Norris James Coleman (born September 27, 1961) is an American retired 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 who was selected by the

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

in the second round (38th pick overall) of the

1987 NBA draft The 1987 NBA draft was held on June 22, 1987, in New York City. This draft included two future members of the NBA 50 Greatest Players list, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, as well as fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was named to t ...

. A 6'8" forward from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

, Coleman played in only one

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 ...

(NBA) season. Coleman played for the Clippers during the 1987–88 season, appearing in 29 games and scoring a total of 153 points. Following his one season in the NBA, Coleman had a lengthy and successful career in foreign professional basketball leagues, principally in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He played with

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's lead ...

during the 1992–93, 1993–94, and 1995–96 seasons, and with

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

during the 1994–95 season. He was the 1994

Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP The Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, or Israeli Basketball Super League MVP, is an annual basketball award that is presented to the most valuable player in a given season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is the top-tier level ...

. Coleman continued to play in Israel in numerous teams until his retirement in 2001, with

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

in the second league, at the age of 40.

College career

Coleman had an unusual collegiate career at Kansas State. Because he had spent five years in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

, Coleman was a 24-year-old freshman when he began play at K-State in the 1985–86 basketball season. That season, Coleman led the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

in scoring with 21.8 points per game and pulled down 8 rebounds a game, on the way to being named first-team All-Conference and Newcomer of the Year. In doing so, he became one of the few players to lead his league in scoring during his first season in college. However, near the close of that season, the

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. ...

found that Coleman had not met the minimum high school requirements and K-State immediately declared him ineligible. The saga took another twist in April 1986, when the NCAA issued an unusual ruling that said Coleman would have to sit out a year at K-State with no scholarship and surrender a year of eligibility, or transfer to a different school and face no penalties. Coleman immediately received scholarship offers from 25 schools, and took recruiting trips to

LSU 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 ...

, the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, but eventually decided to stay at Kansas State. Early in the following basketball season, in November 1986, the NCAA reduced its penalty to a 12-game suspension, and Coleman returned to the court for the last 19 games of the 1986–1987 season, teaming with

Mitch Richmond Mitchell James Richmond III (born June 30, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. He played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and Kansas State University. He was a six-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Te ...

to help lead K-State to a berth in the 1987 NCAA tournament. After averaging 20.7 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game and again being named first team All-Conference in his shortened sophomore season, Coleman decided to turn pro. Because of his career in the Army, Coleman was affectionately

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

d "The Sarge" by Kansas State fans.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1985–86 , style="text-align:left;",

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

, 28 , , 28 , , 35.4 , , .518 , , — , , .743 , , 8.0 , , .7 , , .9 , , .9 , , 21.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1986–87 , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 12 , , 32.3 , , .508 , , .077 , , .752 , , 8.4 , , .4 , , .9 , , 1.4 , , 20.7 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 47 , , 40 , , 34.2 , , .515 , , .077 , , .747 , , 8.2 , , .6 , , .9 , , 1.2 , , 21.3 , -

References

External links

*
The Draft ReviewList of KSU basketball award-winnersACB Profile
@ ACB.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Norris 1961 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Basketball players from Jacksonville, Florida Bnei Herzliya basketball players CB Gran Canaria players Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C. players Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball players Liga ACB players Los Angeles Clippers draft picks Los Angeles Clippers players Maccabi Givat Shmuel players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Military personnel from Florida NCAA sanctions Olympique Antibes basketball players Peñarol de Mar del Plata basketball players Power forwards Small forwards United States Army soldiers United States Basketball League players American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines Philippine Basketball Association imports Pop Cola Panthers players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen A.S. Ramat HaSharon players Paxon School for Advanced Studies alumni