Charles Thomas McMillen

Charles Thomas "Tom" McMillen (born May 26, 1952 in Elmira, New York) is a retired NBA professional basketball player, Rhodes Scholar, and Democratic U.S. Congressman who represented the 4th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1987 to January 3, 1993.

Basketball

Prior to entering politics, McMillen was a star basketball player on all levels. In 1970, he was the number one high school basketball player in the U.S. coming out of Mansfield, Pennsylvania, and was the biggest recruiting catch early in Coach Lefty Driesell's career at the University of Maryland, beating out rival Coach Dean Smith of the University of North Carolina for McMillen's services. McMillen was also a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team that lost a controversial gold medal game to the Soviet Union.

After graduating from Maryland in 1974, McMillen was drafted in the first round of the 1974 NBA Draft by the Buffalo Braves and the first round of the 1974 ABA Draft by the Virginia Squires.^[1] McMillen signed with the Braves and during his National Basketball Association career, he would play for the Braves, New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks, and Washington Bullets before retiring in 1986 to pursue his political career. McMillen played for a year in Europe before joining the 1975–76 Buffalo Braves.^[2]

Congress

He was elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat to represent Maryland's 4th district, and served 1987-1993 as that district's representative.^[3] In 1992, however, the 4th was redrawn as a black-majority district due to a mandate from the Justice Department. McMillen's home in Crofton was drawn into the Eastern Shore-based 1st District, represented by one-term Republican Congressman Wayne Gilchrest. Although McMillen did very well in the more urbanized areas of the district near Baltimore and Washington, D.C., it was not enough to overcome Gilchrest's margin on the Eastern Shore, and he left the House in January 1993. In addition to running in territory he did not know and that did not know him, McMillen was hamstrung by revelations that one-third of his political action committee contributions were made by banking interests.

McMillen is thought to be the tallest-ever member of Congress. At 6 feet 11 inches, he is two feet taller than current Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, who is believed to be the shortest representative ever.^[4]

Election history

References

• Charles Thomas McMillen at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Tom McMillen at Basketball-Reference.com

External links

• "Tom McMillen to Speak at Mansfield University Commencement". mansfield.edu. 
• "Mansfield University Commencement". mansfield.edu. http://www.mansfield.edu/news/story/default.cfm?SID=1213.