Donald R. Kojis (January 15, 1939 – November 19, 2021) was an American professional basketball player who played twelve seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA)..
 Kojis from the 1960 "Hilltop" | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | July 15, 1939 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | November 19, 2021 (aged 82) San Diego, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 215 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Notre Dame (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Marquette (1958–1961) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1961: 2nd round, 21st overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Selected by the Chicago Packers | |||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1961–1975 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Small forward | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 22, 16, 9, 44, 21 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| 1961–1963 | Phillips 66ers | ||||||||||||||
| 1963–1964 | Baltimore Bullets | ||||||||||||||
| 1964–1966 | Detroit Pistons | ||||||||||||||
| 1966–1967 | Chicago Bulls | ||||||||||||||
| 1967–1970 | San Diego Rockets | ||||||||||||||
| 1970–1972 | Seattle SuperSonics | ||||||||||||||
| 1972–1975 | Kansas City-Omaha Kings | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Points | 9,948 (12.2 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 4,555 (5.6 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
| Assists | 1,112 (1.4 apg) | ||||||||||||||
| Stats at NBA.com | |||||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Career
editBorn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended Marquette University and was drafted by the Chicago Packers in the second round (12th pick) of the 1961 NBA draft. He played forward for the Baltimore Bullets (1963–64), Detroit Pistons (1964–66), Chicago Bulls (1966–67) (acquired prior to the season via the expansion draft), San Diego Rockets (1967–70) (acquired prior to the 1967–68 season via the expansion draft), Seattle SuperSonics (1970–72) and Kansas City-Omaha Kings (1972–75).
Kojis was one of three players ever selected in expansion drafts held in consecutive years (Bob Weiss and George Wilson being the other two). Kojis was also one of a small number of players who played for three expansion teams (Kojis playing for the 1961–62 Packers, the 1966–67 Bulls, and the 1967–68 Rockets).
He was named to the 1968 and 1969 NBA West All-Star Teams.
He holds the Pistons' record for most field goal attempts per 48 minutes (25.35).
In 12 seasons he played in 814 Games, had 19,241 Minutes Played, 3,947 Field Goals Made, 8,853 Field Goals Attempted, .446 Field Goal Percentage, 2,054 Free Throws Made, 2,853 Free Throws Attempted, .720 Free Throw Percentage, 4,555 Rebounds, 1,112 Assists, 1,937 Personal Fouls and 9,948 Points.
He played for the United States men's national basketball team at the 1963 FIBA World Championship.[1]
Personal life
editKojis resided in the San Diego County community of Julian, California and was the director of Whispering Winds Catholic Conference Center. He died on November 19, 2021, at the age of 82.[2]
Career statistics
edit| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
NBA
editSource[3]
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963–64 | Baltimore | 78 | 14.7 | .419 | .562 | 4.0 | .7 | 6.3 | |||
| 1964–65 | Detroit | 65 | 12.9 | .433 | .633 | 3.7 | 1.0 | 6.5 | |||
| 1965–66 | Detroit | 60 | 13.1 | .415 | .539 | 4.3 | .7 | 7.3 | |||
| 1966–67 | Chicago | 78 | 21.2 | .426 | .604 | 6.1 | .9 | 10.2 | |||
| 1967–68 | San Diego | 69 | 36.9 | .446 | .726 | 10.3 | 2.6 | 19.7 | |||
| 1968–69 | San Diego | 81 | 38.6 | .434 | .748 | 9.6 | 2.6 | 22.5 | |||
| 1969–70 | San Diego | 56 | 28.2 | .447 | .751 | 6.9 | 1.4 | 15.3 | |||
| 1970–71 | Seattle | 79 | 27.1 | .446 | .778 | 5.5 | 1.6 | 14.6 | |||
| 1971–72 | Seattle | 73 | 25.4 | .469 | .793 | 4.6 | 1.1 | 11.4 | |||
| 1972–73 | Kansas City–Omaha | 77 | 16.1 | .480 | .774 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 8.5 | |||
| 1973–74 | Kansas City–Omaha | 77 | 27.2 | .478 | .772 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 1.0 | .2 | 13.1 | |
| 1974–75 | Kansas City–Omaha | 21 | 11.0 | .469 | .667 | 1.9 | .5 | .6 | .0 | 5.3 | |
| Career | 814 | 23.6 | .446 | .720 | 5.6 | 1.4 | .9 | .2 | 12.2 | ||
| All-Star | 2 | 1 | 13.0 | .333 | .800 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 6.0 | |||
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Chicago | 3 | 34.7 | .479 | .625 | 10.0 | 1.3 | 17.0 | ||
| 1969 | San Diego | 6 | 38.7 | .440 | .806 | 8.5 | 3.5 | 20.2 | ||
| 1975 | Kansas City–Omaha | 4 | 5.5 | .167 | .833 | 1.0 | .3 | .3 | .0 | 1.8 |
| Career | 13 | 27.5 | .442 | .778 | 6.5 | 2.0 | .3 | .0 | 13.8 | |
References
edit- ^ 1963 USA Basketball Archived October 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Steele, Ben (November 19, 2021). "Milwaukee native Don Kojis, Marquette's all-time leading rebounder dies at 82". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ "Don Kojis NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
External links
edit- Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
- basketpedya.com