Rex Chapman

Infobox NBA Player
name = Rex Chapman


caption =
position = Shooting guard
nickname =
height_ft = 6
height_in = 4
weight_lb = 185
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1967|10|5
birth_place = Bowling Green, Kentucky
college = Kentucky
highschool =
draft = 8th overall
draft_year = 1988
draft_team = Charlotte Hornets
career_start = 1988
career_end = 2000
former_teams = Charlotte Hornets (1988–92)
Washington Bullets (1992–95)
Miami Heat (1995–96)
Phoenix Suns (1996–2000)
awards =

Rex Everett Chapman (born October 5 1967, in Bowling Green, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player who played for four teams through his 12-year NBA career.

Career

A high school basketball star at Apollo High in Owensboro, Kentucky, Chapman was heavily recruited by many universities. He chose, however, to stay close to home when he signed with the University of Kentucky. Chapman was a star at Kentucky, named All-SEC during his freshman and sophomore years and scoring 1,073 points in only two years.

After two years with Kentucky, Chapman was selected with the 8th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft and became the first player ever signed by the Charlotte Hornets in the franchise's history. Chapman was popular among basketball fans in Charlotte, as he averaged 16.9 points per game his first season there. He could not help the Hornets win many games, however, as the expansion team went 20-62 that year.

Chapman finished 6th behind Dominique Wilkins during his first NBA Slam Dunk Contest but during the 1989-1990 season, Chapman, along with his teammate Kendall Gill, entered the NBA all star dunk competition for the second time. Despite performing a two hands and two balls dunk stunt, he lost to the Celtics Dee Brown, finishing tied for second in the competition.

Chapman averaged 17 points per game that year, but the Hornets were not much better than a year earlier. After one-and-a-half more seasons with the Hornets, Chapman was traded midway through the 1991-1992 season to the Washington Bullets. He was injured, however, and could only participate in the final game of the season. This would turn out to be the first of a number of injuries that gave Chapman trouble during the rest of his career.

Chapman returned to the Bullets in the 1992-1993 season for 65 games at restored health. He played 60 games during the 1993-1994 season and 45 games during the 1994-1995 season. He had his second major injury during the latter season, after which he was traded to the Miami Heat. By the time Chapman was with the Heat, he was noticibly losing his hair, and opted to shave his head completely and sport a bald look. Chapman had a what started out as a great season, and averaged 14.8 points per game that year, but he was placed on the injured list again and only participated in 56 games and eventually signed with the Phoenix Suns.

As with many other Suns players, Chapman became a fan favorite upon his arrival in Phoenix for the 1996-1997 season. He played in 65 games, and scored 13 points per game. His popularity in Phoenix was enhanced by the game tying shot in game four of the 1996-1997 season first round playoffs against the Supersonics. Chapman is probably best known by basketball fans because of this one particular moment: the Phoenix Suns, up two games to one, were trailing the Seattle SuperSonics by three points with seconds to go at America West Arena in Phoenix. With the inbounded ball seemingly on its way out of bounds, Chapman saved it and threw up a three-pointer, making the shot with 2.2 seconds left and sending the game into overtime. Despite this miraculous play, the Suns ended up losing the game, and the deciding game 5, and were eliminated from the playoffs. Chapman has declared publicly he does not like to be reminded of the moment too much because the Suns still lost.

Chapman played 68 games during the 1997-1998 season for the Suns, scoring almost 16 points per game. But he would be injured again during the strike shortened 1999 season, playing 38 games.

Chapman would play 53 games during the 1999-2000 season, but he became re-injured and decided to retire from the NBA then.

Chapman played a total of 666 regular season NBA games, scoring 9,731 points for an average of 14.6 points per game, with 1,798 assists for an average of 2.7 assists per game, and 1,645 rebounds, for 2.5 rebounds per game.

Chapman is remembered by many as one of the greatest Caucasian dunkers of all time, and is one of only five whites to participate in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, the others being Tom Chambers in 1987, 1996 Champion Brent Barry, Bob Sura in 1997 and Chris Andersen in 2004 and 2005.

Post-playing days

After retiring from active play Chapman remained with the Suns, first as a scout and later as Director of Basketball Operations. For the 2004 and 2005 NBA Playoffs, he served as a color commentator on TNT. In 2005, he moved from Phoenix to accept a personnel scout position with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2006, he accepted the position of vice president of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets.

Personal life

* In an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper in October 2005 Chapman told the paper that while he was a student at the University of Kentucky he was told by school officials not to date African-American girls. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2061773 ESPN - Chapman: 'Most preferred that I keep it confidential' - Men's College Basketball ] ]
* Chapman and his wife now make their offseason home in Lexington, Kentucky, and own a restaurant there.Fact|date=June 2007They have a son Zeke Chapman who is currently a sophmore on the varsity basketball team at his high school. He was on varisty as a freshman as well. Caley Chapman, a freshamn at the same highschool, is on a high level of competative cheer.

* Rex was one of the original spokesmen for up-and-coming sneaker company AND1, who gave Rex his own shoe. In a commercial, Rex stated "My opponents will get to see a lot of (the shoes)... right at eyyyye level!!!!"

References

External links

* [http://aol.nba.com/playerfile/rex_chapman/index.html NBA.com page on Chapman]