Mel Counts

Mel Grant Counts (born October 16, 1941) is an American former basketball player who competed in the National Basketball Association from 1964 to 1976. He played college basketball for the Oregon State Beavers and was a member of the United States Olympic team that won the gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Boston Celtics selected him in the 1964 NBA draft, and he won NBA Championships with the team in 1965 and 1966, serving as a backup to Bill Russell. He was traded to the Baltimore Bullets for the 1967 season, and midway through that year was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers, who reached the playoffs. Over the next three seasons the Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals, losing in each of the three consecutive years. In game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals, starting Laker center Wilt Chamberlain, who had never fouled out of a game, picked up his fifth foul with six minutes remaining and came off the floor limping a minute later, replaced by Counts with the Lakers trailing the Celtics by nine points. The Lakers narrowed the deficit to a single point on a shot by Counts, while coach Butch van Breda Kolff declined to return Chamberlain to the game.