Robert M. Hopkins (November 3, 1934 – May 15, 2015) 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.

Biography

A native of Jonesboro, La., Hopkins participated in football, basketball, baseball, and track (He was invited to participate in the 1956 Olympic Games as a broad jumper but declined in order to sign with the Syracuse Nationals.) Over the course of his career he achieved all-state honors in football (twice). basketball (twice) and baseball (four times). He is most noted for playing

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 ...

at Grambling State University, where he scored 3,759 points (averaging 29.8 points per game for his career). He was the first Grambling player to make an all-American basketball team and the school's first professional player. Hopkins was an all-conference selection at Grambling all four years and made all-American three times. Over the course of his career he held the NAIA records for most career points (3,759), field goals made (1,403), free throws made (953), and rebounds (12,191). Hopkins was college basketball's all-time leading scorer until 1972 when Travis Grant of Kentucky State University set the new record of 4,045 points. Hopkins then played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for four seasons (1956–1960) with the Syracuse Nationals and then the Philadelphia Tapers (1960–1962), but his career was eventually cut short due to a leg injury. In his first venture as head coach (1965–66) at Prairie View College, Hopkins' squad posted a 16–10 record and a second-place finish in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SAC). Moving next to Alcorn A&M (State) in Mississippi in 1966, Hopkins coached the Braves to three straight SAC championships, obtaining Coach of the Year honors following each season. His first two Alcorn teams participated in the national tournament at Kansas City, Mo. advancing to the second and third rounds respectively. In his third year, his team sported a 27–0 record before they were defeated in the finals of the NCAA College Division by Kentucky Wesleyan. He was voted regional Coach of the Year during his last two years at Alcorn by the NAIA. Hopkins next served as the head coach for the

Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Roman Catholic, Catholic university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only Catholic Historically black c ...

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

from 1969 to 1974, coaching future ABA and NBA stars Bruce Seals and "Slick" Watts. During his tenure, coach Hopkins led the team to 89 wins and 47 losses, four winning seasons, and two NAIA District 30 Championships, leading Xavier to the national NAIA Tournament in Kansas City for two consecutive years (

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

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). He would next serve on Bill Russell's coaching staff with the Seattle SuperSonics and replaced Russell, his cousin, after the 1976–77 season. Hopkins posted a 5–17 record during the 1977–78 season before being fired; he was replaced by

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, fi ...

, who led the Sonics to the

NBA Finals 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 ...

that season and the following, winning the NBA championship in 1979. Hopkins was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1963, and elected into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Hopkins died of heart and kidney failure on May 15, 2015, and his funeral was held at St Monica Catholic Church on Mercer Island.

Career playing statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

NBA

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References

External links

BasketballReference.com: Bob Hopkins (as coach)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Bob 1934 births 2015 deaths Alcorn State Braves basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Louisiana Basketball players from Louisiana Centers (basketball) College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Grambling State Tigers men's basketball coaches Grambling State Tigers men's basketball players Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks men's basketball coaches National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from Jonesboro, Louisiana Power forwards Prairie View A&M Panthers basketball coaches Seattle SuperSonics head coaches Southern Jaguars basketball coaches Syracuse Nationals draft picks Syracuse Nationals players Xavier Gold Rush basketball coaches African-American Catholics 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen