Joe Quigg

{{short description|American basketball player}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Joe Quigg

| image = Joe Quigg.jpg

| caption =

| height_ft = 6 | height_in = 9

| weight_lbs = 205

| birth_date = c. 1937

| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

| high_school = St. Francis Prep
(Queens, New York)

| college = North Carolina (1955–1957)

| draft_year = 1958

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 11

| draft_team = New York Knicks

| career_start =

| career_end =

| career_number = 41

| career_position = Center

| years1 =

| team1 =

| highlights =

• NCAA champion (1957)

}}

Joe Quigg is an American former basketball player. He was a key player on the 1957 National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels and a second round draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1958.

Quigg stood 6 feet 9 inches tall and played the center position at St. Francis Prep in New York City. He came to the University of North Carolina through coach Frank McGuire's "underground railroad" of players from New York to Chapel Hill along with the likes of Pete Brennan, Tommy Kearns, Danny Lotz, and Lennie Rosenbluth.{{Cite web|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1982/03/29/a-team-that-was-blessed|title=A Team that was Blessed: Chamberlain's name for '56-57 Tar Heels|first=Frank|last=Deford|website=Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/ny-joe-quigg-ncaa-final-four-unc-kansas-20220331-ftww2vgcu5gcla5bctsimudcii-story.html|title=A group of New Yorkers led North Carolina to '57 NCAA title over Wilt Chamberlain, Kansas|website=New York Daily News}}

Quigg was a two-year starter; for the 1955–56 and 1956–57 seasons. Quigg averaged 12.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore, then 10.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as a junior. The Tar Heels went undefeated in his junior season and won the national championship. Quigg was instrumental in the championship game win, one of the greatest games in history.{{Cite web |last=Trucks |first=Rob |date=March 19, 2012 |title=How A Career Ends: When The Cast Came Off, My Leg Was Shriveled |url=https://deadspin.com/how-a-career-ends-when-the-cast-came-off-my-leg-was-s-5894509 |website=Deadspin}} Quigg made the game-winning free throws and knocked down a pass to 7 feet 1 inch tall Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain in the closing seconds of the 54–53, triple-overtime win.{{cite book|last=Lucas |first=Adam |year=2006 |title=The best game ever: How Frank McGuire's '57 Tar Heels beat Wilt and revolutionized college basketball|publisher=The Lyons Press|isbn=1-59228-982-7}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-04-sp-19074-story.html|title=Man Who Beat Chamberlain in NCAA Final Never Played Again|first=Joe|last=Gergen|date=April 4, 1993|website=Los Angeles Times}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.pennlive.com/sports/2016/04/the_7_greatest_ncaa_title_game.html|title=The 7 greatest NCAA title game finishes: Where does Villanova's win over North Carolina rank?|first=Aaron|last=Kasinitz|date=April 5, 2016|website=pennlive}}

Quigg was primed for a strong senior year in 1957–58, as the Tar Heels returned a strong nucleus from their championship team. However, he was injured in a preseason scrimmage and was out the entire season with a broken leg.{{cite news |title= Joe Quigg is lost to Carolina|newspaper= The Dispatch (Raleigh)|date= November 11, 1957 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Y9wbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WlEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6674,497358&dq=joe-quigg&hl=en |accessdate=July 31, 2011}}{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/uncbasketballblu19571958/page/n1/mode/2up | title=U.N.C. Basketball blue book | year=1958 }}

Even after missing his entire senior season, the New York Knicks spent a second round pick (#11 overall) on Quigg in the 1958 NBA draft. Not fully healed, Quigg did not make the team. Instead, Joe Quigg went to dental school and became a dentist.