George Bon Salle, Basketball player, Died at 80

  Dead Famous

George H. Bon Salle (July 1, 1935 – July 20, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. A 6’8″ forward, he starred at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, before playing at the University of Illinois.

 

As a senior in 1957, Bon Salle was awarded All-American honors, and he was selected by the NBA’s Syracuse Nationals in that year’s professional draft.

 
However, Bon Salle never played for the Nationals, spending most of his professional career with the National Industrial Basketball League’s Denver Truckers. A gold-medalist at the 1959 Pan-American Games, Bon Salle also played briefly for the NBA’s Chicago Packers (now the Washington Wizards) during the 1961-1962 season.

 
He collected the posters of the French graphic artist Bernard Villemot and published a catalogue raisonné of those works.