Bob McCoy

Robert Lee McCoy was an American basketball player and coach. He was born in Longville, Louisiana, and attended Beauregard [Parish Training School] in nearby DeRidder. McCoy played college basketball for the Grambling State Tigers from 1953 to 1957. He set a Louisiana state record for rebounds in a single game when he grabbed 34 during a 1954 game against Tougaloo College. McCoy was selected by the Detroit Pistons as the 10th overall pick of the 1957 [NBA draft] and became the first black player from Louisiana to be drafted into the National Basketball Association. Pistons head coach Charley Eckman asserted that "even such a highly regarded prospect as McCoy" would find it difficult to make the team's 10-player roster and McCoy ultimately never played in the NBA.
McCoy served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1958. He returned to DeRidder to become a teacher and basketball coach at George [Washington Carver High School (DeRidder, Louisiana)|George Washington Carver High School] from 1958 to 1970. He also taught and coached at DeRidder High School and in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.