Glen Roberts
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 25, 1912 Wise, Virginia |
| Died | May 21, 1980 (aged 67) Kingsport, Tennessee |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 198 lb (90 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Pound (Pound, Virginia) |
| College | Emory and Henry (1931–1935) |
| Playing career | 1937–1942 |
| Position | Forward / Center |
| Career history | |
| 1937–1938 | Dayton Metropolitans |
| 1938–1939 | Akron Firestone Non-Skids |
| 1941–1942 | Toledo Jim White Chevrolets |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Glenn Roberts (October 25, 1912 – May 21, 1980) was an American National Basketball League player. In college basketball, Roberts was one of the first players to put the "jump shot" to practical use.
Glenn Roberts' Pound, Virginia high school did not field a basketball team his first two high school years. Roberts’ team won the state championship his junior and senior years (1930 & 31). The team record for 1930 was 28 wins and 2 losses with 1931 being 35 wins and 0 losses. Roberts was designated captain of the All-State team both years. Roberts played varsity ball 4 years (1931–35) at Emory & Henry College scoring 2,013 points in 104 games for a per game average of 19.4 points in an era when team scores were seldom over 30 or 35 points per game. His scoring was a new record for that time and still stands for play prior to the 1937 revision of the center-jump rule which called for walking the ball back to the center-line after every basket made and with the clock still running. (It’s been estimated that this used up 8 to 10 minutes per game.) Roberts scored 1,531 points against college opposition in 80 games and 482 points against pro and semi-pro teams in 24 games. Emory and Henry’s overall team record was 90 wins and 14 losses. His scoring total and per-game average was featured in Ripleys’ "Believe it or Not" in 1936.
One significant reason for Glenn Roberts’ prolific scoring was his use of a jump-shot. Historian and writer Stephen Fox, in his book “Big Leagues,” contends, after exhaustive research, that Glenn Roberts was the very first college player to utilize a jump-shot to such a scoring advantage. It was an offensive weapon the opposition had never seen before.
In the 1930s there did not exist the well defined college conferences as today. Consequently, smaller schools like Emory & Henry were as likely to play the largest of schools as well as the smaller ones. Emory & Henry regularly played the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee, William & Mary, East Tennessee State, George Washington, University of Virginia etc.
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