Villanova’s Paul Arizin is the very best among all of the great athletes who ever played for any Big-5 basketball team. And that’s saying something.
Tom Gola, Guy Rogers, Matt Goukas, Jameer Nelson, Corky Calhoun, and fellow Villanovans, Kyle Lowry, Mikal Bridges, Howard Porter, Bill Melchioni, Wali Jones, Ed Pinckney, Kerry Kittles – They were all nice players – But in October of 2021, when the NBA released the names of the 75 players who made up their 75th Anniversary Team, Arizin’s name was the only one on the list who had played for a Big-5 school.
Paul Arizin began playing for Villanova in 1947, which might explain why his name might be less familiar to you than some other regional hoop standouts who made The 75 – legendary players like Kobe Bryant, Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain and Charles Barkley. But that doesn’t mean that Arizin doesn’t deserve to be listed among them.
The Paul Arizin “Creation Myth”
He lived in South Philly, but commuted “uptown” to LaSalle College High School. As a senior, Arizin got cut from the basketball team.
The following year he enrolled at Villanova, as a Chemistry Major – with no thought of playing basketball for them. Arizin figured if he couldn’t make the LaSalle High team, how would he play for Villanova?
Still, he loved playing basketball, and he joined a South Philly club team called Hastings. As fate would have it, in April of 1947, Hastings made it to the finals of the Eagles Citywide Tournament. They lost to a team called The Main Liners. The Main Liners, for the most part, was comprised of guys who had played for Villanova’s team. And Villanova’s coach, Al Severance was there, watching his boys struggle to win a tough game against Hastings. To say the least, Severance was impressed by Arizin, who was named MVP of the tournament.
According to Villanova.com – As Arizin walked off the floor, `Judge’ Severance tapped him on the shoulder. “Have you finished high school, son?”
Arizin nodded.
“Would you be interested in coming to Villanova?” asked the coach.
“Yes, indeed,” said Arizin with a grin. “I like Villanova very much. I’m a freshman there now.”
“Severance looked at him sharply. “What did you say? You’re at Villanova?”
Arizin nodded again.
“Severance whistled sharply to himself. “Something will have to be done about this.”
“The next day Paul was called to the Administration office. Details were quickly ironed out. The next season he joined the varsity. His debut was not that of a fictional hero. He played against Mount St. Mary and did not score. But his floorwork was exceptional and Severance patted him on the back. He started the next game against Manhattan and made 10 points playing brilliantly on the floor as well.”
Without the benefit of having played any high school ball, Arizin still managed to average 11.1 points per game, as a sophomore (1947-1948) – good enough to lead the team in scoring.
He blossomed in his Junior Year, upping his average to 22 points per game. And he improved on that as a senior, when he was a First-Team Consensus All American, scoring 25.3 points per game.
Before the NBA draft of 1950 even started, The Philadelphia Warriors’ Eddie Gottlieb selected Arizin as a Territorial Pick.
As was the case with Severance, Gottlieb had a good eye for talent. His territorial pick won the 1950-1951 Rookie of the Year honors, scoring 17.2 points per game. Arizin’s rookie season was the only one of his 10 years in the NBA when he averaged fewer than 20 points per game.
Even in Arizin’s last three seasons in the NBA, when he was pretty much relegated to being one of Wilt Chamberlain’s sidekicks, he still managed to average 22.5 points per game (Wilt scored 42.3 points per game over those three years, which included his never-going-to-be-broken 1961-1962 season – when he put up 100 points in a game and AVERAGED 50.4 points per game – for a whole season).
After being named Rookie of the Year in 1950-1951, Arizin lead the league in scoring in 1951-1952. He was also the league’s MVP that season. Arizin won another scoring title in 1956-1957. He also won All-NBA honors four times, and never failed to make the All-Star Team
Winning a title was his biggest thrill.
With all of his personal accomplishments though, Arizin said that the biggest thrill of his career was winning the NBA title in 1956. “Individual honors are nice,” he said, in a video interview, “but it’s not like winning. Winning and making a positive contribution – I think is the most satifying thing I’ve ever experienced. We got along well together. We socialized together. And we played good and we played hard.”
The Philadelphia Warriors win the 1955-56 NBA Championship
Hal Greer played at TEMPLE.ANOTHER BIG 5 School..
Hal Greer played for Marshall. https://herdzone.com/honors/marshall-athletics-hall-of-fame/hal-greer/84