Joe Fulks

Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks (October 26, 1921 – March 21, 1976) was an American professional basketball player who became the NBA's first scoring champion and was often called "the first of the high-scoring forwards." He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after his death, in 1978.

Fulks grew up on a farm near Birmingham, Kentucky, in the state's far-western Purchase region. His family had little money, so as a kid he practiced with a tin can or a stuffed sock until a local high school coach gave him a used ball. He starred for Birmingham High School, but after his junior year his family moved to Kuttawa, Kentucky. The move happened because the Tennessee Valley Authority was damming the Tennessee River, which would flood Birmingham under Kentucky Lake. Kuttawa was accused of recruiting Fulks by getting his father a job at the local prison, but an investigation by the Kentucky High School Association Board of Control found no evidence to punish the school.

Fulks played college basketball at Murray State University (then Murray State Teachers College) for two years. He left in May 1942 to join the Marines, serving with 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines during World War II. He was discharged as a corporal in May 1946. His number 26 hangs in the rafters at Murray State's CFSB Center.

Fulks joined the BAA's Philadelphia Warriors in 1946 at age 25. As a rookie, he won the league's first scoring title, averaging 23.2 points per game, and the Warriors won the BAA title. He led the league in scoring average again in the 1947–48 season (22.1 points per game), but Max Zaslofsky won the scoring title by having more total points. Fulks posted a career-best 26.0 points per game average in the 1948–49 season. He led the NBA in free throw percentage during the 1950–51 season.

Fulks set the BAA/NBA single-game scoring record four times. In just his eighth professional game, on December 3, 1946, he scored 37 points (16 field goals, five free throws) in a 76–68 win over the Providence Steam Rollers. Twenty games later, on January 14, 1947, he scored 41 points (15 field goals, 11 free throws) in a 104–74 win over the Toronto Huskies. On December 18, 1948, he tied Carl Braun's record with 47 points (18 field goals, 11 free throws) in a 94–90 win against the Providence Steamrollers.

His final record came on February 10, 1949, when he scored 63 points in a 108–87 victory over the Indianapolis Jets. He made 27 of 56 field goal attempts and nine of 14 free throws, also breaking the records for most points in a half (33), field goals, and field goal attempts. That 63-point mark stood until Elgin Baylor scored 64 in 1959. On January 4, 1951, Fulks grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and scored 20 points in a 92–69 win over the Baltimore Bullets.

Standing 6 feet tall, Fulks was known for athletic drives to the basket and his shooting. He is remembered as a pioneer of the modern jump shot. In his early career, he was considered the league's greatest offensive player. Over his first three seasons, he averaged 23.9 points per game at a time when teams rarely scored over 70 points before the shot clock.

He was named to the All-BAA First Team in each of those three seasons. In 1971, he was one of 10 players chosen for the NBA 25th Anniversary Team. However, Fulks was a low-efficiency shooter: among players with at least 1,000 attempts, his career field goal percentage of 30.2% ranks as the 29th-worst in NBA history. He attempted 50 shots in a game three times.

On March 18, 1948, he went 13-for-55 (.236) against the Providence Steam Rollers, missing 42 shots—the only time in NBA history a player has taken over 50 shots and made less than 30 percent. In a playoff game on March 30, 1948, against the St. Louis Bombers, he shot 8-for-46 (17.4 percent), missing 38 shots; the 46 field goal attempts were a league playoff record until 1962, and no player has missed more shots in a playoff game since.

After retiring, Fulks returned to Marshall County, Kentucky, where he lived for the rest of his life. He worked at the GAF plant in Calvert City, Kentucky, for nearly 20 years. In 1975, he became the recreation director at the Kentucky State Penitentiary. On March 21, 1976, Fulks was shot and killed by Greg Bannister, the son of his girlfriend, Roberta Bannister, during an argument over a handgun. A jury found Bannister guilty of reckless homicide, and he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Fulks was buried in Briensburg, Kentucky.