- Willie Wise
Willie M. Wise (born
March 3 ,1947 inSan Francisco, California ) is an American former professionalbasketball player.A 6'6" forward from
Drake University , Wise earned a spot on theAmerican Basketball Association 's (ABA) Los Angeles (later Utah) Stars as awalk-on in 1969. He would prove to be one of the best all-around players in the league, as he was both a proficient scorer (19.2 points per game during his ABA career) and a highly-esteemed defender. Indeed, while playing for the Stars, who won the 1971 ABA Championship, "Sports Illustrated " described him as "the best two-way performer in pro basketball" [http://www.remembertheaba.com/TributeMaterial/Wise.html] . Wise later played with theVirginia Squires ."Wondrous Willie" also studied the Bible with the
Jehovah's Witness for a period and refused to wear an American flag patch on his team uniform. (He stopped studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witness, becoming a born-again Christian in the late seventies. Today, he is active in the Church in Bellevue located in Bellevue, Washington.)Fact|date=September 2007After the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, Wise played one full season, and part of another in the
National Basketball Association as a member of theDenver Nuggets andSeattle SuperSonics .External links
* [http://basketball-reference.com/players/w/wisewi01.html Career stats] at [http://basketball-reference.com/ basketball-reference.com]
* [http://www.remembertheaba.com/TributeMaterial/Wise.html Player profile] at [http://www.remembertheaba.com/ Remember the ABA]
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