Joe Fulks

Who was Joe Fulks?

Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks was an American professional basketball player, sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards". He was one of the first players, albeit posthumously, enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.

Fulks was born in Birmingham, Kentucky, a small town in the state's far-western Purchase region that was inundated in the 1940s after the Tennessee Valley Authority dammed the Tennessee River to create Kentucky Lake. He played college ball at Murray State University for two years before leaving school to join the Marines. His number 26 hangs in the rafters at the CFSB Center.

Fulks joined the BAA's Philadelphia Warriors in 1946, at age 25, and in his rookie season he won the league's first scoring title with a 23.2 points per game average and the Warriors won the BAA title. Fulks again had the league's highest scoring average in the 1947-48 season at 22.1 points per game, but lost the scoring title to Max Zaslofsky, who had more total points. Fulks had a career best 26.0 points per game average in the 1948-49 season. Fulks led the NBA in field goal percentage during the 1950-51 season.