Tulane's sterling basketball star Paul Thompson and Brother Martin's versatile Emmanuel "Tookie" Spann, Jr., were named co-winners of the Outstanding Athlete Award for the Greater New Orleans area for 1983 by the Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee.
Thompson, all-time leading scorer for the Green Wave, was drafted in the third round of the 1983 NBA draft by the Clevelana Cavaliers. He became the Wave's leading scorer on January 22, 1983, and ended the season and his career with 1,851 points and
a 16.5 per game average. In four years at Tulane, Thompson shot 47.7% from the floor. In addition, he pulled down 903 rebounds and had 195 assists.
In just 19 games in '83, Thompson scored 323 points for a 17.0Â average and grabbed 142 rebounds for a 7.5 per game average.
He was named co-MVP by the Tulane players and was named to all-tournament teams for the Sugar Bowl Classic, the Kentucky Invitational and the Metro Conference Tournament.
He was chosen as an All-Metro Conference forward and was named honorable mention All-America by the Associated Press.
As sixth man for the NBA's Cavaliers Thompson has averaged 20.6 minutes of playing time through 78 games. He is scoring 8.9 points per game, has blocked 33 shots, dished out 116 assists, and stolen the ball 63 times.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month.
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