• Oscar Robertson is generally considered the greatest all-around player in the history of basketball. In 2000 he was named "Player of the Century" by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
  
  
• One of the most enduringly popular and respected athletes in the history of sports, an international ambassador for the game of basketball.
  
  
• Only player in NBA history ever to average a "triple double" (double figures in scoring, 30.8 points per game; assists, 11.4 per game; and rebounding, 12.5 per game) for an entire season, 1961-62
  
  
• Averaged a cumulative "triple double" over his first five seasons
  
  
• Alltime NBA leader in career triple-double games with 181 and single-season triple-double games with 41 (1961-62)
  
  
• Holds all-time rebounding records for guards: season, 985 rebounds/12.5 average, 1961-62; career, 7804/7.5 average.
  
  
• First player in history to lead NCAA in scoring three straight years. College career average: 33.8 points.
  
  
• First player in history to win National College Player of the Year honors three times.
  
  
• First player to lead NBA in scoring average (29.2) and assists average (9.7) in same season, 1967-68.
  
  
• First and only guard ever to lead his team in rebounding (Cincinnati Royals, 1961-62).
  
  
• Only player ever to compile 900 rebounds and 900 assists in one season (1961-62).
  
  
• NBA star from 1960-61 to 1973-74: 10 years with Cincinnati Royals, four with Milwaukee Bucks.
  
  
• Led the Bucks to 1971 NBA championship, three additional playoff appearances including NBA finals in 1974; led the Royals to six consecutive playoff appearances, 1962-1967.
  
  
• NBA Most Valuable Player, 1964; NBA Rookie of the Year, 1961.
  
  
• Selected to 12 consecutive NBA All-Star Teams, 1961-1972. All-Star Game MVP 1961, 1964, 1969.
  
  
• Led NBA in assists six seasons, free throw percentage two seasons.
  
  
• Set career record with 9887 assists / 9.5 average per game which stood for 17 years.
  
  
• Ranks among all-time NBA scoring leaders with 26,710 points / 25.7 average.
  
  
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 1979 (first year eligible)
  National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, founding class, 2006
  International Basketball (FIBA) Hall of Fame, 2009
  Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 2010, as co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team
  
  
• President of NBA Players Association, 1965-1974. "The Oscar Robertson Rule," instituted as a result of litigation he initiated through the NBAPA, set the stage for free agency in the NBA.
  
  
• Past President, National Basketball Retired Players Association, 1992-98. One of five founders along with Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Archie Clark and Dave Cowens.
  
  
• Named one of NBA's 50 greatest players of all time, 1997.
  
  
• Named one of top ten players of the century by Associated Press, 1999.
  
  
• Named one of top five college players ever by Sports Illustrated, 1999.
  
  
• Named one of 50 Greatest Athletes of the Century by ESPN, 1999.
  
  
• Graduated University of Cincinnati, 1960, with Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Awarded Honorary Doctorate by University of Cincinnati in 2007.
  
  
• Named one of the NCAA’s leading student athletes of all time.
  
  
• Three time first team All-American.
  
  
• Led University of Cincinnati to two Final Four appearances, 79-9 record over three years.
  
  
• Co-captain of undefeated 1960 U.S. Olympic Team, perhaps the greatest basketball team ever.
  
  
• Led Indianapolis' Crispus Attucks High School to 45-game winning streak, two consecutive Indiana state championships and 1956 national championship. (Attucks was the first African-American high school to win an Indiana state championship or a national championship.)
  
  
• First team high school All-American, National High School Player of the Year, and Indiana's "Mr. Basketball," in 1956.
  
  
• Graduated Crispus Attucks High School in 1956 in top 10% of his class.
  
  
• Born November 24, 1938, Charlotte, TN; moved with family to Indianapolis, IN at age 4. Current residence: Cincinnati, Ohio.
  
  
• One of the nation's leading small business owners, with interests in document management services, specialty chemicals, and media.
  
  
• Author and publisher of instructional book "The Art of Basketball" (Oscar Robertson Media Ventures, 1998).
  
  
• Author of autobiography, "The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game" (Rodale Press, 2003; paperback, University of Nebraska Press, 2010).
  
  
• Board member or member at large of numerous philanthropic and civic organizations; national advocate for organ donation on behalf of the National Kidney Foundation.
  
  

Last updated 9/22/11.