UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
MONROE'S JERSEY TO BE RETIRED: The Washington Wizards will honor former Winston-Salem State and NBA standout Earl "The Pearl" Monroe by retiring his No. 10 jersey Saturday at halftime of its home game vs. Toronto.
Monroe, out of Philadelphia's Bartram High
School, earned his catchy nickname, among others, during a
fabulous college career at WSSU that culminated with his 41.5
points per game scoring average in 1967 during his senior season. That
year as the nation's scoring leader, he led the Rams, under
legendary coach Clarence "Big House"
Gaines, to the NCAA Small College championship, the
first NCAA title won by a historically black college or university.
Monroe was named the College Division player of the year.
The nicknames, which included "Thomas Edison," "Black Jesus " and "Black Magic" were evoked because of Monroe's uncanny ballhandling, playmaking and shotmaking abilities. A deft ballhandler and passer, Monroe popularized and perfected "the spin move" that he often parlayed to get around and through defenders. He is perhaps most well known for his ability to score anywhere, often times in college from long range as well as a unique shooting style that allowed him to score over taller defenders particularly in the paint.
Monroe was drafted in the first round (2nd overall pick) of the 1967 draft by the then Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards) and went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award averaging 24.3 points per game. It was the third-highest rookie point total in NBA history at the time. In four seasons with the Bullets, he averaged 23.7 points and 4.6 assists per game.
He was traded to the New York Knicks in 1971 and teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Walt Frazier to give the Knicks a lethal backcourt combination. Monroe and the Knicks won the 1973 NBA championship. For his NBA career, Monroe scored 17,454 points, averaging 18.8 points per game in 926 career games. His No. 15 jersey was retired by the Knicks in March 1986. Monroe is one of a select few to have his jersey retired by multiple franchises. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 and was named in 1996 as one of the 50 players on the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
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