John Azary, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJohn Azary
American college basketball standout at Columbia University between 1948 and 1951
Date of Birth: 14-Oct-1929
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, United States
Date of Death: 15-Sep-1981
Profession: basketball player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About John Azary
- John Azary (October 14, 1929 – September 16, 1981) was an American standout basketball player for Columbia College (now Columbia University) between 1948–49 and 1950–51. Azary was born and raised in New York City.
- At 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), he played the guard position, and when deciding on where to attend college, he chose to stay in the city to attend Columbia.
- At the time, college freshmen were not eligible to play varsity sports, so Azary's career actually began when he was a sophomore in 1948–49.
- In his first season, he scored 298 points in 20 games, which gave him a new school record for a first season scoring average at 14.9 points per game.
- This average surpassed Walt Budko's mark, who had graduated just prior to Azary's first year.Despite being "undersized", Azary was routinely given the top defensive assignments against much taller players.
- He even played against centers and used his aggressiveness and hustle to outplay them.
- His head coach, Gordon Ridings, said of Azary, "I never saw a harder worker than John.
- He once stayed an hour after practice taking foul shots because he had missed two out of ten free throws in the previous night’s game."In three seasons as a Lion he scored 1,037 points.
- His finest season came as senior in 1950–51.
- He captained Columbia as they rolled through the regular season undefeated, won the Eastern Intercollegiate League (modern day Ivy League) championship, and reached the Sweet 16 of the 1951 NCAA Tournament.
- Azary was the recipient of the Haggerty Award, which has been given annually since 1935–36 to the top male collegiate basketball player in the New York City area.
- He also capped his career with a second consecutive selection to the All-EIL First Team as well as NCAA All-American honors by various media outlets.After his collegiate career ended, the NBA's Boston Celtics chose him in that year's draft in the seventh round (66th overall).
- He never played in the NBA; instead, Azary played in the American Basketball League and the Eastern Professional Basketball League.Azary died of a heart attack on September 16, 1981, at age 51.
Read more at Wikipedia