Whitey Von Nieda obit

 

Oldest Living NBA Player Dies At 101

He was not on the list.

The NBA community has lost a legend this week.

Whitey Von Nieda, a guard/forward who last played for the Baltimore Bullets during the 1950 season, reportedly passed away on Thursday. He was 101 years old.  His full name was Stanley Lee "Whitey" Von Nieda Jr.

Prior to his passing this week, Von Nieda was the oldest living former NBA player and the first to reach 100 years old.

Von Nieda was born in Ephrata, Pennsylvania on June 19, 1922. He became a star on his high school basketball team and even led Lancaster County in scoring during the 1940 season, LancasterOnline.com reports.

He played his collegiate ball at Penn State, and while still a student, began his professional basketball career with the Lancaster Red Roses. In 1947, Von Nieda was signed by the Tri-City Blackhawks of the National Basketball League. He went on to play two seasons with the Blackhawks before joining the NBA's Baltimore Bullets for one year in 1949.

Von Nieda played basketball at Ephrata High School and Penn State University. Enlisting in the army during World War II, he played with the Fort Benning, Georgia paratroopers. There he led the country, both college and service teams, in scoring with 1062 points in 44 games. After being discharged he played for the Lancaster Red Roses in the Eastern Basketball League where he led that league in scoring, averaging better than 24 points per game.

In 1947 he began playing for the Tri-Cities BlackHawks in the National Basketball League (NBL). While with the Blackhawks he made the All-Rookie team averaging 12 points a game. The team made it to the final round of the playoffs in both of the years he played there. In 1949, the founding year of the NBA, he was traded to the Baltimore Bullets where he completed the 1949–50 NBA season. In Baltimore he started every game playing both point guard and shooting guard. Von Nieda was known for his quickness on the court.

After leaving the NBA he coached at Elizabethtown College for two years. In 1952 he became the player/coach of the Lancaster Red Roses for four years making it to the finals three of the four years. Von Nieda was selected to the All-EPBL Second Team in 1951. Again in 1985 he coached Lancaster in the Continental League, these teams were a stepping stone to the NBA. Once again his team made it to the finals. For many years he coached junior teams where he worked with 10- and 12-year-old kids teaching them the fundamentals of basketball.

With the Bullets he played for coach Buddy Jeannette and with players such as Ed Sadowski and Paul Hoffman.

We send our heartfelt condolences to the Von Nieda family during this difficult time.

Career history

As player:

1946–1947         Lancaster Red Roses

1947–1950         Tri-Cities Blackhawks

1950     Baltimore Bullets

1950–1953         Lancaster Rockets

As coach:

1950–1952         Elizabethtown

1950–1953         Lancaster Red Roses

1961–1962         Hazleton Hawks

1977–1979         Lancaster Red Roses (assistant)

Career highlights and awards

All-NBL Second Team (1949)

All-EPBL Second Team (1951)