David Pope Obit

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State athletics department mourns the passing of former Spartan basketball great David Pope, who died last Friday, Oct. 21.
 
Pope, a native of Newport News, Va., also played for two years in the NBA. Prior to his stint in the NBA, he was a standout for the Spartans in the early 1980's. He left as the school's career leading scorer and to this day still ranks second all-time.
 
Viewing will be from noon until 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28, at the C.C.Carter Funeral Home LLC, located at 3314 Roanoke Avenue in Newport News. Services will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at New Hope Baptist Church at 1415 Big Bethel Road in Hampton.
 
Pope currently ranks second in career scoring at NSU with 2,339 points. He holds the school record for career field goals (950) and also ranks third in free throws (436) and fourth in rebounds (1,170). He was an NABC All-American in 1984 after averaging 23.4 points and 12.1 rebounds while leading NSU to the CIAA Championship. Pope was a four-time All-CIAA player and won back-to-back CIAA Player of the Year awards in 1983 and '84.
 
Pope was drafted by the Utah Jazz in 1984 with the 62^nd overall pick. He played in 33 games over two seasons from 1984-86 with the Kansas City Kings and Seattle Supersonics. He had been the last Norfolk State player to appear in an NBA game until Kyle O'Quinn in 2012. He is just one of four Spartan players along with O'Quinn, Bob Dandridge and Ray Epps to compete in a regular season NBA game.
 
Pope averaged 20.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game during his four-year career at NSU from 1980-84.
 
Pope was 55.