Ray Lumpp Inducted in 1998

Raymond George Lumpp (July 11, 1923 – January 16, 2015)  a Brooklyn native, after an uneventful high school career at Newtown in Queens (coached by future referee great and NYC Hall of Famer, John Nucatola) Lumpp went unrecruited and played for NIAC's team of ex-collegiate stars. One of the most fortuitous games of his life occurred against Howard Cann's NYU squad. Cann was, you should pardon the expression, uncanny at spotting raw hoop talent. He said, "C'mon over, kid and Lumpp's brilliant basketball career was launched.

While averaging 11.4 ppg and helping lead the Violets to a 10-0 mark in the second half of the 1943 season, Lump joined the Air Force and played service ball for three years. He led the Lincoln Air Base Wings to a 30-3 record which included a pair of victories over the famed AAU champ Phillip Oilers. He returned to NYU in 1946 as a mature and deadly competitor. He was named to the All-Met team in 1946 and was named captain in 1947 when NYU won its first 19 games en route to a 22-4 campaign. The sweet southpaw sticker scored 377 points setting an NYU single-season scoring record and notched 29 points in the NIT semifinals against DePaul. Though upended by the St. Louis Billikens in the final he played in the Olympic Trials and was selected for the 1948 Olympic team in London. He helped the USA win the gold medal by scoring 38 points for undefeated Uncle Sam. Lumpp carried the torch in the 1996 Olympic Relay extravaganza.

Ray was a first-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Jets of the BAA (Basketball Assoc. of America) in 1948-49 and became the league's leading rookie scorer with an average of 12.7 ppg (777 total points) despite the disruption of a trade to the N.Y. Knicks. In both 1951 and 1952, he was a key scorer as Joe Lapchick's Knicks lost in the heartbreaking seventh game in the championship round to the Rochester Royals and Minneapolis Lakers. He retired from pro ball following the 1952-53 campaign after hooking in 13 points a game for the Baltimore Bullets under the legendary Claire Bee. Lumpp returned to his alma mater in 1954 and served as Howard Cann's top assistant for five years.

Some of his Violet recruits were Tom (Satch) Sanders, Cal Ramsey, Russ Cunningham, John Bucik, and Jimmy Nidds. Ray was named to the NYU "Hall of Fame" in 1974, the NYAC "Hall of Fame in 1990, and still serves as a member of the U.S. Olympians. In 1991, he received D.A.C.’s “Legend of the Game" Award sponsored by Street & Smith. Other recipients that year were Nate (Tiny) Archibald, Christian Laettner and legendary coaching playing great, John Wooden.