Robertson, the career leader with 181 triple-doubles and the first player to average one for a season, was the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1961, MVP in 1964 and won a championship with Milwaukee in 1971. The guard was a nine-time selection to the All-NBA first team and was voted one of the league’s 50 greatest players.
He also was co-captain of the 1960 U.S. team that won an Olympic gold medal and led Crispus Attucks High School to consecutive Indiana state championships, the first all African-American team in the nation to win a state title.
Robertson also was president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1965-74, and the settlement of his anti-trust lawsuit against the NBA — known as the Oscar Robertson Rule — ushered in free agency in the league.
Bill Russell won the award last year in the first season of the awards show. (The Associated Press)
