Collis Temple Jr. (born November 8, 1952) 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 for

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in the

NBA 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 ...

Career

College

The

Kentwood, Louisiana Kentwood is a rural town in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States, near the Mississippi state line. The population was 2,198 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Hammond MSA. Kentwood is best known as the hometown of singer Britney Spe ...

native was the first African-American to play varsity basketball at

(LSU). When he joined the team in 1971, the

Louisiana National Guard The Louisiana National Guard (; ) is the armed force through which the Louisiana Military Department executes the U.S. state of Louisiana's security policy. Consisting of the Louisiana Army National Guard, a reserve component of the United States ...

was called to protect him from angry

segregationist Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by peopl ...

s.Mark Schlabach.
LSU's First Black Player Revels in Legacy's Growth
. ''Washington Post''. March 30, 2006. Retrieved on February 11, 2010. In the fourth season of the ''Slate'' podcast ''Slow Burn'', Temple shared his experiences interacting with a young

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...

while they were both students at LSU. As a senior, Temple earned All-

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 ...

honors after averaging 15.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. In 2017, Temple was elected to the Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional

Temple was selected by the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

with the 94th pick of the

1974 NBA draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and ot ...

. He spent one season (1974–75) with the

. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 24 games. In February 1975, he joined the Iberia Superstars of the European Professional Basketball League.

Personal

Temple has three sons and one daughter. Collis III and Garrett Temple both played at LSU. His daughter-in-law is

Miss USA 2017 Miss USA 2017 was the 66th edition of the Miss USA pageant, held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada, on May 14, 2017. Deshauna Barber of the District of Columbia crowned her successor Kára McCullough, also of the District ...

winner Kára Temple.

Career statistics

ABA

Source

Regular season

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San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, 24 , , 4.3 , , .415 , , .000 , , .800 , , 1.3 , , .6 , , .2 , , .2 , , 1.8

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Collis 1952 births Living people American men's basketball players Baptists from Louisiana LSU Tigers men's basketball players People from Kentwood, Louisiana Phoenix Suns draft picks San Antonio Spurs draft picks San Antonio Spurs players Small forwards