Jeff Cohen

Who is Jeff Cohen?

Jeffrey Maxwell Cohen was an All-American basketball player at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia during his senior season in 1960-61. He was selected as the 14th pick in the second round of the 1961 NBA Draft by the Chicago Packers.

At William & Mary, Cohen played his way into the NCAA record books. He is the 9th all-time leading rebounder in the pre-1973 college basketball era, having grabbed 1,679 boards. He is one of very few men’s basketball players in NCAA history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds during a collegiate career. At the time of his graduation, he was only one of 10 players to ever accomplish that feat. Cohen's 2,003 career points rank second all-time at William & Mary behind Chet Giermak's 2,052. He was a three-time All-Southern Conference selection from 1959–61, and in 1990 he had his jersey number retired posthumously. Additionally, Jeff set a W&M single game scoring record of 49 points on February 25, 1961. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

Despite being drafted to the NBA, Jeff was never officially signed by any team. He spent some time playing professionally in the now-defunct American Basketball League from 1961-1963. As a member of the Hawaii Chiefs, he averaged 10.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game for the 1961-62 season. The following season, Cohen averaged 12.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists while playing for the Chicago Majors.