Known primarily for his turn as Lucas McCain on Rifleman, Chuck Connors was also a professional baseball and basketball player, longstanding and prolific character actor, and a conservative activist.
The Early Life of Chuck Connors
Born in Brooklyn in 1921, Connors was the son of two Irish immigrants from Newfoundland and Labrador, which were not at that time part of Canada yet. His father was a longshoreman and his youth was spent in an obsession with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Chuck Connors attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica School where he served as an altar boy. It was here that he began his baseball career, playing sandlot ball for the Bay Ridge Celtics, the team of the Bay Ridge Boys' Club, where he spent most of his free time. It was here that he first began to dream of playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Connors was originally slated to attend a vocational high school, but an athletic scholarship got him in the door of the prestigious Adelphi Academy. Here, he played baseball, basketball, and football, while also running track. Upon graduation, he received several scholarship offers but ultimately chose Seton Hall.
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In 1942, Connors' country came calling and he enlisted in the United States Army. Connors saw his action stateside, serving as a tank instructor at West Point. He trained the then-famous Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis ("Mr. Inside" and "Mr. Outside") who played for Army's National Championship-winning 1944 and 1945 football teams.
Chuck Connors in Pro Sports
After the War, he picked up his interrupted minor league baseball career. At the same time, he was asked to play basketball by the newly formed Basketball Association of America, the forerunner to today's NBA. He is one of 13 athletes to have played in both Major League Baseball and the NBA, playing 53 games for the Boston Celtics.
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