Alex John Groza (October 7, 1926 – January 21, 1995) 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 (appro ...

player from

Martins Ferry, Ohio Martins Ferry is the most populous city in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,260 as of the 2020 census. Located along the Ohio River across from Wheeling, West Virginia, it is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. Hist ...

. Resulting from the

CCNY point shaving scandal The CCNY point-shaving scandal of 1951 was a college basketball Point shaving, point-shaving match fixing, gambling scandal which revealed widespread bribery and match fixing involving major colleges and universities both in and around New York ...

, Groza was banned from 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) for life in 1951. In college, he won two NCAA championships as captain of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, and was a two-time All-NBA player for the Indianapolis Olympians before his career abruptly ended.

Early life

Groza grew up in Martins Ferry, Ohio and attended Martins Ferry High School. He was the brother of future Pro Football Hall-of-Famer

Lou Groza Louis Roy Groza (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000), nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional American football, football Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle and placekicker while playing his entire career for th ...

. Alex Groza led the Purple Riders to two undefeated regular seasons and to the Ohio state tournament both years, as Martins Ferry finished 24–1 in 1943 and 26–1 in 1944. In 1944, he scored 628 points, including 41 in one game, and was named first-team All-Ohio.Alex Groza
Ohio Valley Athletic Conference

College career

Groza was the captain and center of the " Fabulous Five" that won the 1948 and 1949 NCAA Men's Basketball Championships, as well as the leading scorer on the gold medal-winning 1948 US Olympic basketball team. Groza was three-time All-American and All- SEC, and two-time

NCAA Final Four 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 ...

Professional career

Groza was drafted in the 1st round of the 1949 BAA draft by the Indianapolis Jets. While he signed a contract to play for the Jets, he later changed his mind and signed with Indianapolis Olympians of the National Basketball League as a player and co-owner. With the merger of the BAA and the NBL to form the

in August the same year, Groza started his professional career in the new league where he averaged 23.4 points per game in his rookie season and was named

NBA Rookie of the Year The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the 1952–53 NBA season, it confers the Eddie Gottlieb T ...

. Because the award was selected by newspaper writers at the time, the NBA currently does not recognize Groza having won the award. He averaged 22.5 points per game over two seasons before being implicated along with college teammates

Ralph Beard Ralph Milton Beard Jr. (December 2, 1927 – November 29, 2007) was an American collegiate and professional basketball player. He won two NCAA national basketball championships at the University of Kentucky and played two years in the National ...

and Dale Barnstable in a point shaving scandal during the 1948–49 season at Kentucky. NBA president

Maurice Podoloff Maurice Podoloff (; August 18, 1890 – November 24, 1985) was an American lawyer and a basketball and ice hockey administrator. He served as the president of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) from 1946 to 1949, and the National Basketb ...

banned all of the implicated players from the league for life. As a result of this ban, Groza became the first player in NBA history to end his career with a season in which he averaged at least 20 points per game (Groza averaged 21.7 PPG during the 1950–51). In NBA history, only three players have had higher scoring averages in their final NBA seasons:

Bob Pettit Robert E. Lee Pettit Jr. ( ; born December 12, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association, NBA, all with the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954–1965). In ...

(22.5 PPG in '64–65),

Paul Arizin Paul Joseph Arizin (April 9, 1928 – December 12, 2006), nicknamed "'Pitchin Paul", was an American basketball player who spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Philadelphia Warriors from 1950 to 1962. He retired ...

(21.9 PPG in '61–62), and

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madri ...

(22.3 PPG in '92–93). Groza, along with Beard, attempted a comeback in late 1952 with the Jersey City Titans, formerly of the American Basketball League, but were barred by Judge Saul S. Streit from participating in any professional athletics while under probation.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Groza became the coach of Bellarmine College (now University) in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. In 1963, Groza led the Knights to a Kentucky Intercolliegiate Athletic Conference title and was named KIAC coach of the year. Groza left Bellarmine in 1966 for a brief coaching and managerial career 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 ...

. Between 1971 and 1975, Groza coached 40 games with the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colo ...

and San Diego Conquistadors and held a number of front office positions, including becoming the Kentucky Colonels' business manager in 1969 and general manager of the San Diego Conquistadors in 1972 (and, later, San Diego's head coach). Groza was 2–0 as coach of the Colonels but 15–23 as coach of the Conquistadors after replacing

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 ...

in 1974, putting his career coaching record at 17–23. He was named general manager of the expansion Conquistadors on August 8, 1972. In 1975 Groza became director of player development for the San Diego Sails of the ABA. After the Sails folded, he was named vice president and general manager of the San Diego Breakers of the

International Volleyball Association The International Volleyball Association was a short lived co-ed professional volleyball league in the United States from 1975 to 1980. Like other major sports leagues in the United States, it had two geographic divisions. However, its teams wer ...

on April 5, 1976.Harvin, Al. "People in Sports," ''The New York Times'', Tuesday, April 6, 1976.
Retrieved January 28, 2023.

Personal life

After the team moved to Houston, Groza remained in San Diego, working as a sales manager for Reynolds International until his death.
New York Times. January 23, 1995. Alex Groza died of cancer in 1995 at age 68. He was survived by his wife of 42 years, Jean (Watson) Groza, two sons, two daughters, and two grandchildren.

Miscellaneous

*Groza led the league in field goal percentage in 1950 and 1951. *Alex Groza was the brother of

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

. *Groza's nickname was "The Beak".

References

External links

*
Alex Groza player statistics
at Basketball-Reference.com

at Basketball-Reference.com

– UK Career Statistics and Biography * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groza, Alex 1926 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American Basketball Association executives American men's basketball players Banned NBA players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players at the 1948 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Ohio American people of Hungarian descent Sportspeople of Hungarian descent American people of Romanian descent Bellarmine Knights baseball coaches Bellarmine Knights men's basketball coaches Centers (basketball) Indianapolis Jets draft picks Indianapolis Olympians players Kentucky Colonels coaches Kentucky Colonels executives Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics NBA All-Stars Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Sportspeople from Martins Ferry, Ohio San Diego Conquistadors coaches San Diego Conquistadors executives Sportspeople involved in betting scandals United States men's national basketball team players