Roscoe Pondexter Jr. (born October 17, 1952) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Long Beach State 49ers Long Beach State athletics, or simply Beach athletics (previously known as the 49ers), are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Long Beach. Teams compete in 19 sports at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NC ...

from 1972 to 1974. Pondexter was a third round pick of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of ...

in the

1974 NBA draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

, but played his professional career in Europe and South America. He became a prison guard after his retirement from basketball and was involved with a gang at

California State Prison, Corcoran California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County, California. It is also known as Corcoran State Prison, CSP-C, CSP-COR, CSP-Corcoran, and Corcoran I. The facility is just nor ...

who earned notoriety for their brutal treatment of inmates.

Early life

Roscoe Pondexter Jr. was born on October 17, 1952, in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, to Roscoe Sr. and Zeola (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

'' Green) Pondexter. His father, Roscoe Pondexter Sr. (1929–2007), was from

Hope, Arkansas Hope is a city in Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas, United States. Hope is the county seat of Hempstead County and the principal city of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Hempstead and Nevada counties. As of t ...

, and moved to Fresno in 1946; he married Green of Fresno in 1949. Pondexter Sr. worked as a union construction worker on major projects in California including the

Friant Dam Friant Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the San Joaquin River in central California in the United States, on the boundary of Fresno and Madera Counties. It was built between 1937 and 1942 as part of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) water p ...

and

California State Route 168 State Route 168 (SR 168) is an east-west state highway in the U.S. state of California that is separated into two distinct segments by the Sierra Nevada mountains. The western segment runs from State Routes 41 and 180 in Fresno east to Hunti ...

High school and college career

Pondexter and his younger brother,

Cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on ...

, emerged as a dominant duo while playing at

San Joaquin Memorial High School San Joaquin Memorial High School is a private Roman Catholic high school in Fresno, California, United States. Founded in 1945, it is the only Catholic high school in the greater Fresno area. It is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno and has a ...

. Pondexter graduated in 1971 as the highest prep scorer in California basketball history with 2,288 points and was named

California Mr. Basketball Each year the California Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of California. Many have gone on to play in the NBA. Voting is done in a points system. Each voter selec ...

for his senior season. In May 1971, Pondexter committed to begin his

career at

Fresno City College Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...

. He transferred to play for the

after his sophomore season but missed the start of the 1972–73 season due to a delay of his summer school transcripts. Pondexter was ruled eligible in November 1972. He was named to the first-team All-

Pacific Coast Athletic Association The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

(PCAA) after he averaged 14.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game during his sophomore season. Pondexter was reunited with his brother as teammates during the 1973–74 season. During his junior year, the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athlete, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic sports, ...

(NCAA) accused Pondexter and teammate

Glenn McDonald Glenn McDonald (born March 18, 1952) is an American retired professional basketball player. He played three seasons for the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks before going overseas most notably in the Philippines, with the U/Tex Wranglers in ...

of having someone else take their entrance exams and declared them ineligible. Pondexter and McDonald returned to the team and finished the season after a court order was obtained. Pondexter earned his second nomination to the first-team All-PCAA as he averaged 15.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game during his junior season.

Professional career

Pondexter successfully applied for a hardship from the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) and was an early entrant in the

alongside his brother. They cited the financial need of their family as their reason for applying; Pondexter went against the recommendation of Long Beach State head coach

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head c ...

that he stay in college. Pondexter was selected by the

in the third round but never made it to training camp with the team. He signed with the

Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, a ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

but was released before the season began. Pondexter instead played professionally in Europe and South America for ten years. Pondexter received the award for

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the

Liga Profesional de Baloncesto The Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto, commonly known as the SPB, is the Venezuelan first division national professional basketball league. Founded in 1974 as the Liga Especial de Baloncesto, it adopted the name Liga Profesional de Baloncesto i ...

(LPB) while playing for Colosos de Carabobo in 1978. He played for Pagnossin / Tai Ginseng Gorizia from 1978 to 1981. Pondexter played for Carrera Venezia during the 1983–84 season.

Post-playing career

Pondexter returned to Fresno after his basketball career ended and worked as a guard in a local county jail. He quickly moved up the field and became a California correctional peace officer while he worked at

Soledad Prison Correctional Training Facility (CTF), commonly referenced as Soledad State Prison, is a state prison located on U.S. Route 101, north of Soledad, California, adjacent to Salinas Valley State Prison. Facilities The institution is divided int ...

. In 1988, Pondexter was selected to work for the newly opened

. He became a member of a gang of guards who were known for their brutal tactics on prisoners; he earned the nickname "Bonecrusher" for his involvement. The Corcoran guards gang was active from 1989 to 1995 and were responsible for starting prisoner fights for wagering, savagely inducting prisoners into the facility and fatally shooting prisoners "for sport". Pondexter developed a reputation for his torture of prisoners and a strangulation technique that would bring victims close to unconsciousness. Investigations at the facility began after the murder of an inmate by a guard and Pondexter was stood down for an incident in which he manhandled an inmate. Pondexter gave court testimony in 1999 against his former coworkers in return for immunity from prosecution. After his prison guard career ended, Pondexter earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

, and worked as an assistant in the athletic department.

Personal life

Pondexter has three children with his wife Doris. His youngest son, Quincy, is a basketball player who played in the NBA. Pondexter encouraged Quincy to play

for all four years and told him: "I'm not going to let you make the dumb mistake that I made."

References

External links

College statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pondexter, Roscoe 1952 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela American men's basketball players Basketball players from California Boston Celtics draft picks Fresno City Rams men's basketball players Long Beach State Beach men's basketball players Nuova Pallacanestro Gorizia players Reyer Venezia players Roseto Sharks players Small forwards Sportspeople from Fresno, California