Written in the Democratic Chronicles Perhaps the greatest high school basketball player ever from our region, Al Butler averaged 32 points per game as a senior at East High in 1957. The second-leading scorer that year averaged 22 points. That's just one indicator of how dominant he was. Butler was Rochester's first four-time All-City first-team basketball selection. In 1996, a panel of experts voted him Section V's all-time best player. He was a near-unanimous selection. Butler went on to a stellar collegiate career at Niagara University, where he averaged 22.8 points per game. He ranks second on the school's all-time average scoring list behind only Calvin Murphy (33.1 points per game). Wikipedia info. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he played basketball for East High School in Rochester, New York, before playing collegiately for Niagara University. He was named to the 1961 National Invitation Tournament All-Star team by the Associated Press, despite Niagara losing its only game, 68–71 against Providence. He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round (17th pick overall) of the 1961 NBA draft. He played for the Celtics (1961), New York Knicks (1962–64) and Baltimore Bullets (1964–65) in the NBA for a total of 234 games.[1] He started for the Knicks for Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game, scoring 8 points. After his death, a scholarship was established in his name at MCC. The Elbert “Al” Butler Scholarship is presented annually to one player each on MCC's men’s and women’s basketball teams. If you are interested in making a donation to the scholarship, contact the MCC Foundation at (585) 685-6020, or click this link to go to the foundation's online giving page and to note that it is for the Al Butler Scholarship. Thank you for watching. Please subscribe Gems in the R🏀C trayezim@yahoo.com More content on the way