Education
Hilo High School.
basketball coach basketball player
Hilo High School.
A 6"9" center from Oregon State University, he earned All-Pacific Coast Conference honors in 1945, 1946, and 1947. He was also selected as a 1947 All-American. Rocha played in the Bachelor of Applied Arts and National Basketball Association in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
He represented the Baltimore Bullets in the 1951 National Basketball Association All-Star Game, the first National Basketball Association All-Star Game.
The first person from Hawaii to play in the National Basketball Association, Rocha still shares, with former teammate Paul Seymour, the National Basketball Association record for most minutes in a playoff game with 67. After his playing days he became a coach, including head coach of the Detroit Pistons from 1958 to 1960.
Rocha also coached the Hawaii Chiefs of the American League. Rocha then became head coach for the University of Hawaii men"s basketball team
At UH, he assembled what is known today as the "Fabulous Five" during the 1970 to 1972 seasons.
In 1970, the team advanced to postseason play for the first time in school history. Red also co-founded the Rainbow Classic — an eight-team collegiate men"s basketball tournament, with UH hosting the tournament. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, and into the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
Ephraim "Red" Rocha died from cancer on February 13, 2010, in Corvallis, Oregon, at the age of 86.