Boyd Batts (born August 1, 1955) is an American retired professional basketball player. Batts played center for Thornridge High School in Dolton, Illinois, where his Falcons lost only one game during his junior and senior seasons and won back-to-back . The 1972 team was undefeated, with no team coming within 14 points of it, and is often cited as the greatest team in the history of Illinois high school basketball. Playing with the National High School Player of the Year, Quinn Buckner, Batts dominated the 1971 and 1972 tournaments, scoring 141 points and grabbing 98 rebounds through the eight games. In the quarterfinal game in 1972, Batts scored 34 points on 15-of-20 shooting with 18 rebounds in a win over Collinsville. He then bettered that output with a 37 point (14-of-18) and 15-rebound performance in the championship game versus Quincy. In 2007, the Illinois High School Association named Batts one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament. His older brother, Lloyd Batts, was a star player for the University of Cincinnati, becoming the school's third-leading all-time scorer behind Hall-of-Famers Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman. College and Pro Boyd Batts continued to play basketball beyond high school, attending Vincennes University in the 1972-73 school year. He then transferred for the 1973-74 school year to the University of Hawaii. Changing schools again, Batts had his greatest collegiate success at UNLV, where he played for legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian. As a junior and senior, Batts scored 514 points for the Runnin' Rebels, who won 53 of 60 games and qualified for back-to-back NCAA tournaments. A recent story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal ranked Batts as one of the 100 greatest UNLV players of all time. After college, Batts was a seventh-round pick by the New York Knicks in the 1976 Draft. However, he only played professionally overseas.
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