The first pick ever in the Draft never played a single minute of professional basketball. This is his story.

AND WITH THE FIRST PICK EVER...

Clifton McNeely was the first player selected in the NBA Draft ever..... and he never played a single minute of professional basketball.

To appreciate the beauty of McNeely’s story we have to go back, all the way to 1946. The second World War had just ended and millions of men were settling back into the rest of their lives after years of service. America was the richest country in the world and growth was still at an exponential rate. Entrepreneurship was on the rise and decisions were being made in search of a quick buck but that would ultimately shape the way we live our lives today.

Walter Brown, know that name? If you’re a basketball fan you’ll probably know Larry O’Brien. Larry was the commissioner of the NBA from 75 to 84 and as a tribute to his service the league decided to name the championship trophy after him. As a result, since the year Jordan was drafted all NBA players have been chasing one trophy, the Larry O’Brien. Back to Walter Brown. Before the Championship trophy was called the Larry O’Brien, it was the Walter A. Brown Trophy.

In 1946, Walter was a name more famous to fans of Ice Hockey. His dad George was the served as the US Olympic teams manager, official and coach from 1904 till 1936, including a role as the assistant manager of the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. George Brown was hockey daft. In 1910 he formed and managed an amateur team for the Boston Athletic Association and they played in the newly constructed Boston Arena. In 1918 the Boston Arena burnt down and it was George Brown who fought hard for a rebuild. Ultimately so strong was his passion for the arena and the sport he loved that Henry G. Lapham, who owned the Arena, decided to make George the General Manager. George took this and ran, using it to promote Hockey as best he could. It’s no coincidence that Ice Hockey made it’s Olympic debut in those 1920 Summer Olympics before moving onto the Winter Games every edition since.

In 1934 Lapham decided to purchase the rival Boston Garden and named his right hand man George as the first General Manager of the now iconic stadium. George Brown was a legend. Outside of his previously described accolades he also spent 33 years as the official starter and unofficial head promoter of the world’s oldest annual marathon in Boston. He served in World War 1 in the Navy and created a Chariot race in which thousands of men competed in teams of one hundred. George Brown passed away in 1937, giving full control of all his responsibilities to his son Walter. A statue in his honour still stands on the town common so that all of Boston can remember the man they called “The Starter”

In 1920 Walter was 15. Imagine being 15 watching your dad organise the Olympics and basically forcing a new crazy sport onto the world, gets the juices stirring. It certainly motivated Walter. When he took control in 1937 Walter was shocked that competitive basketball were played in school gymnasiums while Ice Hockey was being played in comparatively gigantic arenas. Walter uttered those immortal words "Boston should have a basketball team”. He took a mortgage out on his home and founded the Boston Celtics in 1945. Walter wasn’t done, not close. Innovation was quite literally in his blood and just a year later Walter helped form the Basketball Association of America.

Now the BAA’s origin of everything that basketball fans hold dear. This is our Big Bang. I guess that sort of makes Walter God? Well one of a few Gods but you get the picture. 11 teams began the inaugural 1946-47 BAA season. They played either 60 or 61 games, it’s not that history is murky on that it’s just that an 11 team league has a mental schedule. Split into 2 divisions, East and West, the best 3 teams from each division would advance to a playoff system in which the two division champs were given a bye to the semi-finals and the other four would compete for a chance to join them. In the semis the Western Division champion Washington Capitols lost to the Eastern Division champion Chicago Stags. In the other semi, the Philadelphia Warriors knocked out the New York Knickerbockers to advance to the first ever BAA championship finals. In the best of 7 finals, the Warriors crushed the Stags by a score of 4 games to 1. 71 years later the Warriors are in the midst of their greatest dynasty ever having won 3 of the last 4 Larry O’Brien trophies.

Everything wasn’t rosy though. Most arenas were of course shared with Ice Hockey teams and a lot of owners would simply put down wooden planks over the ice. Games were cancelled due to puddles on the floor and such was the stinginess of owners in those days that most refused to heat their buildings. Fans were often seen freezing in the bleachers wrapped in blankets. The rules weren’t quite nailed on yet, the shot clock was 7 years away and teams would often just dribble out the ball when they had big enough leads. The league only averaged 3000 fans in it’s first year but increasingly fans were becoming more and more excited to watch young college players come in and set the league on fire. Enter Clifton McNeely.

Clifton was born in Greenwood, Texas on June 22nd in 1919. His parents, Albert McNeely and Fannie Lee Clifton decided seemingly to name him Clifton after his Mother’s family name and McNeely after his Father’s. I’d be Dunlop Kellock. Wouldn’t mind that. Anyway, Clifton was a talented young player at Texas Wesleyan University where he studied Administrative Education. He played basketball during the 41-42 season but like so many of his era, Clifton’s story was halted while he shipped off to war. He served in the US Air Force before returning home safely in 1946. Life was good for Clifton when he came home, he returned to Texas Wesleyan for the 1946-47 season and earned All-American honours after leading the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in scoring. He lead Texas Wesleyan to a school-best 30-4 record. Basketball was by no means the highlight of Clifton’s year though. He married Peggy Jean Gallagher on June 14th, 1947, in Cisco, Texas. They would raise 3 kids and Clifton would spend the rest of his days with Peggy right by his side.

Can you imagine a more palatable star for the BAA? The Pittsburgh Ironmen couldn’t. They’d gone 15-45 and were easily the worst team in the league. On the 1st of July 1947 in Detroit, Michigan the Ironmen, with what would come to be the first pick in the NBA Draft ever, selected Clifton McNeely.

He didn’t care though. Leave his beloved Texas? 2 weeks after marrying Peggy he was going to drag her to Pittsburgh to play for a team that barely had enough money to pay him? McNeely declined and went on to become only one of two first overall picks who never played professional basketball. To satisfy curiosity the other was Gene Melchiorre who was selected first in the 1951 draft but was embroiled in a point shaving scandal, banned from the league and instead opted for a job in the local post office. The Pittsburgh Ironmen folded, the BAA shrunk to 8 teams and 2 years later an expansion and renaming birthed the first ever season of the National Basketball Association.

So that’s it then. What a story and what a guy. Oh we’re not done, Clifton had a long way to go. See Clifton rejected the Ironmen, the BAA and ultimately the NBA but he loved basketball. He loved Peggy too and after a 4 month stint working in Oklahoma they returned to Texas and specifically Pampa, Texas where McNeely took over as head coach of the High School basketball team. Clifton coached for 13 years at Pampa and went on to win 4 state championships. During his time, countless colleges offered him coaching positions but like always, Clifton was content with his quiet life with Peggy in Texas. He retired from coaching in 1960 with a record of 320-43. Pampa High School still play their basketball to this day in Clifton McNeely Field House.

Clifton went into full time teaching after 1960, he worked as an assistant principal at Castlebury High School and then principal at Bridgeport High and Denton High School. In 1973 Clifton took a job as an administrator for the Irving Independent School District Clifton and Peggy settled in Irving for the rest of their lives. They had 3 children, twin sons Phil and Mike and daughter Sheryl. Both Phil and Mike went into high school basketball coaching. Clifton and his son Phil are both members of the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame. On December 26, 2003, the legend that was, Clifton McNeely passed away. His beloved Peggy passed away on December 25, 2017.

Clifton McNeely is a name forgotten in the annals of Basketball but he shouldn’t be. Clifton may not have been an NBA star but this man gave much of his life to basketball and what a life it was. Here’s to you Clifton, the first pick ever in the NBA.

TL;DR: Clifton McNeely turned down the BAA to become a teacher and a Hall of Fame high school coach