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Guard · 1981–82

Sam Worthen

New York playground royalty, named one of ESPN's Elite 24 Rucker Park legends, Worthen became an All-American point guard at Marquette. The Bulls drafted him in the second round in 1980, and his two NBA seasons ended with the Utah Jazz in 1981-82.

Then came a coaching life like few others: USBL championships with Springfield, Miami, and New Haven, CBA benches from Albany to Fort Wayne, fifteen years as player-coach of the Harlem Wizards, and a turn as coach of the Washington Generals, losing nightly to the Globetrotters in a pink tutu and tiara when the skits demanded it. In 2003, 23 years after leaving for the NBA, he completed his Marquette degree.

HOW HE CAME & WENTA Chicago second-rounder in 1980, he came to Utah for 1981-82, his second and final NBA season.

Full name
Samuel Lee Worthen
Utah Jazz tenure
1981–82
Position
Guard
Born
1958, Brooklyn, New York
Height
6′5″ (196 cm)
Weight
194 lb (88 kg)
College
Marquette
Drafted
1980, 2nd round, Chicago
Signature in the archive 1982-83 TCMA CBA #37 PSA/DNA frmr NBA plyr Albany

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

SAM WORTHEN · 1981–82 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
1981–82UTA54.40.80.20.60.00.0.400
JAZZ TOTAL1 SEASON54.40.80.20.60.00.0.400

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

SAM WORTHEN · 4 NOTES
  • He averaged a triple-double as a Brooklyn high schooler and again over two seasons of junior college in Waco, Texas.
  • Marquette coach Hank Raymonds called him the best passer he had ever seen at the school.
  • Around the league he answered to Sudden Sam, and he won a USBL title in 1985 in his first season as a player-coach at 27.
  • His Generals routine included a remote-controlled ball, a sheet of clear plastic over the Globetrotters' rim and a scoreboard he padded by thirty.