Ephraim "Red" Rocha - Basketball

Ephraim “Red” Rocha helped put Oregon State on the basketball map as a standout player at both the college and professional levels before having a noteworthy career as a college coach.

Born in Hilo, Hawaii in 1923, Rocha grew to be 6-foot-9, but played most of his career weighing around 185 pounds, which earned him the nickname “The Thin Man.” Rocha graduated from Hilo High School and found his way to Oregon State, where he played under coach Slats Gill from 1944-47 and was an All-Pacific Coast Conference selection each season.

In 1946-47, the Beavers finished 28-5 overall and were the first OSU team to reach the NCAA Tournament. The team, nicknamed “The Thrill Kids” attracted such large crowds, the school was motivated to build the arena that became Gill Coliseum.

Rocha led the ’47 team in scoring and was named an All-American along with teammate Lew Beck, who later won a Gold Medal for the U.S. in the 1948 Olympic Summer Games.

Following the playoff run, Rocha turned pro and was selected by the Toronto Huskies with the 12th pick of the 1947 Basketball Association of America, which was in its second year. The Huskies folded before the season began and Rocha signed with the St. Louis Bombers.

In nine years as a professional, Rocha averaged 10.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while playing for four teams. He played in the 1951 and ’52 NBA All-Star Games, and helped lead the Syracuse Nationals to the 1955 NBA title.

Rocha is credited with being the only person born in Hawaii to have ever played in the NBA.

Rocha retired following the 1957 season with the Ft. Wayne Pistons, but became the team’s head coach midway through the ’57-58 season. He coached the Pistons, who had moved to Detroit during the offseason, for all or parts of the next two years before returning to Hawaii, where he became the head coach at the University of Hawaii in 1963.

At Hawaii, his teams won eight games or fewer six times in his first seven seasons, but responded with a 23-5 record and trip to the National Invitational Tournament in 1971, and 24-3 record and trip to the NCAA Tournament in ’72. He retired following a 15-11 campaign in ’73 with an overall record of 112-136.

Rocha helped found the Rainbow Classic, an eight-team college tournament that brings teams from the mainland to Hawaii, in 1964.

Rocha was inducted to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990. He is also a member of the University of Hawaii Sports Circle of Honor.

He died of cancer at age 86 in Corvallis in 2010.