Maurice Stokes

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Maurice Stokes (born June 17, 1933 in Rankin, Pennsylvania – died April 6, 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio) was a professional basketball player in the 1950s, whose promising career was cut short by a debilitating injury.

Playing for the National Basketball Association's Rochester Royals (which became the Cincinnati Royals in 1957) from 1955 to 1958, Stokes grabbed 38 rebounds in a single game during his rookie season, averaged 16.3 rebounds per game overall, and was named NBA Rookie of the Year. The next season, he set a league record for most rebounds in a single season with 1,256 (17.4 per game).

On March 12, 1958 in the last game of the 1957-58 NBA season, in Minneapolis, Stokes drove to the basket, drew contact and fell to the floor, hit his head, and was knocked unconscious. He was revived with smelling salts and returned to the game. Three days later, after a 12-point, 15-rebound performance, Stokes became ill on the team's flight back to Cincinnati. "I feel like I'm going to die," he told a teammate. Stokes fell into a coma and was left permanently paralyzed. In the end, he was diagnosed with "post-traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury that damaged his motor control center." ^[1]

During the years that followed, Stokes was supported by his lifelong friend and teammate Jack Twyman. He died of a heart attack at 36 years of age. At Stokes' request, he was buried in a cemetery on the campus of Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. His story was made into the film Maurie (called Big Mo in video release) in 1973.

The Stokes Athletics Center

Stokes played in the NBA All-Star Game all three years of his career, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team three times. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in September 2004.

Twyman helped Stokes after his stroke by organizing an exhibition doubleheader in 1958 that raised $10,000 to help pay Stokes' expenses. That game became an annual tradition, spearheaded by Milton Kutsher ^[2] and held at the Kutsher's Hotel in Monticello, New York or at their camp, the Kutsher's Sports Academy. It was simply called The Maurice Stokes Game and included many of the NBA players. The tradition continues to this day "to raise funds for needy former players from the game's earlier days." ^[3] but instead of a basketball game, per NBA and insurance company restrictions regarding the athletes, it is the Maurice Stokes/Wilt Chamberlain Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament instead of an off-season basketball game. ^[4],^[5]

The Stokes Athletics Center on the campus of the Saint Francis University is named in honor of him.