Charlie Tyra

Who was Charlie Tyra?

Charles E. Tyra was an American basketball player who is best known as the first Louisville Cardinal All-American.

He is still the school's leading all-time rebounder and ranks 11th on the NCAA career rebounds list with 1,617. He was the first and one of four to have their basketball jersey number retired by UofL. He later played five seasons in the National Basketball Association, mainly with the New York Knicks.

Tyra died, aged 71, at the Franciscan Health Care Center in Louisville, Kentucky; he had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure more than two years earlier.