Alumni News: Cornellians in the NBA

The question was asked on The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board whether Cornell has had any alumni play in the NBA. We also get this question sent to us by email quite regularly.

The answer is yes. Cornell has been represented in the NBA.

The Cornell Basketball media guide notes as follows:

Cornell has had many connections to the NBA over the years, as three former student-athletes have played in the league with a total of 12 players being drafted over the years. Nat Militzok was the first Cornellian to play in the NBA, seeing time for both the Toronto Huskies of the BAA (the forerunner of the NBA) and New York Knicks during the 1946-47 season. In 57 total games, Militzok averaged 4.3 points. He had the honor of playing in what is considered the first NBA game for the Knicks against the Huskies in Toronto on Nov. 1, 1946.

The longest career belonged to Ed Peterson, who played a season with the Syracuse Nationals in 1949-50 before suiting up for the Tri-City Blackhawks the following year. In 115 NBA games, Peterson averaged 7.0 points.

Gene Berce played three games for Tri-City during the 1949-50 season after being drafted by the New York Knicks a year earlier. He averaged 3.3 points and 0.7 assists.

The highest drafted player was Lee Morton ‘54, going 25th overall in the third round to the Rochester Royals in the 1954 draft. Both George Farley ‘60 (Fiffth round, 34th overall in 1960) and Louis Jordan ‘59 (6th round, 42nd overall in 1959) have also gone among the top 50 players drafted.

Additionally, former Big Red letter winners Cody Toppert ‘05 and Jeffrion Aubry ‘99 have played in the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), the NBA’s sanctioned minor league.

Off the court, Bryan Colangelo ‘87 was named the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2005 as the team president and general manager of the Phoenix Suns and currently serves in the same role for the Toronto Raptors organization.

CORNELL IN THE NBA DRAFT
YEAR PLAYER TEAM ROUND OVERALL
1948 GENE BERCE NEW YORK — —
ROBERT GALE ST. LOUIS — —
ED PETERSON NEW YORK — —
1951 PAUL GERWIN PHILADELPHIA 10 85
1952 FRED EYDT BOSTON — —
1954 LEE MORTON ROCHESTER 3 25
1956 CHUCK ROLLES SYRACUSE — —
1959 LOU JORDAN DETRIOT 6 42
1960 GEORGE FARLEY MINNEAPOLIS 5 34
1963 JERRY SZACHARA NEW YORK 13 81
1968 GREGG MORRIS BALTIMORE 17 200
1985 KEN BANTUM NEW YORK 7 142