Lennie Rosenbluth, forefather to North Carolina hoops legends, dead at 89
Lennie Rosenbluth, #18 of the Philadelphia Warriors, shoots in a 1957 game at Madison Square Garden. Photo by Hy Peskin/Getty Images
By Louis Keene June 29, 2022
Before there was Worthy, Vince or even Michael, there was Lennie, a rangy Jewish kid from the Bronx.
Behind Lennie Rosenbluth, who died last week on June 18 at 89, the University of North Carolina stampeded through college basketball. When the Tar Heels ran the table to their first NCAA Championship in 1957, it was Rosenbluth, a 6’4” small forward, who took home Player of the Year honors as their leading scorer — beating out a Kansas colossus named Wilt Chamberlain for both the national title and the individual award.
After 1957 got them over the championship hump, North Carolina went on to become one of the most iconic teams in all of sports, its stars among the most recognizable and beloved to ever pick up a basketball.
“Bar none, it all began there,” Rosenbluth told The Charlotte Observer in 2020.
His 28.0 points-per-game scoring average that season has never been matched at Carolina — not even by future NBA legends like Vince Carter, James Worthy, and Michael Jordan. When the jerseys of Worthy, and Jordan were lifted to the rafters, they joined Rosenbluth’s retired No. 10.
Following a two-year stint with the Philadelphia Warriors, where he wore No. 18, the number signifying life in Jewish tradition, Rosenbluth retired from pro basketball and became a high school teacher and a basketball coach.
Striking black-and-white photos from The Raleigh News & Observer’s archive from Rosenbluth’s playing days can be viewed here.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
