Chariton Arnold Ferrin Jr. (July 29, 1925 − December 27, 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 (appro ...

player, executive, and college athletics administrator. He 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

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

and earned

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors four times. He won an NCAA championship in 1944, when he was named the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP). They added a

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) title in 1947. Ferrin played professionally with the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, having played and won championships in both the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) prior to ...

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

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). They won league titles in 1949 and 1950. After his playing career, Ferrin was general manager of the

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving to ...

of 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 ...

(ABA) from 1972 through 1974. He served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at his alma mater, 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 1976 to 1985.

Early life

Ferrin was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. His mother died when he was three years old. Afterwards, his father, Arn, became busy with work; he owned a service station and a small oil delivery company. As his time away from home for work grew, Arn decided to have his parents assume parental responsibilities for his son. When Ferrin was eleven, his father began dating, and eventually remarried. However, Arn had his son continue to live with his grandparents.

College career

At the

, Ferrin won the NCAA tournament MOP award in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

, when the Utes won the NCAA championship over Dartmouth with a 42–40 overtime win. He scored 22 points in the game and was the first freshman to win the award. In 1945, Ferrin averaged 17.5 points per game was named a consensus first-team

. Following the end of the regular season, he and teammate Fred Sheffield were drafted into the armed forces, and were unavailable for the NCAA tournament. After a year in the Army, Ferrin returned to help Utah win the 1947 NIT and was a runner-up for the tournament's

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

award. At the time, the NIT was as prestigious as the fledgling NCAA tournament, if not more so. As a senior, Ferrin averaged 14.1 points per game, and became the only four-time

at Utah, including consensus second-team honors in 1944, 1947, and 1948. His 22 was

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

by the school.

Professional playing career

Ferrin played professionally for three years with the

from 1949 through 1951 under coach

John Kundla John Albert Kundla (July 3, 1916 – July 23, 2017) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He was the first head coach for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its predecessors, the Basketba ...

. They won the BAA (later known as the NBA) championship in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

and won the

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. He was a top-five scorer on both championship teams, averaging 7.3 points per game in 1948–49 and 5.4 in 1949–50. Ferrin established his single-game career high of 22 points in his rookie year on February 19, 1949, in a win over the Providence Steamrollers. He ended his career with 1,037 total points and an average of 5.8 points per game for the Lakers. Ferrin was inducted into the

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the Nation ...

in 2008 and the Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor in 2012.

Later years

After his playing career, Ferrin was a member of the Athletic Council at the University of Utah and was a radio

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

for the school's basketball and football programs. He was the general manager of the ABA's

from 1972 to 1974. He was

at the University of Utah from 1976 to 1985. Under Ferrin, Utah won 10 national championships and 15 conference championships. The Utes' gymnastics program won four national championships under coach Greg Marsden and their men's basketball team, led by coach

Jerry Pimm Jerry Pimm is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Utah from 1974 to 1983 and the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1983 to 1998, compiling career college basketball c ...

, advanced four times to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Ferrin died of natural causes on December 27, 2022, at age 97.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Source:

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrin, Arnie 1925 births 2022 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American Latter Day Saints American men's basketball players Basketball players from Salt Lake City Minneapolis Lakers draft picks Minneapolis Lakers players National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Ogden, Utah Utah Stars executives Utah Utes athletic directors Utah Utes men's basketball players