season performance earned him the Helms Hall of Fame "Collegiate

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

" designation over the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a Center (basketball), center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 yea ...

. The Tar Heels went on to defeat Chamberlain's Jayhawks 54–53 in triple overtime for the NCAA Basketball Championship, North Carolina's first, which brought credibility to the fledgling

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. Rosenbluth's scored 20 points in the championship final, was the tournament's overall top scorer at 28.0 ppg, and was named to the All-Tournament Team. He was also named the ACC Player of the Year and ACC Male Athlete of the Year. Rosenbluth was honored for his athletic achievements while at North Carolina. His No. 10 was retired by the Tar Heels. He was named to the

ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team During the 2002–03 school year, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) celebrated its 50th anniversary by selecting the top players in its respective sports. Fifty players were selected for the men's basketball team, which was voted on by a 120-mem ...

in 2002, as one of the 50 greatest players in

history. He was also selected to the "All-Decade Final Four" team for the 1950s. He was inducted into the Helms College Basketball Hall of Fame and was a member of the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

. He also competed in the

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

in Israel, before his pro career.

Other honors

Rosenbluth also received a number of other accolades and awards during his playing career: *Three-time All-ACC selections (1955–57) *1957 ACC Player and Athlete of the Year *MVP of the '57 ACC Tournament *All-Tournament at three Dixie Classics Until 1992, Rosenbluth was the only collegian to be named NCAA National Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, and NCAA regional MVP in the same season. His feat has since been matched by

Christian Laettner Christian Donald Laettner (, ; born August 17, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. His college career for the Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hi ...

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and UNC's

Antawn Jamison Antawn Cortez Jamison (; born June 12, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He serves as director of pro personnel for the Washington Wizards. Jamison playe ...

. Rosenbluth held several UNC records at the time of his death, including most points in a single season (897), and highest single-season average (28.0).

Professional career

Rosenbluth was selected in the first round (6th overall selection) of the 1957 NBA draft by the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

. He made his NBA debut with the franchise on October 25, 1957, playing six minutes and scoring a two-point

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

against the

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

. He ultimately played in 82 games for the Warriors, and made his final appearance in the NBA on February 11, 1959. Throughout his two seasons in the NBA, Rosenbluth averaged 4.2 PPG and 1.8 rebounds per game.

Later life

After retiring from professional basketball, Rosenbluth worked as a high school teacher and coach in Florida. He eventually moved back to

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state ca ...

, just over a decade before his death. Rosenbluth died on June 18, 2022, at the age of 89.

References

External links

NBA career statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenbluth, Lennie 1933 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from the Bronx Staunton Military Academy alumni All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York City James Monroe High School (New York City) alumni Jewish American sportspeople Jewish men's basketball players Maccabiah Games basketball players of the United States Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games medalists in basketball North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Philadelphia Warriors players Small forwards 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews