The Mart Texan
Mart, Texas
Thursday, December 11, 1997

Elmore Robert Morgenthaler

Elmore Robert Morgenthaler passed away of pneumonia on Nov. 25, 1997 at Falls Co. Hospital in Marlin, Texas at age 75. He was born August 3, 1922 to Robert Frank Morgenthaler and Essie Lena Warneke near Otto, Texas. He attended primary and secondary schools in Mart and Ben Hur, Texas and in Hobbs, N. M. He attended college at New Mexico School of Mines and Boston College. He played professional basketball in Philadelphia, PA, Providence, RI and Memphis, TN during the 1940’s.

Mr. Morgenthaler was residing at Bremond Nursing Home in Bremond, Texas at the time of his death.

He is survived by his wife, Helen Doris Morgenthaler, who resides at Robinson Nursing Home in Robinson, Texas and a brother, Charles Edward Morgenthaler of Parachute, Co.

He was put to rest at Criswell Cemetery, 14 miles east of Marlin, on Thursday morning, Nov. 27, 1997. Funeral arrangements were handled by Dorsey-Keatts Funeral Home in Marlin, Texas.



wikipedia.org

Elmore Robert Morgenthaler (August 3, 1922 – November 25, 1997) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Providence Steamrollers and the Philadelphia Warriors in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), among other franchises and leagues.[1] Standing at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m),[2] Morgenthaler is officially recognized as the first seven-foot player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[3]Morgenthaler was raised in Mart, Texas.[4] He attended Hobbs High School in Hobbs, New Mexico, after he had been recruited by coach Charles Finley.[4] Morgenthaler followed Finley to play college basketball for the New Mexico Mines and he finished second in the nation in scoring with 21.8 points per game after playing for just the second semester of the 1945–46 season.[4][5] The Mines were abolished at the end of the season and Morgenthaler transferred to play for the Boston College Eagles for the 1946–47 season.[4] He quit college basketball at the end of February 1947 to play professionally for the Providence Steamrollers of the BAA.[6] He was waived by the Steamrollers on September 27, 1947, and did not return to the BAA until he signed with the Philadelphia Warriors on November 18, 1948.[7]Morgenthaler's health deteriorated after his retirement.[4] He worked at a liquor distillery to support himself.[4] In 1996, aged 74, Morgenthaler was living by himself in a rundown apartment building in Marlin, Texas. His right arm and a part of his left leg were paralyzed from a stroke he suffered in 1984. Like other former professional basketball players in the 1940s and 1950s, Morgenthaler did not receive a pension from the NBA and lived his final years in poverty.[2] At the time of his death, he was residing at Bremond Nursing Home in Bremond, Texas.[8] Morgenthaler died due to pneumonia at Falls Community Hospital in Marlin.[8]