The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the “New Jersey Americans”.

Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.

To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise’s jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.

And for today’s article, we will continue with the first of eight people to wear the No. 27 jersey, guard alum Mel Nowell. After ending his college career at Ohio State, Nowell was picked up with the 92nd overall selection of the 1962 NBA Draft by the (defunct) Chicago Zephyrs.

The Columbus, Ohio native would play the first season of his pro career with the Zephyrs before leaving the team to play in other domestic leagues until he signed with the (then) New Jersey Americans (now, Brooklyn Nets) in 1967 for his final season as a pro.

During his time suiting up for the Americans, Nowell wore only jersey No. 27 and put up 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.

All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets jersey history No. 27 – Mel Nowell (1967-68)