Cotton Nash

 ( 1942 Births ) 

The Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) selected Nash in the second round of the 1964 NBA draft. He played for the Lakers until February 1, 1965, when the Lakers acquired Bill McGill and waived Nash. The San Francisco Warriors claimed Nash for the $1,000 waiver price.

Nash played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Kentucky Colonels during the 1967–68 ABA season. He averaged 8.5 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, and 1.2 assists per game.

In May 1964, Nash signed with the Los Angeles Angels and made his professional baseball debut with the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League. In August 1967, the Angels traded Nash with cash to the Chicago White Sox for Bill Skowron. The White Sox promoted him to the major leagues on September 1.

During spring training in 1969, the White Sox traded Nash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ed Hobaugh. Nash played for the Columbus Jets in the International League that year. Hobaugh retired in June and the White Sox asked for Pittsburgh to return Nash to their farm system. Nash refused to report to the Tucson Toros, and the White Sox traded him to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later (later determined to be Jerry Crider). Nash reported to the Denver Bears. The Twins promoted him to the major leagues in September. Late in the 1969 season, the Twins asked Nash to come to spring training as a pitcher in 1970. He played for the Evansville Triplets in 1970, earning another promotion to the major leagues that September.

Nash played for the Portland Beavers in 1971. The Louisville Colonels of the International League acquired Nash from the Twins for Mike Derrick in January 1972. However, the Colonels' acquisition of Cecil Cooper made Nash expendable, and he did not make their final preseason roster cut. He joined Denver during the 1972 season.