Babe Ruth of Basketball

The ball arched lazily toward the basket from the side court and swished through the net. The crowd in the old Philadelphia Arena let go a roar that rattled the rafters. A shy, 24-year-old ex-marine named Joe Fulks had just assured himself of basketball immortality. He had become the first player in modern basketball* to score 1,000 points in one season.

The hottest thing in professional basketball, Joe Fulks was an unknown at the season's start. He had played a little in high school and college in Kentucky, but really learned how to find the hoop in three years on a service team. On the Philadelphia Warriors, he set a pro record of 41 points in one game. He is now the league's leading scorer by a comfortable 400 points.

He makes most of his points on a leaping, twisting shot from a pivot post. Ambidextrous, he has a knack of changing the ball from one hand to another at the last second and getting it in the clear without a bit of lost motion. His height (6 ft. 5 in.), long arms and springy legs all help. But his prize asset is a big, soft hand with long fingers that enables him to shoot a "soft" ball; it seems to float lazily from his fingertips, either drops clean or drowzes tantalizingly on the basket rim, then falls in.

Joe Lapchick, basketball coach at St. John's and alumnus of basketball's legendary Celtics' team, has seen basketball's greats for 34 years. Says he of Fulks, "The greatest offensive player I have ever seen. He is to basketball what Babe Ruth was to baseball." Says Joe Fulks, "They give me the ball and I shoot. That's all there is to it."

*In the days when one player was allowed to shoot all fouls for his team, Willie Kummer of the Connellsville (Pa.) team scored 1,404 points in 1911--12, including some 900 foul shots.

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