To this day, Bobby Franklin, remains the all-time leading scorer in Point Park University men’s basketball history.

Franklin has won many awards and achievements during his lifetime, yet this now successful sales director for the Mattel Toy Company remains humble and excited about whatever else is to come in his life.

Franklin attended Point Park University on a basketball scholarship from 1973 to 1977 as a business management major. The Cleveland, OH. native pin-points basketball as his reason for attending college in the first place.Franklin grew up in a lower income family of seven siblings and his mother. These circumstances made dream of attending college a long shot- at least until Franklin was recruited by former Point Park basketball coach Jerry Conboy.

“He saw the talent in me that I didn’t, at 18,” Franklin said.

“Coming out of high school, he was not a shooter or a scorer. We brought him along and worked with him and he just kept improving every game,” said Conboy in a phone interview.

Under Conboy’s guidance, Franklin was taught how to utilize his quickness as well as improve his shooting and the other abilities he already had.Conboy also made sure Franklin excelled off the court as well, by encouraging him to keep his grades up and seeing that he maintain a job at a local bank.

“We became a great coach-player combination,” Conboy said. “I thought the world of him.”

By the end of Franklin’s college career, he had scored 2,020 career points, averaging 19.5 points per game. Franklin garnered The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Honarable Mention in 1975/76 and earned second-team All-American honors in 1977. He is still the only player in Point Park’s history to have his jersey, number 14, retired.

“He is a key figure in the history of Point Park Basketball,” said Kevin Taylor, Point Park director of athletic communications. “He was a prolific scorer from the point guard spot, he made a lot of players better.”

“As you grow older you come to understand the magnitude of the impact that you had on whatever it is that you did. In my case it was the basketball program here at Point Park,” Franklin said.

Upon graduation, Franklin intended to become a professional and join the National Basketball Association (NBA), but life had something completely different in store for the young basketball star. Today, Franklin can be found without a basketball and the seven-inch afro he had in the ‘70s. He is also a happy family man.

What happened to being an NBA superstar?

“The opportunity from Mattel was unique and different and comes along once in a lifetime […]Playing basketball was just a means to an end and offered me the opportunity to get an education,” Franklin said.

“I think he took the right road,” Conboy said. As far as reminiscing about the past, Franklin thanks Point Park for providing such a nurturing and loving environment, especially for a young man on his own for the first time.

Today, if you ask Franklin if he regrets any of the choices he has made, he will proudly announce that he does not regret any of his career decisions.

“I’ve never looked back. I’ve always looked ahead,” Franklin said. Both Franklin, who will be attending all events, and Conboy, who will be in attendeance on Saturday, will be reuniting at Point Park’s 50th Anniversary September 24-26.