Nationality American Name Ray Felix Playing career Weight 100 kg | Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg) Height 2.11 m Role Basketball player | |
 | ||
College LIU Brooklyn (1949–1951) NBA draft 1953, Balti Bullets (Round: 1 / Pick: 1) | ||
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | ||
My 1yr tribute to my babe ray felix
Raymond Darlington Felix (December 10, 1930 – July 28, 1991) was an American professional basketball player. He was born in New York City. He played high school basketball at Metropolitan High School in New York and college basketball at Long Island University.
Contents
Career
A 6' 11" center from Long Island University, Felix was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the first pick in the 1953 NBA Draft. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1954 after averaging 17.6 points and 13.3 rebounds. Felix was also the second African-American, following Don Barksdale, to be named an All-Star. Felix spent nine seasons in the league, and played for the Bullets, New York Knicks, Minneapolis Lakers, and Los Angeles Lakers. Felix had an incident with future hall of famer Bill Russell in Russell's rookie season, when after Russell felt Felix had been trying to intimidate him, he knocked Felix unconscious with a punch to the head. Toward the end of his career, after having several of his shots blocked by Russell, Felix took the ball the flung it off the side of the backboard, saying to Russell, smiling, "You didn't get that one!" Felix averaged 10.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, with career totals of 6,974 points and 5,652 rebounds. He retired in 1962.
After Basketball
Follow his retirement he worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation where he sponsored a basketball tournament in Elmhurst, Queens and later worked as a supervisor at Harlem men's shelter. He died of a heart attack on July 28, 1991. He had a son, Ray Jr., with his wife Gloria.