Ron Morton Thomas (November 19, 1950 – July 14, 2018) 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 at both the

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and

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

level in the United States. Thomas, a native of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Louisville, played college basketball at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

. Thomas was drafted by the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

of the

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(NBA) in the 6th round of the 1972 NBA draft. He instead signed with the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colo ...

of 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 ...

. Thomas played for four seasons with the Colonels, scoring over 1,000

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in his professional career. He was part of the Colonels team that won the 1975 ABA Championship. Thomas died on July 14, 2018. He was drafted to the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

in the 1976 ABA dispersal draft, but never played a single NBA game either for Houston or anyone else in the NBA. Thomas would be the only player drafted in the ABA dispersal draft to not play in the NBA later on.

References

External links

BasketballReference.com page
1950 births 2018 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen American men's basketball players Basketball players from Louisville, Kentucky Kentucky Colonels players Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Miami Floridians draft picks Power forwards Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Trinity Valley Cardinals men's basketball players {{ULouisville-stub