BOSTON -- Gene Conley, one of the few players in history to win championships in two major professional sports, has died. He was 86.
The Boston Red Sox, for whom Conley played for from 1961 to '63, say he died Tuesday.
Conley helped pitch the Milwaukee Braves to a World Series championship in 1957 and won three NBA titles with the Boston Celtics. Otto Graham won championships in the NFL and the NBL, a precursor to the NBA.
Conley was a right-hander and three-time All-Star (1954, '55, '59) who spent 11 years in baseball with three teams.
He was selected by the Celtics in the 1952 draft and, after spending most of the next six years playing only baseball, he returned to the NBA in 1958 and won three consecutive titles.
He was 91-96 with a 3.82 ERA in his major league career. In the NBA, he had career averages of 5.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists.
Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Conley and his wife, Katie, established the Foxboro Paper Company in Foxborough, Massachusetts. They had three children and seven grandchildren.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
