Christopher Franklin Lofton (born March 27, 1986) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. 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 ...

with the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

High school

Chris Lofton is from

Maysville, Kentucky Maysville is a "Home rule in the United States, home rule" class city in Mason County, Kentucky, Mason County, Kentucky, United States, and is the county seat of Mason County. The population was 8,873 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, where he led the Mason County Royals (his high school basketball team) to a victory in the 2003 State Championships and led the Royals back to the state championship game the next year. Despite being named Mr. Basketball his senior year, Lofton was not recruited by

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. He was recruited by

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

coach Buzz Peterson and subsequently chose to play for the Vols.

College

As a freshman, Lofton made third team All-America at Tennessee. Against the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

on February 11, 2006, he made a school record 9 three-point shots en route to a career-high 33 points in an 83–78 win. On December 23, 2006, he scored a new career-high 35 points in a 111–105 overtime victory against the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. For the 2005–2006 season, Lofton was selected as a second team

All-America 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 ...

. In the 2006–07 season, Lofton led the conference in scoring, with 20.8 points per game, and was named the SEC Player of the Year by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. He led the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

to the Sweet 16 in the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament. He was again named second-team All-American for the 2006–07 season. During the summer after the 06–07 season, Lofton went to

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

camp and tried out for the Pan Am USA team. Instead of declaring for the 2007 NBA draft, Lofton announced that he would return to Knoxville for his senior season. Lofton was featured on the cover of the November 21, 2007 ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' issue, holding a basketball away from Chris Douglas-Roberts of the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

. Sports Illustrated picked Tennessee 3rd in the country and Lofton as a 1st Team All-American. On December 19, 2007, Lofton passed Allan Houston to become first on Tennessee's list for most three-point field goals made. Houston had held the record with 346 three-pointers made. On January 22, 2008, Lofton passed Pat Bradley of the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

to capture the record for the most career three-pointers in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

with 367. His final three-pointer came vs. Louisville in the Sweet 16 of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, a game which Tennessee lost 79–60. Lofton was also selected as a third-team All-America for his senior season.

Pro career

In July 2008, Lofton signed a one-year contract with Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi of the

Turkish Basketball League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

. On February 8, 2009, he scored 47 points (on 13/20 3-pointers) in a win against Fenerbahçe Ülker. On April 25, 2009, he scored 61 points (on 17/22 3-pointers) in a win against CASA TED Kolejliler. In June 2009, it was announced that Lofton had been asked to play for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

summer league team. In the season 2009–10, Chris Lofton was signed by Spanish ACB League powerhouse, Caja Laboral Baskonia. After only a few games played, Lofton left Caja Laboral; he had previously been hospitalized with fever. Soon after, Lofton signed with another Spanish team

CB Estudiantes Club Baloncesto Estudiantes, S.A.D., (English: Club Basketball Students) known simply as Estu and as Movistar Estudiantes for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball team based in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is a member of the Liga ACB, Asociación ...

. In November 2010, he was selected 6th overall by the Iowa Energy in the NBA D-League Draft. However, he chose to return to Europe. In March 2011 he signed with Lokomotiv Kuban in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, but left the team in May 2011 by mutual agreement. In August 2011 he returned to

, signing a one-year deal but finally he couldn't play with the team of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

until January 2012 because of his physical problems. In August 2012, Lofton signed with Basque squad Lagun Aro GBC, but one month later left the team due to an injury in his left knee. On August 17, 2013, he signed a one-year deal with

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

. On July 18, 2014, he extended his contract with Beşiktaş for one more season. On February 22, 2017, Lofton signed with Neptūnas Klaipėda of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

. On November 1, 2017, he signed with Le Mans Sarthe. His final professional team was the KBL (

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...

) with the Seoul SK Knights.

Cancer

During the 2007 NCAA tournament, he failed a random drug test. The test revealed that he had elevated levels of

human chorionic gonadotropin Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone for the maternal recognition of pregnancy produced by trophoblast cells that are surrounding a growing embryo (syncytiotrophoblast initially), which eventually forms the placenta after implantat ...

, a hormone that in men is an indicator of either steroid use or cancer. The failed test proved to be due to a

tumor marker A tumor marker is a biomarker that can be used to indicate the presence of cancer or the behavior of cancers (measure progression or response to therapy). They can be found in bodily fluids or tissue. Markers can help with assessing prognosis, s ...

,Lofton kept cancer quiet , www.tennessean.com , The Tennessean
and Lofton was diagnosed shortly afterward with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an c ...

, which he kept a secret to all but then-head coach Bruce Pearl, his parents, a small number of university officials, and ESPN journalist Chris Low, who covered most of Tennessee's games in the 2007–08 season. Not until over halfway through the 2007–08 season did Lofton even tell his roommate and teammate Jordan Howell, who was the only player to know. Afterward, he underwent successful radiation treatments and surgery and is now considered cancer-free.ESPN – Tennessee's Lofton quietly faced and beat cancer – Men's College Basketball
/ref> In a 2025 interview with Low, Lofton was asked about what might have happened if he had not been selected for the drug test; he responded "I just know it saved my life." Lofton's cancer battle became the subject of the documentary ''Volunteer for Life'', which premiered on the

SEC Network SEC Network (SECN) is an American multinational sports network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (which hold ...

and

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

on March 10, 2025, as part of the '' SEC Storied'' series.

Awards and accomplishments

*2007 SEC Player Of The Year

Footnotes

References

External links

Euroleague.net ProfileTBLStat.net ProfileESPN.com ProfileACB Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lofton, Chris 1986 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Lithuania American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kentucky Beşiktaş men's basketball players CB Estudiantes players Gipuzkoa Basket players Iowa Energy players Le Mans Sarthe Basket players Liga ACB players Mason County High School alumni Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. players BC Neptūnas players PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players People from Maysville, Kentucky Saski Baskonia players Seoul SK Knights players Shooting guards Tennessee Volunteers basketball players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen