# 51
Hometown: Winfield, KS High
Position: C Playing Height: 6-5 Playing Weight: 205
Date of Birth: May 28, 1925
Date of Death: February 5, 2005 [Vanderbilt - 84 - 70]
Legal Name: Robert Warren Brannum
Additional Photos: (1)
Action Photos: (1) (2)
Game by Game Statistics
Kentucky Career Notes:
Transferred to Michigan State
Season Notes:
1943-44: All-American [Consensus (1st), Sporting News (1st), Converse (2nd), Pic Magazine (2nd), Helms]; All-SEC [First Team]; All-SEC Tournament
Post-UK Career Notes:
Served in the Military
Professional Basketball Statistics [External Link]
| Season | Games Played | FG | FT | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943-44 | 21 | 99 | 56 | 254 |
| 1946-47 | 29 | 49 | 27 | 125 |
| Total | 50 | 148 | 83 | 379 |
Obituary - Robert W. Brannum, ex-UK basketball player, Lexington Herald Leader (February 8, 2005) by Mark Pratt (AP)
ALSO HAD PLAYED FOUR YEARS FOR BOSTON CELTICS
BOSTON - Robert W. Brannum, a standout basketball player at the University of Kentucky who went on to play four seasons for the Boston Celtics, has died after an 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 78.
Mr. Brannum, who coached basketball at Brandeis University in Massachusetts from 1970 until his retirement in 1986, died early Saturday morning at his home in Marshfield, Mass., said his daughter, Debbie Brannum.
"He felt that he'd had a wonderful life and was ready to go," she said yesterday.
"He said, 'I've done everything I wanted to do. How many people can say that?'"
The 6-foot-5 Brannum, a Winfield, Kan., native, was a punishing inside basketball player who averaged 12 points per game for Kentucky under Coach Adolph Rupp in 1944 to earn consensus All-America honors.
His Kentucky career was interrupted by two years in the Army during World War II. After that, he went back to Kentucky before transferring to Michigan State University. He played minor league basketball in Sheboygan, Wis., before starting a four-season career with the Celtics in 1951.
Playing on teams with Bill Sharman, Bob Cousy and Ed Macauley, Brannum came off the bench and averaged 6.2 points in his career, earning the reputation as a bruiser.
"A boring game was when Daddy didn't get into a fight, and I was thrilled when he'd get in a fight," his daughter said. "I'd love it when he'd come home with stitches in his forehead."
Mr. Brannum was an avid golfer who coached at Brandeis and Norwich (Vt.) University and was the former golf pro at the Barre (Vt.) Country Club. He also coached basketball and soccer at Kenyon (Ohio) College.
Mr. Brannum is still the winningest coach in Brandeis history with 204 wins and three NCAA Division III tournament appearances.
Mr. Brannum is survived by his wife, Harriet, whom he met when they were 13; sons James and Daniel of Marshfield, and William of Tequesta, Fla.; daughters Deborah of Lake Worth, Fla., Dorcas Hanna of Boonton, N.J., and Katherine of Jupiter, Fla.; brother Paul Brannum; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday at Marshfield United Methodist Church.
