Sport: Basketball
Born: February 16, 1924
Died: November 7, 2019
Town: Westwood, New Jersey
Franklin Benjamin Saul Jr. was born February 16, 1924 in West Orange and grew up in Westwood, NJ. A big, coordinated, athlete, he excelled in several sports as a boy and acquired the nickname “Pep” for his tenacity and hustle. At Holy Trinity in Hackensack and then Seton Hall Prep, Pep was the star of the baseball and basketball teams in the early 1940s. Another star of the team was center Moose Miller, who went on to participate in the first NBA game.
Pep enrolled at Seton Hall in 1942 and, because of wartime shortages, he was allowed to play varsity ball as a freshman. After three years in the military, he returned for the 1946–47 season. The 1947 squad was nicknamed “The Five Midgets” because none of the starters stood taller than 6’3″. Coach Bob Davies—a legend from the 1930s—coached a team that starred Pep, Bobby Wanzer and Whitey Macknowski. All three would go on to play pro ball. The Pirates won their first 18 games and finished 24–3. Pep captain the basketball team in 1948–49 and finished his college career with 1,011 points, becoming the first player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Pep was the 12th player taken in the 1949 NBA Draft. He joined the Rochester Royals—teaming with his college coach, Davies, in the backcourt—and was a key player in the team’s 1951 NBA championship. Pep began the 1951–52 season with the Baltimore Bullets, who sold him to the Minneapolis Lakers after 39 games. Pep averaged around 10 points a game for the Lakers the rest of the way, and again played an important role in a championship, as George Mikan led Minneapolis to the NBA title. Pep thus became the first player in NBA history to win consecutive championships on two different teams.
Pep played three more seasons with the Lakers, winning two more championships. He stayed in Minnesota during the off-seasons, often playing semipro baseball. He retired following the 1954–55 season at the age of 31. After his playing days, Pep moved back to New Jersey and ran an insurance business in Verona for four decades. He passed away in 2019.