Raymond Townsend

Raymond Anthony Townsend is an American former professional basketball player. He played three seasons in the National Basketball Association with the Golden State Warriors and the Indiana Pacers. Townsend played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, earning List of All-Pac-12 Conference men's [basketball teams|all-conference] honors in the Pacific-8. He was selected by the Warriors in the first round of the NBA draft">National Basketball Association">NBA draft, with the 22nd overall pick, and became the first Filipino-American to play in the NBA. He played at the point guard position.

High school career

Townsend attended Camden [High School (San Jose, California)|Camden High School] and Archbishop Mitty High School, in San Jose, California, where he played high school basketball. As a high school senior, he averaged close to 28 points a game for the Camden High Cougars. This was prior to the 3 point shot line being regulated years later. After graduating from high school, he played college basketball at UCLA.

Townsend played college basketball at UCLA, with the UCLA Bruins. He was a member of the 1974–75 [UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|1975 UCLA National Basketball Championship] team, which was the 10th and final NCAA championship team of the school's head coach, John Wooden. He earned first-team All-Pac-8 honors as a senior, in 1978.

Townsend was selected with the last pick in the first round, of the 1978 NBA draft, by the Golden State Warriors. He was the first Filipino-American to play in the NBA. He concluded his NBA career in 1982, as a member of the Indiana Pacers. He also played in Italy's LBA with Banco Roma, during the 1984–85 season. With Roma, he won the 1984 edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Townsend was born in San Jose, California. He is half-Filipino through his mother. A 1976 Sports Illustrated issue featured Townsend's father, Ray Sr., in its "Faces in the Crowd" section. He was recognized as "the oldest junior college basketball player in history." At age 39, he was the second man off the bench.
Townsend's brother, Kurtis, is an assistant coach for the Kansas Jayhawks team that won the 2008 [NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game|2008] and 2022 [NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|2022] NCAA Championships. After his basketball playing career, Townsend worked as youth sports development coordinator in San Jose, California.

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