Counts, Chalk

Mel Counts was born in Coes Bay , Oregon , and attended Marshfield High School, where he played for the local basketball team.

In 1964 he graduated from the University of Oregon , where for three years he played for the Oregon State Beavers team, in which he had a successful career. Under Counts, the Beavers never won the regular championship of the Independent conference and the tournament of the Independent conference, but three times went to the playoffs of the US student championship (1962-1964) ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

In 1962, the Beavers reached the 1/4 finals of the NCAA tournament ( English Elite Eight ), where on March 17 they lost to the Walt Hazzard team “ UKLA Bruins ” with a score of 69–88, in which Counts became the best player in the match, gaining 24 points and after making 17 rebounds ^{[1] [4]} . The next season, the Beavers reached the final of four NCAA tournaments ( Final Four ), where in the semifinal match, on March 22, they lost to the team of Tom Tucker and Ron Bonham Cincinnati Bears with a score of 46-80, in which Mel became the best player of his team, gaining 20 points and making 9 rebounds ^{[2] [5]} . Sweater number 21, under which Counts performed, was assigned to him and taken out of use.

Mel Counts played as a center and heavy striker . In 1964, he was selected in the NBA draft in the 1st round under the 7th number by the Boston Celtics team. He later played for the Baltimore Bullets , Los Angeles Lakers , Phoenix Suns , Philadelphia 76 and New Orleans Jazz . In total, the NBA spent 12 seasons. For two consecutive years, Counts became the NBA champion in the Celtics, where he acted as the successor to the main center team of Bill Russell ( 1965 - 1966 ). In 1964 he joined the 2nd All-American National Team of the NCAA . In total, during his career in the NBA he played 789 games in which he scored 6516 points (an average of 8.3 per game), made 4756 rebounds , 1100 assists , 85 interceptions and 74 block shots ^[6] .

As part of the Los Angeles Lakers, Counts played four times in the final match , but never won the title, losing twice to the Boston Celtics of Bill Russell (in the seasons 1967/1968 and 1968/1969 ) and New York Knicks ”by Red Holtzman (in the 1969/1970 and 1972/1973 seasons ).

In 1964, Mel Counts became part of the US team the Olympic champion of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo , defeating the USSR national team in the final match with a score of 73-59.

Until 2006, Mel Counts worked as a real estate agent in Woodburn , Oregon. All his sons played basketball at the undergraduate level: Brent played for the Pacific University team, Brian played for the University of West Oregon , and Chris played for the teams at Sheridan Elementary College and the University of South Dakota . His nephew, Chail Sonnen, performs in mixed martial arts .

• Statistics on the website Basketball-Reference.com (English)
• Statistics at NBA.com