Cornelius Cash Jr., who spent a brief stretch of his professional career in a Detroit Pistons uniform after starring at Bowling Green, died Aug. 31 in his hometown. He was 74.
For Pistons fans who remember the mid-1970’s roster, Cash was a 6-foot-8 forward who got his shot in Detroit after the Milwaukee Bucks drafted him and then let him go. The Pistons signed him in July 1976. He made his NBA debut on Oct. 22 and appeared in six games during the 1976-77 season.
He averaged 3.5 points and 2.7 rebounds in 8.2 minutes a night before Detroit waived him in November. That short run closed his NBA chapter, but it remains the part of his story that ties him to the franchise.
Cash was born March 3, 1952, and grew up in Dayton, where he became one of the better high school players of his time at Dunbar. As a senior he averaged 18.2 points and 15.1 rebounds and helped the Wolverines reach the Ohio Class AAA state championship game.
He was named first-team All-City twice. He also earned two Journal Herald Area All-Star nods, two All-Greater Dayton selections and second-team All-Ohio honors before staying in Ohio for college.
He played on Bowling Green’s freshman team, then spent three seasons with the varsity from 1972-75. In 79 varsity games he averaged 15.8 points and 13.5 rebounds and was a first-team All-Mid-American Conference pick every year.
As a sophomore in 1972-73 he averaged 18 points and 15.2 rebounds, ranking eighth nationally in rebounding and first among forwards. Bowling Green named him most valuable player, and he received honorable-mention All-America recognition.
His junior season brought averages of 14 points and 12.4 rebounds and a school record that still stands: 59 blocked shots. As a senior he averaged 15.3 points and led the conference with 13 rebounds a game.
Bowling Green inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2009. His 1,068 career rebounds and 13.5 rebounds per game remain second in school history behind Nate Thurmond.
The Bucks took him in the second round of the 1975 NBA draft, 24th overall. He never appeared in a game for Milwaukee and was waived that November. Detroit gave him his only NBA minutes the following fall.
After the Pistons released him, Cash kept playing. He had time in the ABA and later suited up overseas in Belgium, Yugoslavia and Brazil before returning home to Dayton.
He later worked at Howard Paper Company and Houser Asphalt & Concrete. He had three children: Erica, Cornelius III and Robert.
A tribute posted after news of his death circulated read: “RIP Cornelius Cash, NBA Power Forward Detroit Pistons (1976) Professionally in Belgium, Yugoslavia and Brazil Bowling Green Falcons 3x All-MAC Bowling Green Hall of Fame #InMemoriam #RIP”
That short note captured the arc most people around the Pistons still recall: a Dayton kid who dominated the MAC, got drafted, found a brief home in Detroit, and kept playing wherever the game took him.
Cash never became a long-term rotation piece in Detroit. Six games does not fill a highlight reel. But for a franchise that has always valued rebounders and rim protectors, his college numbers explain why the Pistons brought him in.
He cleaned the glass, blocked shots and made himself useful in limited minutes. Then the roster turned over, as it often did in that era, and his NBA stop ended.
Those who followed Bowling Green in the early 1970s remember a different player — a first-team All-MAC force who could grab 23 rebounds in a night and drop 32 points on Loyola Chicago. Detroit only saw the later version, the veteran trying to stick.
He leaves behind a record that still sits near the top of the Falcons’ books and a small but official line in Pistons history. For a player whose professional path ran through Milwaukee’s draft board, Cobo Arena and then gyms in Europe and South America, that Detroit line is the one local fans will notice first.
