Robert Michael Portman (born March 22, 1947) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. At 6'6" and 200 lb. he was positioned as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Portman attended

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and underg ...

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

, and played for three seasons (1966–1969). He left Creighton as the school's all-time leading scorer, a mark that stood for 22 seasons. Portman still holds the Creighton men's basketball single-game record for points scored in a game, 51 points against the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...

on December 16, 1967. Portman also holds the record for most points in a single season, 738 points during the 1967–1968 season, for an average of 29.5 points per game, also still a

Creighton Bluejays The Creighton Bluejays, or Jays, are the athletic teams that represent Creighton University, a Jesuit/Catholic University in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. They compete in NCAA Division I in the Big East Conference. Sports sponsored Baseba ...

school record. His brother Tom played basketball at Loyola Marymount University and his brother Bill played basketball at Gonzaga University

Portman 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 ...

in an era where the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

did not allow college freshman to play on the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

. Thus, Portman played only three full seasons for the

, finishing 1,876 total points. Had Portman been able to play on the varsity squad, he most certainly would still be the school's all-time leading scorer. This feat is remarkable in another sense because Portman also played in the era of basketball where the

three-point line A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two poi ...

was non-existent. Portman was selected by the

Denver Rockets Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

in the 1969

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

Draft, and with the 7th overall pick in the

1969 NBA draft The 1969 NBA draft was the 23rd annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 7 and May 7, 1969, before the 1969–70 season. In this draft, fourteen NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college ...

by the

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific ...

. He never played in the ABA but played four seasons with the Warriors and retired from the league in 1973.

External links

NBA stats
@ databasebasketball.com 1947 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from San Francisco Creighton Bluejays men's basketball players Golden State Warriors players San Francisco Warriors draft picks San Francisco Warriors players Shooting guards Small forwards St. Ignatius College Preparatory alumni {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub