By Lee Strawther
The Sporting Tribune
The John R. Wooden Award will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary this season. Leading up to the award ceremony on April 10, 2026, The Sporting Tribune in partnership with the Wooden Award and the Los Angeles Athletic Club will highlight past winners of the Wooden Award and the Legends of Coaching Award.
Christopher Paul Mullin was born July 30, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, and being a proud New Yorker, he grew up idolizing players like New York Knicks guards Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier and Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe in the 1970s, trying to mimic their games when he played.
Early in his hoop journey he would often head to the Bronx and Harlem to hone his skills against the best players in the city. Before long his name began to circulate while playing Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Brooklyn.
Mullin began his high school career at the famed Power Memorial Academy, the same high school the then-Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) put on the map in the 1960s. He transferred to Xaverian High School as a junior and the following year (1981) led them to a New York Class A State Championship while being named a McDonald’s All-American.
Mullin was recruited heavily to play for St. John’s University in nearby Queens by Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca. Coincidentally, he had attended Carnesecca’s famed basketball camp as a youth, not knowing he would one day play for the college basketball legend.
Once a Redmen (now the Red Storm), Mullin averaged 16.6 points per game in his first season, setting the program’s freshman record for points scored in the process. Over the next three years he was named Big East Player of the Year and to the All-America team three times each, and played for the gold medal-winning 1984 Olympic Team.
Finally, in his senior year he received the esteemed John R. Wooden and USBWA College Player of the Year Awards after averaging 19.8 points per game and leading St. John’s to the 1985 Final Four and its first No. 1 ranking since 1951.
Mullin wrapped up his collegiate career as the Redmen’s all-time leading scorer with 2,440 career points and 19.5 ppg scoring average. He also holds the distinction of being only one of three players ever to win the Haggerty Award, given to the best collegiate basketball player in the New York City area, three times (1983-1985).
The Golden State Warriors selected Mullin with the seventh pick in the first round in the 1985 NBA Draft, and for his first three seasons he was primarily a spot-up shooting guard. By his second season (1986–87) the Warriors advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals where they ultimately lost to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. From 1988 until 1993, Mullin averaged over 25 points and five rebounds for Golden State.
Flanked by teammates point guard Tim Hardaway, Sr and shooting guard Mitch Richmond, the Warriors’ trio were dubbed ‘Run TMC’ during their stint together with the Warriors, a play on the name of the popular rap group Run DMC.
“Ironically, the way we played back then is the way the game is played now, 30 years later,” Mullin said in a November 2022 piece published by The Mirror.
Following the 1996-97 season Mullin was traded to the Indiana Pacers. Coached by Larry Bird, who he also idolized as a young player, he started all 82 games, averaged 11.3 ppg, and helped lead the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in seven games.
Mullin again signed with Warriors for the 2000–01 season, which would wind up being his last season as a player. He was on the All-NBA First Team in 1992, second team in 1989 and 1991, and third team in 1990.
During the ‘92 Olympics, Mullin posted 12.9 ppg, shot 61.9% from the field and 53.8% from the three-point line for the Dream Team, widely regarded as one of the greatest sports teams ever constructed.
Mullin also won gold medals in the 1992 Tournament of the Americas, the 1984 Summer Olympics, and the 1983 Pan American Games.
After his retirement, Mullin would go on to serve as special advisor for the Sacramento Kings and general manager of the Golden State Warriors. He also served as head coach at his alma mater from 2015 to 2019.
In the 2018–19 season, he led the 21-13 Red Storm to an NCAA tournament and ultimately the First Four. The 21 victories matched the team’s highest win total since the 1999–2000 season. He resigned following that tournament citing personal reasons.
“If you’re going to preach dedication, work ethic, teamwork, unselfishness, and being part of a team to accomplish a common goal, you have to live it – you can’t just talk about it,” he once said. His teams from Xaverian High School to Golden State definitely did more than talk about it.