Allen Harper "Skip" Wise Jr. (born July 25, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player. Wise was a sensation as a high school player at Dunbar High School in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

. In his junior year in 1973, Wise led Dunbar to a victory over

DeMatha High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington Ca ...

, led by future

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball 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 in the United St ...

star

Adrian Dantley Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 28, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dantley is a six-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection an ...

. Wise then played at Clemson University and was the first

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

to win first team all-conference honors in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. Wise left Clemson after his freshman year, signing with the Baltimore Claws 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 ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

in 1975. However, drugs impaired his play; in

Terry Pluto Terry Pluto (born June 12, 1955) is an American sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and author who primarily writes columns for ''The Plain Dealer'', and formerly for the ''Akron Beacon Journal'' about Cleveland, Ohio sports and religion. Pluto ...

's book on the ABA, ''Loose Balls'', a coach found Wise shivering in the locker room, suggesting

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

use. The Claws folded after playing three preseason exhibition games (with the 20-year-old scoring 23 points in those contests, including twelve in Baltimore's last-ever game), so Wise then signed with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

. The Warriors dropped him after a few days, however, with Wise's drug use as a major reason (allegedly, Warriors coach

Al Attles Alvin Austin Attles Jr. (born November 7, 1936) is an American former professional basketball player and coach best known for his longtime association with the Golden State Warriors. Nicknamed the "Destroyer", he played the point guard position a ...

caught Wise using heroin in the team locker room). In November, Wise hooked on with the San Antonio Spurs and appeared briefly in two games; they were his only games as a professional, as the Spurs cut him by the end of the month. Wise eventually served prison time for drug-related crimes in the 1970s and 1980s, before returning home to Baltimore and working in a local community center.

External links

BasketballReference.com Skip Wise statisticsPress Box article on Skip Wise
* ttp://www.remembertheaba.com/Baltimore-Claws.html RememberTheABA.com Baltimore Claws page, with information on Wise's time with the teambr>HoopsHype.com article on Wise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wise, Skip 1955 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Baltimore Clemson Tigers men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards San Antonio Spurs players