Ronald Stephen Franz (October 20, 1945 – October 3, 2022) 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 who was a

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

(ABA). After playing

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

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

, Franz played in the ABA for the

Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: *Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey te ...

New Orleans Buccaneers The New Orleans Buccaneers were a charter member of the American Basketball Association. After three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana, the franchise moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where it became the Memphis Pros, Pros, Memphis Tams, Tams, and Me ...

, Floridians,

Memphis Tams Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memph ...

, and

Dallas Chaparrals The Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The team moved to San Antonio, Texas, for the 1973–74 season and were renamed the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs joined the National Basketball Association ...

from 1968 to 1973. He also played in Switzerland.

Career

Franz attended

Bishop Ward High School Bishop Ward High School is a private school, private, coed, Roman Catholic high school in Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. History Bishop Ward High S ...

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and played

for the

from 1963 to 1967. He was a three-year starting

for the Jayhawks. During the 1966–67 season, he served as team captain under coach Ted Owens. The

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

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 ...

(NBA) selected Franz in the fourth round of the

1967 NBA draft The 1967 NBA draft was the 21st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 3 and 4, 1967, before the 1967–68 season. In this draft, 12 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pla ...

. The

of the rival upstart

(ABA) selected Franz in the 10th round of the

ABA Draft The American Basketball Association draft was held from 1967 to 1975. Generally speaking, the ABA's drafts were considered a lot looser in terms of structure for teams to make their player choices when compared to the rivaling NBA. So much so, in f ...

. Franz chose to sign with Oakland. He played for the Oaks in the 1967–68 season. On June 18, 1968, the Oaks traded Franz,

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guitar ...

, and

Barry Leibowitz Barry Leibowitz (בארי לייבוביץ; born September 10, 1945) is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player who played point guard and shooting guard. He played college basketball at Long Island University (LIU). Chosen b ...

to the

for Larry Brown and

Doug Moe Douglas Edwin Moe (born September 21, 1938) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. As a head coach with the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988. Ea ...

. The Buccaneers traded Franz and Dave Nash to the

Miami Floridians The Miami Floridians, later in their history known simply as The Floridians, were a professional basketball franchise in the original, now-defunct American Basketball Association. The Miami Floridians played in the ABA from 1968 through 1970 when ...

for Al Cueto, Wil Jones, and

Erv Staggs James Ervin Staggs (September 1, 1948 – December 29, 2012) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the American Basketball Association for the Miami Floridians The Miami Floridians, later in their history known simply as ...

on June 9, 1970. The Floridians folded in 1972, and the

selected Franz in a

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when an existing team folds or is merged into another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in closed leagues and are in ...

. Franz announced his retirement from basketball in December 1972. However, he signed with the

in January 1973. Franz signed with Memphis for the 1974-75 ABA season, but he was cut. Franz played for the Swiss Alpines of the European Professional Basketball League during its only season in 1975.

Personal life and death

After his playing career, Franz owned a construction company based in Memphis that built houses in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Florida. He and his wife Georgia had 2 daughters together, Tara Lynn Franz and Shawna Lee Franz. He and his wife, Georgia, retired to

Fort Walton Beach, Florida Fort Walton Beach, often referred to by the initialism FWB, is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is a principa ...

. Franz died in Fort Walton Beach on October 3, 2022, at the age of 76. He leaves behind his wife, 2 daughters, and 2 grandchildren, Nolan Thomas and Grace Linnea.

Career statistics

ABA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, 74 , , 28.1 , , .392 , , .258 , , .691 , , 6.3 , , 1.7 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 73 , , 30.1 , , .4348 , , .355 , , .737 , , 7.1 , , 2.6 , , 14.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 55 , , 23.7 , , .422 , , .280 , , .629 , , 5.2 , , 1.7 , , 11.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, 67 , , 23.8 , , .485 , , .318 , , .726 , , 4.8 , , 1.4 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 74 , , 24.6 , , .485 , , .182 , , .704 , , 4.6 , , 1.3 , , 11.6 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", , style="text-align:left;",

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

, 23 , , 17.5 , , .465 , , .000 , , .697 , , 3.8 , , 1.1 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 37 , , 13.8 , , .506 , , .333 , , .733 , , 2.8 , , 1.1 , , 7.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 403 , , 24.6 , , .447 , , .279 , , .703 , , 5.3 , , 1.7 , , 11.7

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

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

, 11 , , 23.7 , , .339 , , .143 , , .676 , , 4.3 , , 1.6 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

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

, 2 , , 20.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , .375 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

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

, 4 , , 22.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , .375 , , 6.3 , , 1.0 , , 6.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 17 , , 22.9 , , .337 , , .111 , , .585 , , 4.8 , , 1.4 , , 8.6

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franz, Ron 1945 births 2022 deaths American men's basketball players Dallas Chaparrals players Detroit Pistons draft picks Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Memphis Tams players Miami Floridians players New Orleans Buccaneers players Oakland Oaks draft picks Oakland Oaks players Basketball players from Kansas City, Kansas Sportspeople from Fort Walton Beach, Florida Small forwards