Wally Osterkorn
Walter Osterkorn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date |
| Died | January 11, 2012 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Professional basketball player |
| Known for | NBA player, 1955 NBA champion with Syracuse Nationals |
Walter Raymond Osterkorn (July 6, 1928 – January 11, 2012) was a professional basketball athlete from the United States.
Standing 6 feet 5 inches tall and playing as a forward, Osterkorn attended the University of Illinois. His professional journey began in the 1950–51 season with the St. Paul Lights, a team competing in the National Professional Basketball League. When St. Paul disbanded after only 20 games, he transferred to the Sheboygan Red Skins, recognized as the longest-operating professional basketball team at that time. Osterkorn contributed during the last 19 games of the season, aiding Sheboygan to achieve the top league record of 29–16. He earned second-team NPBL honors by averaging 13 points per game, ranking sixth in scoring across the league.
Following this, Osterkorn spent four seasons (1951–1955) competing in the National Basketball Association with the Syracuse Nationals. Over his NBA tenure, he maintained an average of 7.0 points per game and secured an NBA title in 1955. He passed away in 2012.
NBA
Source
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951–52 | Syracuse | 66* | 26.1 | .351 | .594 | 6.7 | 1.8 | 7.4 |
| 1952–53 | Syracuse | 49 | 20.7 | .324 | .631 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 5.6 |
| 1953–54 | Syracuse | 70 | 30.9 | .346 | .579 | 7.0 | 2.2 | 8.8 |
| 1954–55† | Syracuse | 19 | 15.1 | .206 | .500 | 3.7 | .9 | 2.9 |
| Career | 204 | 25.4 | .334 | .592 | 6.0 | 1.7 | 7.0 | |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 NBA playoffs | 1951–52 Syracuse Nationals season | 7 | 35.6 | .343 | .596 |
6 .8 ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' 2.9 |
10 .6 |
- |
style= "text-align:left;" | 1953 NBA playoffs |
style= "text-align:left;" | 1952-53 Syracuse Nationals season |
2 | 21 .0 | .444 | .333 | 2 .0 | 1 .0 | 4 .5 | - |
style= "text-align:left;" | 1954 NBA playoffs |
style= "text-align:left;" | 1953-54 Syracuse Nationals season |
style="background:#cfecec;" | 13* | 41 .7 | .369 | .556 | 9 .6 | 2 .8 | 10 .8 | - |
style= "text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" | 1955 NBA playoffs† | style= "text-align:left;" | 1954-55 Syracuse Nationals season | style="background:#cfecec;" | 11* | 6 .8 | .324 | .765 | 1 .9 | 1 .0 | 3 .2 | - |
colspan = "2" style = "text-align:center;" | Career | 33 | 27 .5 | .358 | .586 | 6 .3 | 2 .1 | 7 .6 | } |