Norris Coleman
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Norris J. Coleman (born September 27, 1961 in Jacksonville, Florida), is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2nd round (38th overall) of the 1987 NBA Draft. A 6'8" forward from Kansas State University, Coleman played in only one NBA season. He played for the Clippers during the 1987-88 season, appearing in 29 games and scoring a total of 153 points.
Coleman had a highly unusual collegiate career at Kansas State. Because he had spent five years in the U.S. Army, Coleman was a 24-year-old freshman when he began play at K-State in the 1985-1986 basketball season. That season, Coleman led the Big Eight Conference in scoring with 21.8 points per game and pulled down 8 rebounds a game, on the way to being named first-team All-Conference and Newcomer of the Year.[1] However, at the close of that season, the NCAA found that Coleman had not met the minimum high school requirements and K-State immediately declared him ineligible.
The saga took another twist in April 1986, when the NCAA issued an unusual ruling that said Coleman would have to sit out a year at K-State with no scholarship and surrender a year of eligibility, or transfer to a different school and face no penalities.[2] Coleman immediately received scholarship offers from 25 schools, including the University of Kentucky, but eventually decided to stay at Kansas State. Early in the following basketball season, in November 1986, the NCAA reduced its penalty to a 12-game suspension, and Coleman returned to the court for the last 19 games of the 1986-1987 season, teaming with Mitch Richmond to help lead K-State to a berth in the 1987 NCAA tournament.[3] After averaging 20.7 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game and again being named first team All-Conference in his shortened second year, Coleman decided to turn pro following his sophomore season.
Because of his career in the Army, Coleman was affectionately nicknamed "The Sarge" by Kansas State fans.
[edit] References
- ^ College Sporting News (English). Retrieved on 2006-11-06.
- ^ "Sports People", New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-06. (in English)
- ^ "Sports People: Ruling Accepted", New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-06. (in English)
