Bob Boozer

American professional basketball player who won Olympic gold in 1960 and played 11 NBA seasons, known for his scoring ability and rebounding.

Robert Boozer was born on 26 April 1937 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved with his family to Omaha, Nebraska, as a young child after his father, who worked at the University of Alabama, faced repeated denials of promotions and pay raises. The family settled in North Omaha, where his father worked in a meat-packing plant and his mother as a hotel maid. Boozer starred at Omaha Technical High School, becoming the only Nebraska high school player ever to achieve All-American status at the top college level, before leading Kansas State to the 1958 Final Four and earning consensus first-team All-American honours in both 1958 and 1959, alongside teammate and future baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson. The Cincinnati Royals selected Boozer first overall in the 1959 NBA Draft, but he postponed his professional debut for a year to remain eligible for the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he won a gold medal as part of a legendary U.S. team later inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a unit. Boozer went on to play 11 NBA seasons across six franchises, winning a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and earning an All-Star selection in 1968. After retiring, he worked as a federal lobbyist for Northwestern Bell and later served on the Nebraska Board of Parole. He died on 19 May 2012, at age 75, in his adopted hometown of Omaha, where a street was later named in his honour.

Versatile forward with strong shooting and rebounding ability

Smooth-shooting forward who bridged amateur and professional eras

• Olympic Gold Medal (1960)
• All-Star 1x
• NBA scoring contributor
• Cincinnati Royals cornerstone