Basketball Legend Warren Perkins Passes Away
Sep 15, 2014 | Men's Basketball
by Doug Ireland (Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame)
NEW ORLEANS - Warren Perkins, a 2007 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee who started in the first-ever NBA game in 1949 after starring at Tulane, passed away Friday afternoon at the age of 92.
Perkins was an iconic figure in New Orleans as an athlete and civic leader. After playing in the NBA for the Tri-City Blackhawks from 1949-51, he was a practicing physician for more than a half-century in his hometown.
A 6-foot-3 center, he was the first basketball player enshrined in the Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977 as one of 11 charter members. He is also in the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame, along with the Warren Easton High School Hall of Fame.
Perkins was also voted to the Tulane men's basketball All-Century Team during 2010-11 season.
A three-sport Tulane letterman, Perkins set scoring records in basketball for the Green Wave and was an All-Southeastern Conference selection in 1948 and 1949. He was noted for rebounding and shooting hook shots with either hand while helping Tulane post records of 22-9, 23-3 and 24-4 from 1946-49, as a teammate of another Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Alex "Greek" Athas.
Perkins was a first-round pick in drafts by the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America. Six teams from the NBL and 11 from the BAA merged to form the NBA in 1949.
He started for Tri-City against the Denver Nuggets in a 93-85 win at Moline, Ill., on Oct. 30, 1949 to launch the then-fledgling league. In his second season, he played for future Basketball Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach.
Arrangements were not settled as of early Friday evening.
