| Charlie Slack | |
| Career Position: | Forward |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 5 |
| Birth Date: | 26 February 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Pomeroy, Ohio, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| High School: | Pomeroy (Pomeroy, Ohio) |
| College: | Marshall (1952–1956) |
| Draft Year: | 1956 |
| Draft Round: | 4 |
| Draft Pick: | 30 |
| Draft Team: | Fort Wayne Pistons |
| Years1: | 1956–1961 |
| Team1: | Akron Goodyear Wingfoots |
| Highlights: |
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Charles E. Slack (February 26, 1931 – July 3, 2020) was an American college basketball player from Marshall University. He holds the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I record for the highest single-season rebound average when he grabbed 25.6 rpg in 1954–55.[1] [2]
Considered one of the greatest rebounders in college basketball history,[3] he had his Marshalluniform number (#17) retired in January 2000.[3] In his four-year career with the Thundering Herd, from 1952–53 to 1955–56, Slack compiled 1,916 career rebounds, which is third all-time behind Tom Gola's 2,201 and Joe Holup's 2,030.[4] Additionally, Slack's effort of 43 rebounds against Charleston (West Virginia) on January 12, 1954, is the second highest single game rebound total in NCAA history behind Bill Chambers' 51.[4] Slack owns the top four spots on Marshall's season rebounding average list with 25.6, 23.6, 22.2 and 16.3 rebounds per game.[5] A prodigious rebounder, he also scored 1,551 points during his career.[5]
Slack was drafted by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the 1956 NBA draft, but he never played professionally.[6] He was, however, an alternate for the 1960 United States men's basketball team at the Olympics.[5] Slack was also a member of the varsity football team and was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985 as a two-sport star.[7] In 2019, he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.[8]
Slack died July 3, 2020, at the age of 89.[9]