Today, April 3rd, is the 50th anniversary of the birth of former Boston Celtics big man Pervis Ellison.
Ellison, originally nicknamed "never nervous Pervis" due to his outstanding performance at the college level - he was awarded the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player as a freshman in 1986, only the second in history to be awarded the honor at that time - but had transformed into "out of service" Pervis by the time he signed with the Celts as a free agent. Ellison's professional career was plagued by injury, beginning with him missing 48 of 82 games of his rookie year after being drafted by the Sacramento Kings (picking up the nickname "out of service" as a result, from none other than teammate Danny Ainge).