John Blackwell "

Sprat Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus ''Sprattus'' in the Family (biology), family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish (''Clupeoides'', ''Clupeonella ...

" Cobb (August 4, 1904 – September 9, 1966) was an American

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 ...

player at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. Cobb is one of eight Tar Heels basketball players who have had their jersey retired, and was nicknamed "Mr. Basketball".

Early life

John Blackwell Cobb was born on August 4, 1904, in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, to Venable Tobacco Company executive James S. Cobb and Nannie Orr. The Cobbs were of English ancestry and Orrs of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ancestry.

University of North Carolina

Cobb was a member of

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...

fraternity. Cobb and Cartwright Carmichael led the Tar Heels to their first undefeated season in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

. The 1924 team was retroactively named national champion by the

Helms Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

in 1936. Their fast play and defense earned them the nickname the "White Phantoms", used as an alternative nickname for the Tar Heels into the 1940s. After defeating Alabama in the Southern Conference tournament, some 500 students marched to Cobb's house in Durham and woke up the household with fight songs. He averaged 13.6 points a game, then an incredible stat. 6' 2" was also a large size for a player in his day. Cobb went on to play for three straight

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

titles (1924, 1925, 1926). He was also, the first 3-time All-America selection in North Carolina history. Cobb was captain in

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

. Cobb was named national player of the year for

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

by the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

Later life

Cobb's dreams of pursuing a coaching career were dashed when he had a motorcycle accident in 1929 and lost part of his lower right leg. Cobb did continue to coach Little League Baseball teams throughout much of his life.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobb, Jack 1904 births 1966 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Durham, North Carolina Forwards (basketball) North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Sportspeople from Greenville, North Carolina Woodberry Forest School alumni