Leroy Edwards

Leroy Harry Edwards (April 11, 1914 – August 25, 1971) was an American basketball player. He played professionally for Oshkosh All-Stars of the National Basketball League and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of the pre-NBA era. His nicknames included "Cowboy" and "Lefty".

Edwards was an NCAA All-American at the University of Kentucky. Edwards retired in 1949, the same year the NBL ceased operations by merging with the BAA to form the NBA.

High school Edwards was a center who starred at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. and it was between his sophomore and junior years that he learned how to do a hook shot after watching a barn-storming basketball team perform the feat. Due to NCAA rules, college freshmen were not allowed to play varsity sports at the time. As a freshman in 1933–34, he set a college scoring record 24 points per game in 17 games as he guided the Kentucky freshmen team to an undefeated season. In what was his first season of professional play, Edwards would play for the Indianapolis U.S. Tires (owned by U.S. Tire, Inc.) in the Midwest Basketball Conference (a predecessor to the National Basketball League, which itself has ties to the modern-day National Basketball Association), though he would also be loaned out to the inner city rivaling Indianapolis Kautskys for a few independent matches, notably against barnstorming teams like the Philadelphia Sphas and a February 1936 game against the New York Renaissance. In 1936 he signed his first pro contract with the Oshkosh All-Stars, a team in Wisconsin that played in the National Basketball League (NBL). This league was the forerunner to the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for them from 1936 to 1949. and the latter occurring against the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons on March 5, 1942.

During Edwards's 12-year NBL career, he was selected to the NBL First Team All-League six times and the Second Team All-League twice. Edwards' team had the best record of all teams that were invited to the World Professional Basketball Tournament, winning 20 games and losing 10. Edwards, a pioneer of basketball, is in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame and the University of Kentucky's Athletics Hall of Fame. Despite being a nominee numerous times, Edwards has yet to be inducted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Career statistics

†Denotes seasons in which Edwards's team won an NBL championship*Led the league‡Denotes NBL record

NBL Source

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and accolades The following is a more comprehensive list of Edwards' myriad awards, accolades and records than could reasonably be placed in an infobox. (Sources )

Indianapolis Arsenal Tech 3× Arsenal Tech team were Indianapolis City tournament champions 2× team's leading scorer 2× All-North Central Conference 2× All-State

College School freshman scoring record 24 points per game (over 400 points) School single game scoring record (34 points) in a game against Creighton, a record which stood until 1949 Leading scorer in the South (343 points) in 1935 343 points scored in 21 games was the highest season points scored by a Kentucky player until 1947, when it was broken in a 37-game season Points per game average of 16.3 was the highest per game average of any Kentucky player until 1945 1935 Consensus All-American (Helms 1st Team, Converse 2nd Team) Credited with the introduction of the 3-second rule, which forbid an offensive player from remaining inside the free-throw lane (with or without the ball) for longer than three seconds; this rule was instituted in 1936 1930s All-Decade Team selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Madison Square Garden All-Decade Team (1934–1943) Associated Press All-Time Collegiate Team (as of February 1943) Adolph Rupp's All-Star Kentucky Squad (1930–1972) as named in John McGill's book Kentucky Sports

Professional 6× NBL Western Division championships with the Oshkosh All-Stars: 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946 2× NBL championships: 1941, 1942 Scored a record 30 points in game against Kankakee (first NBL player to score 30+ points in a professional game) in 1937–38 3× NBL scoring leader: 1938 (16.2 ppg), 1939 (11.9 ppg), 1940 (12.9 ppg) 3× NBL MVP: 1938, 1939, 1940 6× All-NBL First Team: 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1945 2× All-NBL Second Team: 1943, 1946 In 1938–39, lead league in every recorded offensive statistic World Professional Basketball Tournament champion (1942) 3× World Professional Basketball Tournament (WPBL) All-Tournament First Team: 1939, 1940, 1946 All-time leading scorer in WPBL history All-time NBL League team honoree Second in all-time scoring in the NBL (3,221 points in 322 games for an average of 10.0 ppg)

Career United Press International selection as one of top 5 greatest professional players all-time (1945) Helms Athletic Foundation Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (1971) Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (1975) Indiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee (2024) Association of Professional Basketball Researchers (APBR's) Top-100 Professional Basketball Players of the 20th Century University of Kentucky's Athletics Hall of Fame inductee (2012)