Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame
John Battle enjoyed a brilliant Rutgers career from 1981-1985 before going on to a long and productive career in the NBA. Battle, a 6-2 guard from Washington D.C. came to Rutgers as a lightly-recruited player who was the sixth man on his high school team as a senior. He played sparingly in his freshman year and then saw his role begin to expand late in his sophomore season, as he provided a spark which helped the 1982-83 Scarlet Knights gain a berth in the NCAA Tournament. That Rutgers team, which featured 1995 RU Hall of Fame inductee Roy Hinson, defeated Southwestern Louisiana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Beginning in his junior year, 1983-84, Battle exploded, averaging 21 points per game in both his junior and senior seasons. A tremendous leaper and dangerous three-point threat, Battle scored 608 points in his senior year, 1984-85, and finished his career with 1,385 points. That point total places him 15th all-time at Rutgers (it was 10th when he graduated ). Battle was a fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 1985. He played with the Hawks from 1985-1991 and played for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1991-96. In the NBA, Battle scored more than 5,000 points and dished off more than 1,200 assists.
