- The Giant, shown here in his Midland Dow days, was turned away by both the Army and the Navy for his excessive height of six feet, six-and-a-half inches.
As Minutemen basketball marks its 100th season, the program celebrates a storied past. One of the little-known tales that came to light was of Ted Bokina ’43, a.k.a. “The Giant.”
When Bokina came to Massachusetts State College in 1939 from nearby Hatfield, he already had reached 6 feet, 5 inches, exceptionally tall for the time. And he was still growing. He used his height to become a basketball star; he became the first great big man in school history and the first known UMass Amherst alumnus to make a living playing basketball professionally. His height also quite possibly saved his life.
Bokina dominated from the onset, pouring in 17 points in his first collegiate game. He finished his sophomore season as the Statesmen’s leading scorer, with a phenomenal 31 percent of the team’s points. As he matured, he only improved. In one extraordinary performance during the 1941-42 season, he scored 28 of Massachusetts’s 45 points while leading the Statesmen to a 45–39 win.
Bokina was drafted during World War II, but at 6 feet, 6.5 inches, he exceeded the Army’s limit by half an inch and was declared 4-F. His attempt to enter the Navy failed as well, as the limit was 6 feet, 4 inches. And so, Bokina returned for his senior season as team captain. As expected, he excelled, averaging 17.3 points over the first nine games before an incident at Tufts ended his college basketball career. A number of players were socializing in the team hotel when assistant coach Tommy Eck came by for bed check. Eck demanded that the girls be gone by 11p.m. When one of the girls couldn’t find her overshoes before Eck returned, the players were dismissed, their college careers finished.
After college, Bokina hooked up with a semi-pro team, which he led to the league championship. Bokina’s play was so impressive that he was signed by Midland Dow, a professional independent team that toured the nation. He soon found himself playing against basketball luminaries such as Red Holzman. In his most memorable moment, he went head-to-head against all-time great George Mikan. Bokina earned $7,000 for the 1946-47 season, an enormous amount in those days, before a case of pleurisy cut short his pro career.
Bokina worked as a computer programmer in the industry’s pioneering days and now lives in California and Georgia. At age 87, he is still irked that the Boston Celtics never called him up that the Boston Celtics never called him up but, he says, “I’ve come a long way from a tobacco farm in Hatfield.”
To read more about The Giant: umassmag.com/bokina.
An official documentary commemorating 100 seasons of UMass Amherst men’s basketball will soon be for sale at UMassAthletics.com. The DVD features a comprehensive look at the history of the storied program from its start in 1890.
