1951–52 rookie class

1951 NBA Draft

Every selection in order, with the drafting team, player affiliation and a direct path into each available Sportsboxd career profile.

87selections

13rounds

10teams selecting

First off the board

Top five picks

Pick #0

Minneapolis Lakers

Whitey Skoog

Minnesota

Pick #1

BBBaltimore Bullets

Gene Melchiorre

Bradley

Pick #2

Milwaukee Hawks

Mel Hutchins

Brigham Young

Pick #3

IOIndianapolis Olympians

Marcus Freiberger

Oklahoma

Pick #4

Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons

Zeke Sinicola

Niagara

Complete draft board

Every pick

Round one is open. Expand any later round to continue through the class.

Round 19 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
1	Gene Melchiorre	Baltimore Bullets	Bradley	1
2	Mel Hutchins	Milwaukee Hawks	Brigham Young	2
3	Marcus Freiberger	Indianapolis Olympians	Oklahoma	3
4	Zeke Sinicola	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Niagara	4
5	John McConathy	Syracuse Nationals	Northwestern State	5
6	Ed Smith	New York Knicks	Harvard	6
7	Ernie Barrett	Boston Celtics	Kansas State	7
8	Sam Ranzino	Rochester Royals	North Carolina State	8
9	Don Sunderlage	Philadelphia Warriors	Illinois	9

Round 210 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
10	Jack Stone	Baltimore Bullets	Kansas State	1
11	Bill Gossett	Milwaukee Hawks	Colorado State	2
12	Scotty Steagall	Indianapolis Olympians	Millikin	3
13	Jack Kiley	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Syracuse	4
14	Don Savage	Syracuse Nationals	Le Moyne	5
15	Roland Minson	New York Knicks	Brigham Young	6
16	Bill Garrett	Boston Celtics	Indiana	7
17	Ray Ragelis	Rochester Royals	Northwestern	8
18	Mel Payton	Philadelphia Warriors	Tulane	9
19	Lew Hitch	Minneapolis Lakers	Kansas State	10

Round 310 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
20	Bill Mann	Baltimore Bullets	Bradley	1
21	Ron Bontemps	Milwaukee Hawks	Beloit	2
22	Glenn Kammeyer	Indianapolis Olympians	Central Missouri	3
23	Jake Fendley	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Northwestern	4
24	Bato Govedarica	Syracuse Nationals	DePaul	5
25	Joe Luchi	New York Knicks	Cincinnati	6
26	John Furlong	Boston Celtics	Pepperdine	7
27	Fred Diute	Rochester Royals	St. Bonaventure	8
28	Bob Schloss	Philadelphia Warriors	Georgia	9
29	Bob Payne	Minneapolis Lakers	Oregon State	10

Round 410 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
30	Bill Hagler	Baltimore Bullets	California	1
31	Jim Slaughter	Milwaukee Hawks	South Carolina	2
32	Bill Tosheff	Indianapolis Olympians	Indiana	3
33	Herb Hargett	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Mississippi State	4
34	Paul Horvath	Syracuse Nationals	North Carolina State	5
35	Lloyd Sandstrom	New York Knicks	St. Thomas (MN)	6
36	Bob Barnett	Boston Celtics	Evansville	7
37	Elmer Behnke	Rochester Royals	Bradley	8
38	Jud Milhon	Philadelphia Warriors	Ohio Wesleyan	9
39	Gale McArthur	Minneapolis Lakers	Oklahoma State	10

Round 510 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
40	Leroy Ishman	Baltimore Bullets	American	1
41	Bob Sakel	Milwaukee Hawks	Evansville	2
42	Bob Pierce	Indianapolis Olympians	Nebraska	3
43	Leo Johnson	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Arizona	4
44	Glen Anderson	Syracuse Nationals	Colorado State	5
45	Tom Smith	New York Knicks	St. Peter's	6
46	Rip Gish	Boston Celtics	Western Kentucky	7
47	Dan Bagley	Rochester Royals	Notre Dame	8
48	Michael Kearns	Philadelphia Warriors	Princeton	9
49	Leo Vander Kuy	Minneapolis Lakers	Michigan	10

Round 610 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
50	Glen Duggins	Baltimore Bullets	Utah	1
51	John Rennicke	Milwaukee Hawks	Drake	2
52	Marv Johnson	Indianapolis Olympians	Wheaton (IL)	3
53	Frank Clasbeek	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Iowa	4
54	Bob Wheeler	Syracuse Nationals	Idaho	5
55	Al McGuire	New York Knicks	St. John's (NY)	6
56	Jim Luisi	Boston Celtics	St. Francis Brooklyn	7
57	Jim Ove	Rochester Royals	Valparaiso	8
58	Bob Swails	Philadelphia Warriors	Indianapolis	9
59	Deward Dopson	Minneapolis Lakers	Arkansas Tech	10

Round 710 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
60	Tom Riach	Baltimore Bullets	Southern California	1
61	Bob Ambler	Milwaukee Hawks	Arkansas	2
62	Ted Beach	Indianapolis Olympians	Illinois	3
63	Jim Ramstead	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Stanford	4
64	Roy Reardon	Syracuse Nationals	St. Francis Brooklyn	5
65	Sid Ryen	New York Knicks	Denver	6
66	John Azary	Boston Celtics	Columbia	7
67	John Brown	Rochester Royals	Southern Methodist	8
68	George Dempsey	Philadelphia Warriors	King's (NY)	9
69	Ed Head	Minneapolis Lakers	Kansas State	10

Round 88 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
70	Bill Harper	Baltimore Bullets	Oregon State	1
71	Aaron Preece	Milwaukee Hawks	Bradley	2
72	George Kelly	Indianapolis Olympians	Vanderbilt	3
73	John Manning	Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	Duquesne	4
74	Tom Jockle	Syracuse Nationals	Syracuse	5
75	Hugo Kappler	Boston Celtics	North Carolina State	6
76	George Davidson	Rochester Royals	Lafayette	7
77	Jim Phelan	Philadelphia Warriors	La Salle	8

Round 94 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
78	Bob Crowe	Baltimore Bullets	San Jose State	1
79	Wayne Tucker	Milwaukee Hawks	Colorado	2
80	Ray Kirkwasser	Syracuse Nationals	Ithaca	3
81	Hugh Faulkner	Philadelphia Warriors	Pepperdine	4

Round 103 selections +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
82	Dan Torrey	Baltimore Bullets	Oregon State	1
83	John DeWitt	Milwaukee Hawks	Texas A&M	2
84	Paul Gerwin	Philadelphia Warriors	Cornell	3

Round 111 selection +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
85	Clem Pavilonis	Baltimore Bullets	DePaul	1

Round 121 selection +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
86	John Burke	Baltimore Bullets	Springfield	1

Territorial selections1 selection +

Overall	Player	Drafting team	Affiliation	Round pick
0	Whitey SkoogTerritorial	Minneapolis Lakers	Minnesota	0

Source: NBA.com Draft History. Draft-night trades can cause the team attached to a selection to differ from the player’s eventual rookie team.