The 12th NBA Draft featured the first of the 49 first-round prospects who played at Alabama high schools and colleges.
Boston Celtics center Bennie Swain and New York Knicks forward Mike Farmer jump for a rebound during an NBA game on Oct. 25, 1958, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Swain and Farmer made their NBA debuts in the Celtics’ 127-125 overtime loss after being the eighth and third picks, respectively, in the 1958 NBA Draft.
The NBA will hold its 79th draft on June 25-26. Thirty first-round picks will be made starting at 7 p.m. CDT June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NBA teams have drafted 49 players from Alabama high schools and colleges in the first round, andis counting down to the 2025 draft with a decade-by-decade look at the state’s first-rounders. The first player from an Alabama high school or college chosen in the first round of an NBA Draft had a career of what-might-have-been. The Boston Celtics chose center Bennie Swain with the eighth selection in the 1958 NBA Draft. An alumnus of Westside High School in Talladega, Swain came to the Celtics after scoring more than 3,000 points during his college career at Texas Southern Swain led the Tigers into the NAIA tournament in all four of his seasons, and Texas Southern finished as the runner-up in 1956 and won the third-place game in 1958. In his 15 tournament games, Swain averaged scoring 20.1 points. When theto celebrate the 75th anniversary of its national tournament in 2012, Swain was among the 60 players honored. When Swain joined Boston, the Celtics were one championship into their dynasty. Bill Russell had joined the team for the 1956-57 season, and Boston won the NBA crown. The next season, the Celtics lost to the St. Louis Hawks in the NBA Finals. Swain came aboard as a backup for Russell and power forward Tom Heinsohn. As a rookie, Swain averaged 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 58 regular-season games. He played in five of Boston’s 11 playoff games, as the Celtics won a seven-game showdown with the Syracuse Nationals to reach the championship series, then swept the Minneapolis Lakers, giving Swain a championship ring in his first NBA season. The Celtics would go on to win the next seven NBA titles, too, and nine of the next 10. But Swain was not with them. In the summer after his rookie season, he sustained a knee injury that ended his career. Swain returned to his college town and became a high school teacher and coach in Houston.Heinsohn told the Boston Globe when Swain died in 2008 . “He was a big, strong rebounding type of guy, an inside player, and you’re always looking for rebounders, so he was going to get a really good look.” With Russell out of the lineup for a Nov. 5, 1958, game against the Cincinnati Royals, Swain set a career high with 18 rebounds and scored 13 points in a 130-105 victory. With Heinsohn out of the lineup for a Dec. 3, 1958, game against St. Louis, Swain reached a career high with 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a 119-110 loss.. “They’d play a little bit, and then they would carve out a niche for themselves. Swain could have been a really good player, I think.” Swain became the first first-rounder with Alabama basketball roots in the NBA’s 12th draft . He wasn’t the first prospect from an Alabama high school or college drafted, butThe first 11 NBA drafts had featured five players from the, and Jerry Harper and George Linn, picked from Alabama’s Rocket 8’s team in the 1956 draft, went with selections that would be in the first round of this year’s draft. Harper went at No. 20 to the New York Knicks, and Linn went at No. 22 to the Celtics, but those picks were in the third round in 1956. Like fellow Alabama stars Paul Sullivan and Bryant Ivey , picked by the Knicks and the Rochester Royals, respectively, in 1952, Harper and Linn did not play in the NBA. Alabama swingman Carl Shaeffer did after being chosen by the Providence Steamrollers in the 1949 BAA Draft. Providence didn’t survive into the 1949-50 season, the first using the NBA name, and the former World War II prisoner of war played 53 games across two seasons back in his home state with the Indianapolis Olympians. Swain was among three former Alabama high school standouts chosen in the 1958 NBA Draft. Cincinnati selected Alabama forward Jim Fulmer of Coffee High School in Florence at No. 34, and the Detroit Pistons pickedcenter Jim Dew of Bethune High School in Piedmont at No. 81. Neither played in the NBA. The NBA would not pick another player with Alabama basketball roots in the first round for another five years. Boston Celtics All-Star Bob Cousy goes over the workout schedule with draft picks Bennie Swain and Ben Smith on May 17, 1958, in Boston.Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at
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