Mel Counts

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 Mel Counts: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you have a better example of his signature, or a story about it, the note at the foot of this page still stands.

An Oregon State seven-footer with a 1964 Olympic gold medal, Counts backed up Bill Russell on Boston's 1965 and 1966 championship teams, then lost three straight Finals with the Lakers. In Game 7 of the 1969 Finals he replaced a limping Wilt Chamberlain and hit the shot that cut the deficit to one, but Los Angeles fell 108-106. He closed his long career with the New Orleans Jazz in 1976.

Counts settled into real estate in Salem, Oregon, at the head of a sprawling basketball family — three sons played college ball and grandsons followed. Mixed martial artist Chael Sonnen is his nephew.

HOW HE CAME & WENTThe Lakers traded him to the expansion Jazz on June 13, 1974, and the club waived him in February 1976.

Full name

Mel Grant Counts

New Orleans Jazz tenure

1974–76

Position

Center

Born

1941, Coos Bay, Oregon

Height

7′0″ (213 cm)

Weight

231 lb (105 kg)

College

Oregon State

Drafted

1964, 1st round, Boston