Don Ohl
Personal information | |
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Born | Baltimore Bullets | April 18, 1936
1968–1970 | St. Louis / Atlanta Hawks |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Career NBA statistics | |
Points | 11,549 (15.9 ppg) |
Rebounds | 2,163 (3.0 rpg) |
Assists | 2,243 (3.1 apg) |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Donald Jay Ohl (born April 18, 1936) is an American former
College career
Ohl attended
Professional career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2024) |
In his final college season, Ohl began to pique the interest of several NBA teams in advance of the 1958 draft. The
As Ohl told The Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer in a 2020 interview, “It may have been a mistake, but I didn’t end up playing in the NBA until two years after I got drafted. I didn’t think I was good enough for the NBA even though people who should have known kept telling me that I was. I started working for Caterpillar and they had a team in the Industrial League, which might be comparable to a farm club of the NBA.
“In 1960, we won an AAU tournament in Denver, and the next week they had the Olympic Trials to see who would represent the U.S. in the Olympics. We played the final game against the college all-stars, who had a bunch of All-Americans like (future NBA stars) Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Walt Bellamy and Jerry Lucas, and of course, they beat us.”
Ohl performed well enough at the Olympic Trials to put himself back on the NBA radar. After the
In 1968, Ohl was traded to the Hawks for Tom Workman and a third round draft choice. Two years later, he was taken in the 1970 NBA Expansion draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers but opted to retire at 34 years of age.[2]
Ohl twice scored a career high of 43 points in a single game, first on January 23, 1963, in a 123–119 defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers and again on December 25, 1966, in a 129–127 loss to his former team, the Pistons.[3]
'Brinks Robbery in Baltimore'
Shortly after the 1963–64 campaign, Ohl was involved one of the first so-called megatrades, this one an eight-player blockbuster between the Pistons and Bullets. On June 9, 1964, the Pistons sent Ohl, center Bob Ferry, forward Bailey Howell, forward Les Hunter and the draft rights to guard Wally (later Wali) Jones to the Bullets in exchange for forwards Terry Dischinger and Don Kojis and guard Rod Thorn. The deal turned out to a fortuitous one for the Bullets, as Howell and Ohl became mainstays with the team.
“They called it the Brinks robbery out in Baltimore because it was so one-sided to Baltimore,” Ohl told the Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer. “Dickey McGuire was my coach my first two years and I just admired him to death. He quit and Charlie Wolf took over, and for me it was not a good situation and apparently for two or three other players, because they went with me. I was happy to get out. I liked Detroit, but I was ready to go.”
In the 1964-65 campaign, Ohl, backcourt sidekick
Wild West Shootout
Ohl experienced his finest hour in the 1965 playoffs, in which he averaged 26.1 points in 10 games. In the Western Division finals, he and Los Angeles Lakers star guard Jerry West were involved in one of the more memorable shootouts in league postseason history. The Bullets top gun put up 28.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game before the Lakers prevailed in six games, each of which was decided by eights points or less. [4]
“(Lakers co-star Elgin) Baylor wasn’t playing -- he was hurt,” Ohl recalled. “It was the third game. It was in Baltimore. We played, we won and in the locker room I said, ‘How many did West get?’ and they said, ‘51 (points).’ I said, ‘51, you got to be kidding me.’ I think I had 35 or 38, I don’t remember. I said, ‘I guarantee you one thing you can print is he won’t get 51 tomorrow night.’
“We go play the next game, we win and I said, ‘How many did West get?’ They said, ‘53.’ I said, ‘You got to be kidding me.’ (Fred) Schaus, the coach, just put him on the side of the floor, gave him the ball and let him work it in until he got a shot, because like I said, Baylor wasn’t playing. Great player, good friend. I enjoy him.”
Career statistics
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
* | Led the league |
NBA
Source[2]
Regular season
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960–61 | Detroit | 79* | 27.5 | .394 | .719 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 13.3 | |
1961–62 | Detroit | 77 | 32.8 | .444 | .718 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 17.0 | |
1962–63 | Detroit | 80* | 37.0 | .439 | .724 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 19.3 | |
1963–64 | Detroit | 71 | 33.3 | .408 | .680 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 17.3 | |
1964–65 | Baltimore | 77 | 36.6 | .438 | .732 | 4.4 | 3.2 | 18.4 | |
1965–66 | Baltimore | 73 | 36.2 | .445 | .735 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 20.6 | |
1966–67 | Baltimore | 58 | 34.9 | .451 | .780 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 20.3 | |
1967–68 | Baltimore | 39 | 28.1 | .433 | .770 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 14.8 | |
1967–68 | St. Louis | 31 | 26.5 | .454 | .783 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 13.1 | |
1968–69 | Atlanta | 76 | 26.3 | .427 | .707 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 12.1 | |
1969–70 | Atlanta | 66 | 14.9 | .473 | .806 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 6.3 | |
Career | 727 | 30.8 | .434 | .732 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 15.9 | ||
All-Star | 5 | 0 | 17.4 | .372 | .933 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 9.2 |
Playoffs
Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1961
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Detroit | 5 | 26.0 | .321 | .684 | 3.8 | 2.8 | 12.6 |
1962
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Detroit | 8 | 39.6 | .415 | .815 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 20.5 |
1963
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Detroit | 4 | 38.8 | .398 | .864 | 3.0 | 4.8 | 21.3 |
1965
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Baltimore | 10 | 43.2 | .481 | .782 | 6.4 | 2.7 | 26.1 |
1966
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Baltimore | 3 | 37.0 | .507 | .750 | 4.7 | 2.7 | 26.7 |
1968
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St. Louis | 6 | 23.8 | .482 | .682 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 11.5 |
1969
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Atlanta | 11 | 17.6 | .349 | .591 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 6.6 |
Career | 47 | 31.5 | .427 | .752 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 16.9 |
References
- ^ Klingaman, Mike (June 16, 2009). "Catching Up With … former Bullet Don Ohl". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
- ^ Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
- ^ "Don Ohl Career High 43 Points". Statmuse.
- ^ "1965 NBA Western Division Finals Bullets vs. Lakers". Basketball Reference.
External links
- Career stats @ basketball-reference.com
- All-Time Largest Trades in NBA History
- Catching Up With ... former Bullet Don Ohl