Brief Biography of NBA Legend Alex English and His Career

Alex English was born on January 5, 1954 and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. After a successful high school athletic career, English decided to attend the University of South Carolina to study and play basketball.

English had a great basketball career at South Carolina and made the jump to the NBA in 1976. The first two years of his NBA career were pretty slow while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. Things began to really pick up for English when he found his niche after signing with the Indiana Pacers in 1978. During his first season with the Pacers, English would average 16.0 points per game to go along with 8.1 rebounds. During his second season with the Pacers, English would be traded to the Denver Nuggets.

English would spend the bulk of his career in Denver. His numbers jumped up dramatically when English joined the Nuggets due to a high powered, fast paced offense. In his first full season with the Nuggets, English would average 23.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. These numbers were significantly better than his output for the Pacers.

English would only get better as time went on in Denver and his best season came in 1985-1986 when he averaged 29.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. English would stay put in Denver through the 1989-1990 season and then made a move to the Dallas Mavericks to end his NBA career. This would not be the last season of professional basketball, however, that English would play. After his time in the NBA was over, he moved to Italy to play professionally there.

When Alex English left the NBA for good, he was 7th on the all time scoring list with 25,613 points. He compiled these statistics rather quietly and without winning an NBA Championship. His career averages over his 15 years in the league are very impressive at 21.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. English was a sort of iron man. He played in all games except seven in a ten year stretch of his career. English, a 6' 7" smooth operator, claimed that his skinny body was ideal for basketball. He only weighed about 190 pounds.

Alex English was a very smart man who had many skills that continued off the basketball court. English wrote three books of poetry, starred in a movie called Amazing Grace and Chuck as well as several other television appearances, and served as President of the NBA Players Association. He has also been very active in charity organizations.

Alex English is an NBA legend who should never be forgotten. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.