David L. Budd (born October 28, 1938) is a retired American basketball player who played for the

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 ...

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

Early life

Budd grew up in Woodbury and attended Woodbury Junior-Senior High School. By sophomore year, it was evident that basketball was his true calling. Standing at and weighing close to ,The Draft Review
accessed December 15, 2006 Budd was a very imposing player. He possessed technical skills comparable to a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and blossomed into a star. Throughout his high school career, Budd was mentored by Woodbury Junior High School teacher and assistant basketball coach Joe Colone. Colone was a former

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 ...

player for the

and could provide excellent coaching and tips to prepare Budd for playing collegiate (and later, professional) basketball. Under Colone's tutelage, he earned two first team All- Colonial Conference selections during his junior and senior years as well as an All-

South Jersey South Jersey, also known as Southern New Jersey, comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located between Pennsylvania and the lower Delaware River to its west, the Atlantic Ocean to its east, Delaware to its south, ...

selection his senior year. His talent interested many colleges, but Budd ultimately chose to play at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

College career

After graduating high school in 1956, Budd went on to play for Division I Wake Forest University. Due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

rules (circa 1971 and earlier), freshmen in college were not allowed to play varsity basketball. When he became an eligible sophomore during the 1957–58 season, he played in 23 games, averaging 15.8 points per game (ppg) on a 47.5 field goal percentage as a forward. He also grabbed 8.5 rebounds per game (rpg) and shot 66.8% from the charity stripe. Assists were not yet tracked in college. His junior year campaign saw him play in 24 games and average 14.6 ppg on 43.2% shooting. Budd snatched 8.6 rebounds per game and had a 66.8 free throw %. As a senior, he played in all 28 games while averaging 10.7 ppg and a career-high 10.0 rpg. Shot 49.7% from the field and 72.7% from the free throw line. Budd played with future NBA broadcaster (and then-sophomore) Billy Packer during his senior season. He was also a tough but not dirty, player and got placed on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

for fighting, following the infamous Wake Forest- UNC brawl at Winston-Salem in 1959. Wake Forest's new all-purpose exercise facility, the Kenneth D. Miller Center (built in 2001), is home to a basketball gym on the third floor that is used as an extra practice court for both the men's and women's basketball teams. It is named the Dave Budd Gymnasium in his honor.''Perspectives'' online: Wake Forest University school newspaper. Thursday, November 1, 2001 issue
. Accessed April 10, 2008. For his career, Budd played in 75 contests and held career averages of 13.5 points & 9.1 rebounds per game as well as a 46.6 FG% and 69.2 FT%.

Achievements

*Second Team All- ACC as a sophomore (1958) and senior (1960). *Named the team's Most Valuable Player following both his sophomore and junior campaigns. *Voted team captain for sophomore season. *As a senior, led the Demon Deacons to win the first of two consecutive ACC conference titles. * Recorded 682 rebounds *Scored 1,014 career points in just three seasons

Professional career

After enjoying success at the college level, Budd was drafted after his senior year by the

in 1960. He was the 10th overall selection in the second round (at the time there were fewer teams in the league and each round only had eight selections). He was drafted the same year that

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

and

Jerry West Jerry Alan West (May 28, 1938 – June 12, 2024) was an American basketball player and executive. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

were picked No. 1 and #2, respectively. Though never an

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

, Budd did enjoy moderate success while playing at the highest level. One of his claims to fame was that he was one of the three centers for the Knicks that attempted to guard

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

on the night of his record-setting 100-point performance. On that night, Budd was the only opponent who mustered a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. Also on that same night, Budd was the only other player in the game to collect a double digit number of rebounds (Chamberlain had 25).Box score: Wilt's 100-point game
, accessed December 20, 2006 Budd is the only person from Woodbury, NJ to ever play in the NBA, and wore No. 10 as his jersey number.

Achievements

*Ranked 6th in the league in

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...

(.493) during the 1962–63 season. *Ranked 9th in the league in true shooting percentage (.540) during the 1962–63 season.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Dave 1938 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Gloucester County, New Jersey Camden Bullets players Chicago Packers expansion draft picks New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players Small forwards Sportspeople from Woodbury, New Jersey Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball players Woodbury Junior-Senior High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen