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Frank Selvy



Position: Guard/Forward
Full Name: Franklin Delano Selvy
Nickname: The Corbin Comet
Born: November 9, 1932 in Corbin, Kentucky
Height: 6-3
Weight: 180
High School: Corbin in Corbin, Kentucky
College: Furman University
Drafted: 1st Round, 1st Pick - Baltimore Bullets, 1954
Jersey#: 11

Played for the Lakers from 1959 to 1964


Selvy is best remembered for scoring 100 points in a college game for South Carolina's Furman University against Newberry College on February 13th, 1954, the only NCAA Division I player ever to do so. The game was played towards the end of Selvy's final collegiate season, and Furman coach Lyles Alley had designated the game 'Frank Selvy Night' in order to garner recognition for the player who was already certain to finish the season leading the nation in scoring and earn first-team All-American honors, two accomplishments he had already attained the year before. The game was the first to be broadcast live on television in South Carolina and a large contingent from Selvy's hometown, including his family, had made the six-hour trek just for the occasion. The instructions from Coach Alley were simply to get the ball to Selvy so he can score as much as possible. Selvy obliged, hitting 41 of 66 field goals and 18 of 22 free throws, his last two points coming on a desperate heave near midcourt at the buzzer. (The game was played well before the introduction of the three-point line; Selvy would later estimate that about a dozen of his shots that day would have been three-pointers today.)

Selvy was drafted first overall by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1954 NBA Draft. He went on to play nine seasons in the National Basketball Association during the late '50s and early '60s, interrupted by a three-year stint in the U.S. Army. As a professional, Selvy is mostly known for his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, teaming with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. He was twice an NBA All-Star.

Selvy's best known game in the NBA is probably Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals in which Selvy's Lakers faced a four point deficit at the hands of Boston Celtics in the final minute of the game's fourth quarter. Selvy then proceeded to secure two crucial rebounds and score two baskets to tie the game at 100. However, he lost his chance for the ultimate heroic moment as he missed an 8-foot jump shot right before the buzzer that would have secured the championship for the Lakers had it gone in. The miss sent the game to overtime, where the Celtics prevailed in this, the first of six NBA Finals match-ups between Boston and Los Angeles over the course of just eight seasons.

Regrettably for Selvy, his missed shot gained even larger significance as those years went by because the Lakers ultimately lost every one of those championship battles with the Celtics, thus magnifying the pain of Los Angeles having lost a golden opportunity, with Selvy's shot, to end that streak of futility before it had even begun. (The Lakers, while still playing in Minneapolis, had lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals in 1959, as well.)

Interestingly, the player who initially had the ball on that final play was Rod 'Hot Rod' Hundley. And Hundley had in fact dreamt the night before that he would make the championship-winning shot. And further, Hundley was able dribble into the clear on the play and had an open shot himself. But rather than selfishly insisting upon attempting to play out his dream in real life, when Hundley noticed that Selvy was open for an even better shot ? a shot that Selvy usually could be counted upon to make ? Hundley gave up his own chance for glory and passed the ball. Selvy's miss, however, meant that Hundley's sacrifice had been for naught and that Hundley would never know if indeed he would have won the championship himself, had he taken the shot he had available. Because of this, Hundley has said that to this day, he occasionally calls his friend Selvy and, when Selvy answers the phone, Hundley simply says, 'Nice shot!' and then hangs up.



Regular Season Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1955 MI1 71 2668 452 1195 .378 444 610 .728 0 0 - 394 5.5 245 230 0 0 0 1348 19.0
1956 STL 17 444 67 183 .366 53 71 .746 0 0 - 54 3.2 35 38 0 0 0 187 11.0
1958 STL 38 426 44 167 .263 47 77 .610 0 0 - 88 2.3 35 44 0 0 0 135 3.6
1959 NYK 68 1448 233 605 .385 201 262 .767 0 0 - 248 3.6 96 113 0 0 0 667 9.8
1960 MIE 62 1308 205 521 .393 153 208 .736 0 0 - 175 2.8 111 101 0 0 0 563 9.1
1961 LAL 77 2153 311 767 .405 210 279 .753 0 0 - 299 3.9 246 219 0 0 0 832 10.8
1962 LAL 79 2806 433 1032 .420 298 404 .738 0 0 - 412 5.2 381 232 0 0 0 1164 14.7
1963 LAL 80 2369 317 747 .424 192 269 .714 0 0 - 289 3.6 281 149 0 0 0 826 10.3
1964 LAL 73 1286 160 423 .378 78 122 .639 0 0 - 139 1.9 149 115 0 0 0 398 5.5
CAREER 603 15334 2266 5807 .390 1723 2379 .724 0 0 - 2186 3.6 1614 1285 0 0 0 6255 10.4


Playoff Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1959 NYK 2 43 10 20 .500 9 11 .818 0 0 - 4 2.0 3 6 0 0 0 29 14.5
1960 MIE 9 330 55 153 .359 31 44 .705 0 0 - 55 6.1 29 21 0 0 0 141 15.7
1961 LAL 12 371 43 111 .387 37 48 .771 0 0 - 44 3.7 50 42 0 0 0 123 10.3
1962 LAL 13 478 66 152 .434 33 39 .846 0 0 - 73 5.6 65 34 0 0 0 165 12.7
1963 LAL 13 317 32 81 .395 39 48 .813 0 0 - 45 3.5 36 36 0 0 0 103 7.9
1964 LAL 3 69 13 27 .481 2 2 1.000 0 0 - 5 1.7 6 8 0 0 0 28 9.3
CAREER 52 1608 219 544 .403 151 192 .786 0 0 - 226 4.3 189 147 0 0 0 589 11.3