Don "Monk" Meineke (October 30, 1930 – September 3, 2013) 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. 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 ...

for the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

and was a consensus second-team

All-American 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 1952. He later played professionally in 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 ...

and won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1953.

College career

Meineke averaged 20.6 points as a junior for the

Dayton Flyers The Dayton Flyers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Dayton of Dayton, Ohio. All Flyers intercollegiate sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I level. The football team ...

, carrying the team to an NIT runner-up finish in 1951. He averaged 21.1 points per game as a senior and led the team to another second-place finish in the NIT in 1952. Meineke was an AP second-team All-American selection after his senior year.

Professional career

Meineke received the

's first Rookie of the Year Award after the 1952–53 NBA season while playing for the Fort Wayne Pistons. He led the league in personal fouls and disqualifications the same season. The 26 disqualifications he had in his first year is still the NBA single-season record. His 334 personal fouls in only 68 games gave him an average of more than 4.9 fouls per game. Meineke played for the

Rochester Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

in the 1955–56 season, and after sitting out the 1956–57 season, rejoined the relocated Cincinnati Royals in 1957–58.

Personal life

Meineke was married to Mary Jane (Hautman) and they had four children.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1952–53 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...

, 68 , 33.1 , .381 , .783 , 6.9 , 2.2 , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1953–54 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 71 , 20.9 , .344 , .805 , 5.2 , 1.1 , 5.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1954–55 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 68 , 15.1 , .372 , .700 , 3.6 , 0.9 , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1955–56 , style="text-align:left;" , Rochester , 69 , 18.1 , .372 , .700 , 3.6 , 1.5 , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1957–58 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, 67 , 11.8 , .356 , .647 , 3.4 , 0.6 , 4.9 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" , Career , 343 , 19.8 , .367 , .756 , 4.7 , 1.3 , 6.8

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 8 , 28.4 , .375 , .682 , 3.3 , 1.3 , 7.5 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 4 , 21.8 , .261 , .636 , 3.8 , 1.5 , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1955 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 11 , 14.7 , .450 , .920 , 4.4 , 0.8 , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1958 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 2 , 16.0 , .091 , .750 , 5.5 , 0.5 , 4.0 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" , Career , 25 , 20.3 , .351 , .750 , 4.0 , 1.0 , 5.8

References

External links

Where Are They Now- Don Meineke
@ nbrpa.com

at basketball-reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Meineke, Don 1930 births 2013 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Dayton, Ohio Centers (basketball) Cincinnati Royals players Dayton Flyers men's basketball players Fort Wayne Pistons draft picks Fort Wayne Pistons players Power forwards Rochester Royals players