1953 NBA draft

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title: "1953 NBA draft" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1953–54-nba-season", "nba-draft", "april-1953-sports-events-in-the-united-states", "1953-in-sports-in-massachusetts", "1950s-in-boston", "basketball-in-boston", "entertainment-events-in-massachusetts", "organized-events-in-boston"] description: "Basketball player selection" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_NBA_draft" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Basketball player selection ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox sports draft"]

Field	Value
name	1953 NBA draft
sport	Basketball
date	April 24, 1953
location	Boston, Massachusetts
network	NBC
league	NBA
teams	9
overall	122
rounds	19
first	Ray Felix, Baltimore Bullets
territorial	Ernie Beck, Philadelphia Warriors
Walter Dukes, New York Knicks
Larry Hennessy, Philadelphia Warriors
hofnum	{{Collapsible list
title	3
1	F Bob Houbregs
2	G Frank Ramsey
3	G Cliff Hagan}}
prev	1952
next	1954
::

| name = 1953 NBA draft | image = | caption = | logo = | logosize = | sport = Basketball | date = April 24, 1953 | location = Boston, Massachusetts | network =NBC | league = NBA | teams =9 | overall = 122 | rounds = 19 | first = Ray Felix, Baltimore Bullets | territorial = Ernie Beck, Philadelphia Warriors Walter Dukes, New York Knicks Larry Hennessy, Philadelphia Warriors | hofnum = {{Collapsible list | title = 3 |1 = F Bob Houbregs |2 = G Frank Ramsey |3 = G Cliff Hagan}} | prev = 1952 | next = 1954 The 1953 NBA draft was the seventh annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24, 1953, before the 1953–54 season. In this draft, nine remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In each round, the teams select in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. The draft consisted of 19 rounds comprising 122 players selected.

Draft selections and draftee career notes

Ray Felix from Long Island University was selected first overall by the Baltimore Bullets and went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in his first season. Ernie Beck and Walter Dukes were selected before the draft as Philadelphia Warriors' and New York Knicks' territorial picks respectively. Three players from this draft, Bob Houbregs, Frank Ramsey and Cliff Hagan, have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Key

::data[format=table]

Position	Guard	Forward	Center
::

Draft

::data[format=table]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	College
T	–		G/F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Pennsylvania
T	–	+	C	United States	New York Knicks	Seton Hall
T	–		G	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Villanova
1	1	+	C	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Manchester British-Americans (ABL)
1	2	^	F/C	Canada	Milwaukee Hawks	Washington
1	3	+	F	United States	Fort Wayne Pistons	Columbia
1	4	+	G	United States	Rochester Royals	Seton Hall
1	5	^	G/F	United States	Boston Celtics	Kentucky
1	6		C	United States	Syracuse Nationals	Wofford
1	7		F/C	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	Hamline
2	8		G	United States	New York Knicks (from Baltimore)	Manchester British-Americans (ABL)
2	9	#	F/C	United States	Baltimore Bullets (from Milwaukee)	NC State
2	10	#	G	United States	Fort Wayne Pistons	Fairleigh Dickinson
2	11		F	United States	Rochester Royals	Detroit
2	12	#	F/C	United States	Boston Celtics	Oregon
2	13		C	United States	Syracuse Nationals	Kansas State
2	14	#	F	United States	New York Knicks	Furman
2	15		G	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	DePaul
::

Other picks

The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one NBA game. ::data[format=table]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	College
3	16		F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	La Salle
3	17		F	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Oregon
3	18		G/F	United States	Milwaukee Hawks	Illinois
3	20		F	United States	Rochester Royals	Syracuse
3	21	^	G/F	United States	Boston Celtics	Kentucky
3	22		G/F	United States	Syracuse Nationals	St. Bonaventure
5	35		C	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Texas Tech
5	36		F	United States	Milwaukee Hawks	DePaul
5	41		F	United States	New York Knicks	Iona
6	50		G	United States	New York Knicks	Indiana State
7	58		F	United States	Boston Celtics	Kentucky
8	63		G/F	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Centenary
9	77		F	United States	New York Knicks	Niagara
11	89		F	United States	Milwaukee Hawks	Georgetown
13	102	*	G	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	La Salle
14	108	+	F	United States	Rochester Royals	Santa Clara
::

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1953 draft but played at least one game in the NBA. ::data[format=table]

Player	Pos.	Nationality	School/club team
	F	United States	Portland
	F	United States	Villanova
	G	United States	LIU Brooklyn
::

References

;General

;Specific

References

1. Bradley, Robert D.. (2013). "The basketball draft fact book: A history of professional basketball's college drafts". Scarecrow Press ([[Rowman & Littlefield]]).
2. "Rookie of the Year". Turner Sports Interactive, Inc.
3. "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees". basketball-reference.com.
4. "1953 Draft Day Trades". The Draft Review.
5. "1953 NBA Draft".
6. "NBA Past Drafts - RealGM".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::