Franklin Douglas Burgess (March 9, 1935 – March 26, 2010) was an American 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 and

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Washington United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

Early life

Burgess was born in Eudora,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. A man with a good sense of humor, he once described his hometown as being so small that "the only fast food we had in that town was if you hit a

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

going 70 (miles per hour)." He attended Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College (Arkansas AM&N), a small school now known as the

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a Public University, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the second oldest public college or univer ...

, for one year while also playing on the basketball team. He then joined the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

and spent a four-year tour of duty in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Burgess still played basketball even in Germany and was so good that he was picked to be one of the 10 best Air Force players in the world. While stationed at Hahn Air Force Base he averaged 33.4 points per game. It was during this time that Burgess met Mel Porter, a fellow American Air Force officer and

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

alumnus. Porter recognized Burgess' talent and played middle man to Burgess and the

Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball The Gonzaga Bulldogs are an intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Gonzaga University. The school competes in the West Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Gonzaga Bulldogs p ...

coach,

Hank Anderson Thor Henry Anderson (December 5, 1920 – September 5, 2005) was a college basketball coach and athletic director (AD). He was the head coach at Gonzaga University for 21 seasons, from 1951 to 1972, where he compiled a record. Anderson later coa ...

. Although Burgess had also started to receive serious interest from

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, he ultimately chose to attend Gonzaga because he felt that that school would get him the most prepared for life after basketball. "You have to remember, I had gotten out of the service, and I was married with twin girls. I was about getting an education and taking care of my family," he said to a newspaper reporter later in his life.

College

Burgess matriculated at Gonzaga University in the fall of 1958 after his stint in the Air Force had ended. He spent three years at Gonzaga, from 1958–59 to 1960–61. He led the Bulldogs in scoring all three seasons, scored 40 or more points in a game seven times with a career-high 52 points against UC Davis, led the NCAA in scoring in 1960–61 with a 32.4 points per game average, and finished as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,196 points. He received

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 ...

honors in both his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

seasons, while in his senior year he was a consensus Second Team All-American. Although his Gonzaga career ended in 1961, Burgess is etched in the records book at the school, including: Career *Points – 2,196 (2nd) *Scoring average – 28.1 (1st) *Field goals made – 800 (2nd) *Field goals attempted – 1,780 (1st) *Free throws made – 596 (1st) *Free throws attempted – 727 (1st) Season *Scoring average – 32.4 (1st); 28.9 (2nd); 23.2 (5th) *Points – 842 (2nd); 751 (4th) *Field goals made – 304 (3rd); 265 (5th) *Free throws made – 234 (2nd); 221 (3rd) Game *Points – 52 (1st) *40+ points – 7 times (1st) *Free throws made – 16 (T-1st) :''All-time ranks accurate through the 2022–23 season.''

Later life

Burgess graduated with a degree in education in the spring of 1961 and was then drafted by the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

of 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 ...

. He instead chose to play in the fledgling American Basketball League with the Hawaii Chiefs, but after two years the league folded. He decided to go back to school and enrolled at the

Gonzaga University School of Law The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University. Established in 1912, the Jesuit-affiliated law school has been fully accredited by the American Ba ...

, where he graduated near the top of his class despite working the midnight shift for Washington Water Power.

Legal career

From 1966 to 1967, Burgess was a Legal intern for the

United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by the U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President Harry ...

. After six months, he became an assistant city attorney of

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

until 1969. Burgess then spent the next 11 years (until 1980) as a private practice lawyer with Jack Edward Tanner. He was a Judge pro tem, Municipal Court and Pierce County District Court during that time. From 1980 to 1981, Burgess was a regional counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, and then became a U.S. Magistrate in the

from 1981 to 1993.

Federal judicial service

Burgess became a United States district judge of the

when President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated him on November 19, 1993, to a seat vacated by Jack Edward Tanner. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on March 25, 1994, and received his commission on March 28, 1994. Burgess assumed senior status on March 9, 2005. Burgess died on March 26, 2010, from cancer.

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Frank 1935 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges African-American judges All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions men's basketball players Basketball players from Arkansas Deaths from cancer in Washington (state) Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players Gonzaga University School of Law alumni Hawaii Chiefs (basketball) players Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Shooting guards Basketball players from Tacoma, Washington Washington (state) lawyers Washington (state) state court judges United States Air Force airmen United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States magistrate judges