LeRoy Ellis, who played 14 years in the NBA after a standout career at St. John’s, had died of prostate cancer. He was 72.

Ellis was a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn, and played at St. John’s from 1959-62. He still holds the school single-season record for rebounding with an average of 16.5 in his junior year, and the record for most rebounds in a game with 30 against NYU on Dec. 30, 1961.

“For a big guy, he was awfully quick. You can never catch him,” St. John’s Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca said.

Ellis appeared in 1,048 NBA games with the Lakers, Baltimore, Portland and Philadelphia. He posted career averages of 9.7 points and 8.3 rebounds, and was a member of Los Angeles’ 1972 championship team.