Vernon Earl Monroe was born on November 21,1944 and is an American former professional basketball player.
25 Facts About Earl Monroe
2.
Earl Monroe played for two teams, the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks, during his career in the National Basketball Association.
3.
In 1996, Earl Monroe was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, and in 2021, Earl Monroe was named as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
4.
Earl Monroe's mother gave Earl a blue notebook and told him to write down the names of those players.
5.
Earl Monroe worked as a shipping clerk in a factory, while frequently playing basketball at Leon Whitley's recreation center in Philadelphia.
6.
Whitley had played at Winston-Salem Teacher College on their 1953 championship team and encouraged Earl Monroe to attend Winston-Salem to play for coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines.
7.
Earl Monroe rose to prominence at a national level at then-Division II Winston-Salem State University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
8.
Under Hall of Fame Coach Gaines, Earl Monroe averaged 7.1 points his freshman year and Earl Monroe tells a story of when he wanted to return to Philadelphia as a freshman.
9.
Earl Monroe then averaged 23.2 points as a sophomore, 29.8 points as a junior and 41.5 points his senior year.
10.
Earl Monroe remains the leading scorer in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball history.
11.
Earl Monroe was not selected to the 1967 USA Basketball Team to represent the country at the 1967 Pan-American Games after trying out.
12.
Earl Monroe then won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in a season in which he averaged 24.3 points per game.
13.
Earl Monroe scored 56 points in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the third-highest rookie total in NBA history.
14.
Earl Monroe averaged 23.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds in the Philadelphia series.
15.
Earl Monroe averaged 16.3 points, 4.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the series.
16.
In 328 games with the Bullets, Earl Monroe averaged 23.7 points, 4.6 assists and 3.7 rebounds.
17.
Earl Monroe had begun the campaign without having signed a contract due to a salary dispute with Bullets management.
18.
Earl Monroe eventually signed a contract immediately after being sent from the Bullets to the New York Knicks for Mike Riordan, Dave Stallworth and an undisclosed amount of cash twenty days later on November 11,1971.
19.
Earl Monroe averaged 15.8 points and 3.3 assists in the Bullets' series against his former teammates.
20.
Earl Monroe averaged 6.8 points and 2.6 assists in the series.
21.
The Knicks won the championship, four games to one, with Earl Monroe averaging 16.0 points and 4.2 assists.
22.
Earl Monroe averaged 14.0 points and 2.7 assists with 3.0 rebounds in the regular season.
23.
The Earl Monroe-Frazier pairing is one of few backcourts ever to feature two Hall of Famers and NBA 50th Anniversary Team members.
24.
In nine seasons and 592 games with the Knicks, Earl Monroe averaged 16.2 points, 3.5 assists and 2.6 rebounds.
25.
Earl Monroe averaged 18.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.0 rebounds in his career.