Nationality American Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg) Role Basketball Player Weight 86 kg Position Small forward | Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Name Lennie Rosenbluth Height 1.93 m Date drafted 1957 | |
 | ||
Born January 22, 1933 (age 91)
New York City, New York ( 1933-01-22 ) High school Staunton Military Academy
(Staunton, Virginia) College North Carolina (1954–1957) NBA draft 1957 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall School University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | ||
GoHeelsTV: Lennie Rosenbluth Returns to Municipal Auditorium
Leonard Robert "Lennie" Rosenbluth (born January 22, 1933) is an American former basketball player.
Contents
Biography
Rosenbluth attended Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia. In 1957 he led the University of North Carolina Tar Heels to a 32–0 record. At 6’ 5” Rosenbluth averaged 27.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during the regular season. The Helms Hall of Fame named him “Collegiate Player of the Year,” over Kansas's Wilt Chamberlain. This was North Carolina's first NCAA national championship, and it brought credibility to the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was named the ACC Male Athlete of the Year in 1957.
His first year of varsity basketball in 1955, he was the leading scorer of the Tar Heels. He was named third team All-America, averaging 25.5 ppg and 11.7 rebounds. In 1956 he also achieved All-America honors, but this time they were split between various first and second team selections. He again led the Tar Heels in scoring with a 26.7 average.
In Rosenbluth’s senior season his Tar Heels defeated Chamberlain’s Kansas Jayhawks 54–53 in triple overtime for the NCAA championship. The UNC forward scored 20 points in the championship final, was the tournament’s overall top scorer, 28.0 ppg, and was named to the All-Tournament Team. North Carolina had defeated Michigan State 74-70 the previous night also in a triple overtime game.
Rosenbluth has been honored for his athletic achievements while at North Carolina. In 2002, he was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. He was selected to the "All-Decade Final Four" team for the 1950s. He is in the Helms College Basketball Hall of Fame, is listed by some as one of the "100 Greatest College Players of All-Time," and is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Other honors
Rosenbluth also received a number of other accolades and awards during his playing career:
Until Duke University's Christian Laettner, Rosenbluth was the only collegian to be named NCAA National Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, and NCAA regional MVP in the same season.
Rosenbluth holds several UNC records, including most points in a single season (895), and highest single season average (28.0).
His professional career included a brief stint with the Philadelphia Warriors. He was selected by the Warriors in the first round of the 1957 NBA draft and played for them from 1957–59. He played in 82 games, and averaged 4.2 points per game.