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Past and present: two Native ballplayers from California

Past and present: two Native ballplayers from California


 

 

 

MarJon Beaucham

With the NBA Season just wrapping up, a new crop of talented draft picks learned their new homes via the 2022 Draft. Among them, a young, talented wing named MarJon Beauchamp would wait his turn. His talents and wait would be rewarded, being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 24th selection in the first round. Beauchamp played his high school ball at Mathan Hale, Seattle Washington. Beauchamp is an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians.

Beauchamp, who would be regarded as a top 50 prospect in the 2020 high school class, would play for a short time training for Chameleon, then on to Yakima Valley College, a season displaced by the pandemic. In the abbreviated junior college season, he would score over 30 points a game, and eventually join the G League Ignite program ahead of the draft. With a frame of 6’ 6.5”, a 197 pound body and a wingspan just shy of 7’1”, he could prove his value on both ends of the floor, scoring at will and navigating traffic as needed, he could create from the screen, the ability to smother opponents in closing coverage and blocking up passing lanes on defense, with work he should give the Bucks a key cog for a team that won it all the year before and gave the Celtics all they could handle in this year’s playoff.

Digging back into the past, another player from a California reservation had a solid NBA career. He played alongside guys like Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. He would score in the double digits, and played during seven seasons. His name was Phil Jordon.

Jordon, who was born in Lakeport in 1933, would play at Willits High School, then move on to Redding. He was the first and only product from the Redwood Empire to play in the NBA, until Josh Akognon picked up a 10 day contract with the Mavericks in 2013. Jordon would go on to play in 442 games, with 4 different teams, but played during a different time when most of the headlines were dominated by the dynasty of the Celtics   and the arrival of talented players to open the game up more.                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Phil Jordon

Jordon, coming from more humble surroundings, arrived from the Wailaki and Nomlaki tribes, would be one of five children, whose dad passed away when Jordon was a teen. He would top out at 6 foot 10 with a “feathery touch” on his shot. Jordon did have a good talent and a fine hook shot but after two years in the Small Schools, he joined up with an AAU squad, winning a title for the Buchan Bakers, sponsored by a Washington Bakery. Drafted in 1956 by the Minneapolis Lakers, he never played for the team, instead joined the Knicks for his rookie year. He would pick up 14.3 points per game for the Pistons, in 1958-59, he’d never averaged less than 8.3 rebounds a year either, showing decent numbers. Sadly, the game he’s most remembered for is the one he never played in. In 1962, Jordon’s Knicks were going to play the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, PA and for reason of illness, Jordon was unable to play. Wilt Chamberlain, would set a scoring record, with 100 points, as the Knicks only had one other big man on the roster at the time.

In 1963, Jordon would play his last NBA game in the summer, and two years later while living in Tacoma Washington, he was riding on a raft that broke apart, dumping everyone on board into the Puyallup River. His three-teammates swam to safety, Jordon did not. It took the authorities nearly a month to locate his body.

He would leave behind a family, including a son who would follow in his father’s footsteps, playing at Central Washington University. A Niece, Lisa Jordon would also go into basketball, first at Ukiah High, then at Texas A&M, and would be the all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots (since broken). She would later move into coaching for Texas A&M, Central Florida and Ohio University. She never had the chance to know her Uncle Phil, but the family still remembers stories about him, and his accomplishments live on.

(Contact Joe Budd at sales2@nativesunnews.today)

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