Карл Браун: Звезда баскетбола и бейсбола

American basketball player and coach

Carl August Braun Jr. (September 25, 1927 – February 10, 2010) was an American professional basketball and baseball player and professional basketball coach.

Born on Sept. 25, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Braun's German American family moved to Garden City for his senior year of high school. At 6'4" and 185 pounds he had talent as both a right handed pitcher and as a basketball player. His high school nickname was "bean pole". As a senior at Garden City High School, he helped lead his team to their first ever Nassau County baseball championship in 1945, and was a star basketball player; he was subsequently one of the inaugural inductees into the Nassau County High School Sports Hall of Fame. He enrolled in Colgate College and played collegiately for the Colgate University Raiders in 1945–1946. In the summer of 1947 was signed by the New York Yankees while still only 19 years old. He played two seasons for Yankee farm teams in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and then Amsterdam, New York, appearing in 35 games compiling a 2–3 won lost record. In between those minor league baseball seasons, he also joined the New York Knicks for their 1947–1948 season, effectively playing in two professional sports simultaneously. On December 6, 1947, he set a then NBA single game scoring record, recording 47 points. Braun was one of the premier guards of the 1950s and spent 13 seasons in the NBA, all but the last with the New York Knicks. Braun led the Knicks in scoring during his first seven seasons. He did not play during the 1950–1951 or 1951–1952 seasons due to military service. He was named to the All NBA Second Team in 1948 and 1954. He ended his career in 1962, after one season with the Boston Celtics. Braun played in five NBA All Star Games and scored 10,625 points in his professional career. Braun was a player coach for the Knicks in 1960 and 1961 as well, compiling a 40–87 head coaching record. Carl Braun is featured in the 1948 Bowman set of basketball cards, the 1957 Topps set, and the 1961 Fleer set. Though sportscaster Marty Glickman made the term "swish" a popular basketball colloquialism, he attributed the genesis of the word to Braun, who he heard say it following a good shot during warmup. Glickman used the term frequently in broadcasts throughout the 1950s. Braun was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Braun was born in Brooklyn and moved to Garden City, New York as a teenager where he went to high school and lived most of his adult life. After retiring from professional sports, Braun was a Wall Street stockbroker. He retired to Florida around 1990. He married his wife Joan in 1952 with whom he had four daughters Susan, Patricia, Nancy and Carol, and six grandchildren. He and Joan were married 58 years.

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1947–48 New York 47 – .323 .650 – 1.3 14.3 1948–49 New York 57 – .330 .760 – 3.0 14.2 New York 67 – .364 .762 – 3.7 15.4 New York 70 33.1 .400 .825 3.3 3.5 14.0 New York 72 33.0 .400 .825 3.4 2.9 14.8 New York 71 34.9 .388 .801 4.2 3.9 15.1 New York 72 32.2 .372 .838 3.6 4.1 15.4 New York 72 32.6 .381 .809 3.6 3.6 13.9 New York 71 34.9 .418 .849 4.6 5.5 16.5 New York 72 27.2 .420 .826 3.5 4.8 10.5 New York 54 28.0 .432 .838 3.1 5.0 12.9 New York 15 14.5 .468 .786 2.1 3.2 5.7 † Boston 48 8.6 .377 .741 1.0 1.5 3.7Career 788 29.8 .383 .804 3.4 3.7 13.5All Star 5 18.0 .481 1.000 2.5 1.6 6.0

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1948 New York 3 – .293 .600 – .7 10.0 1949 New York 6 – .324 .806 – 3.2 19.3 New York 5 – .412 .763 – 3.8 17.0 New York 11 34.0 .324 .806 4.0 2.8 13.5 New York 4 31.3 .346 .875 3.0 2.3 17.8 New York 3 34.3 .409 .900 4.7 5.3 18.0 New York 2 31.0 .375 .889 2.0 5.0 16.0 † Boston 6 7.0 .393 .750 1.2 .3 4.2Career 40 27.2 .350 .812 3.1 2.7 14.0