Maurice Stokes

Maurice Stokes (June 17, 1933 – April 6, 1970) was an American professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati/Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association from 1955 to 1958. Born in Rankin, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, he was one of four children, with a twin sister and two brothers. His father worked in a steel mill and his mother was a domestic. When Stokes was eight, the family moved to nearby Homewood, where he later attended Westinghouse High School. He did not start during his first two years there, but in his final two seasons he helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back city championships in 1950 and 1951. He graduated from Saint Francis College.

In the NBA, Stokes was named the 1956 Rookie of the Year and went on to become a three-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-NBA Second Team selection. His career, and later his life, was cut short by a debilitating brain injury and paralysis. He is a namesake of the NBA's Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, named alongside Jack Twyman, who served as Stokes's legal guardian during the final years of his life. Stokes was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.