Ben Poquette

One collector is trying to find a single signature from every man who ever played for the Jazz — all 370 of them, from the 1974 New Orleans team to today. For many of them, this page is the only one on the internet. Here is Ben Poquette: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you own something he signed — or you know who might — there is a note at the foot of this page.

Central Michigan sent him to Detroit as a 1977 second-round pick, but his best basketball came after the Jazz landed in Salt Lake City. Undersized for a center at 6-foot-9, Poquette held down the middle for a roster that had traded away its big men, setting franchise records for career blocks (517) and blocks in a season (174 in 1980–81) — a year he also led the NBA in personal fouls.

He averaged 9.0 points and 6.6 rebounds across four Utah seasons, played for Cleveland from 1983 to 1987, and closed his career with a stop in Chicago.

HOW HE CAME & WENTDetroit's second-round pick in 1977 signed with Utah as a veteran free agent in 1979, the franchise's first season in Salt Lake City, and stayed four years.

Full name

Benedict Jay Poquette

Utah Jazz tenure

1979–83

Position

Forward/Center

Born

1955, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Height

6′9″ (206 cm)

Weight

236 lb (107 kg)

College

Central Michigan

Drafted

1977, 2nd round, Detroit