Former Notre Dame, Bulls star Woolridge arrested

Posted February 29, 2012 11:00 pm

Associated Press

MANSFIELD, La. — Former basketball star Orlando Woolridge, who played for Notre Dame and the Chicago Bulls, was released on bond following his arrest for stealing aluminum tubing at a drill site in DeSoto Parish.

Chief Deputy Patrick Cobbs, of the parish sheriff’s office, said Wednesday that deputies arrested the 52-year-old Woolridge on Feb. 24 on a charge of theft of over $1,500. He was released after posting $2,000 bond.

Cobbs says Woolridge lives in the Mansfield area, where he played high school basketball.

The Bulls drafted the 6-foot-9 Woolridge out of Notre Dame with the sixth pick in the 1981 draft, and he played five seasons in Chicago. He played for six other teams in his NBA career, which spanned from 1981-94. He averaged 16 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game in his career, but he averaged more than 20 points per game in his final three seasons with the Bulls.

He was suspended during the 1987-88 season for substance abuse when he played for the New Jersey Nets. Woolridge retired from the NBA in 1994 but played two more years overseas. He has coached in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks and currently coaches in the ABA.

Orlando Woolridge, right, averaged more than 20 points per game in his final season with the Bulls before he was traded to New Jersey. Here he congratulates Michael Jordan during a 1986 playoff game against the Boston Celtics in which Jordan scored 63 points. Associated Press/Paul R. Benoit/1986 file

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