Robert W. "Bobby" Speight, Sr. (October 7, 1930 – March 1, 2007) was an American college basketball standout and, later, successful businessman. A native of Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

, Speight chose to stay close to home to play college basketball and decided on NC State

NC State Wolfpack men's basketball

The NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team represents North Carolina State University in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The Wolfpack currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, of which it was a founding member....

. He would play from 1950–51 to 1952–53 under the future-Hall of Famer Everett Case

Everett Case

Everett N. Case , nicknamed "Gray Fox", was a basketball coach most notable for his tenure at North Carolina State University, from 1946 to 1964....

. During Speight's three-year varsity career he scored 1,430 points and grabbed 1,057 rebounds, and his rebound total still ranks fourth all-time. He was named an NCAA All-American

1953 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

The Consensus 1953 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of six major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Associated Press, Look Magazine, The United Press International, the...

 in his senior

Senior (education)

Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

 year and was then drafted by the Baltimore Bullets

Baltimore Bullets

Baltimore Bullets has been the name of three different basketball franchises:* Baltimore Bullets , an American Basketball League franchise and National Basketball Association franchise that folded in 1954....

 in the 1953 NBA Draft

1953 NBA Draft

The 1953 NBA Draft was the seventh annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on April 24, 1953 before the 1953–54 season. In this draft, nine remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In each round, the teams select in reverse...

, although he ultimately never played a game in the league. For two years after college, Speight played basketball for the Phillips 66ers

Phillips 66ers

The Phillips 66ers basketball team was an amateur squad sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The team, which began play in 1919, participated in the Amateur Athletic Union, the nation’s premier basketball league before the National Basketball Association...

 of the Amateur Athletic Union

Amateur Athletic Union

The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...

 (AAU), which was a popular alternative to the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 (NBA) during that era. He then enlisted in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. After his military service he co-founded the trucking company E&S Contract Carrier which he worked for up until his retirement in 2006. Speight died on March 1, 2007, after losing his fight with cancer.