Portrait of Lee Shaffer

Birthday profile

Lee Shaffer

Lee Shaffer, American basketball player

Born
February 23, 1939
Age in 2026
87
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1939

About Lee Shaffer

Lee Philip Shaffer II (born February 23, 1939) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'7" forward born in Chicago, Shaffer starred at the University of North Carolina, where he was the ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1960. Shaffer was the #5 selection of the Syracuse Nationals in the 1960 NBA draft, after Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame players Oscar Robertson (#1) and Jerry West (#2). He was selected ahead of future Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkens (#6) and Satch Sanders (#8). Shaffer and another 1960 First Round Draft choice, Al Bunge (#7), signed with the AAU instead of the NBA, in an era where salaries were small. Shaffer played the 1960–1961 season with the Cleveland Pipers. He then played three seasons (1961–1964) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise. An NBA All-Star in 1963, Shaffer held career averages of 16.8 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game. He retired in 1964 to pursue business opportunities.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Lee Shaffer was born

Lee Shaffer was born in 1939. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1939

  • #1 song"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland
  • Top movieGone with the Wind
  • Best-selling bookThe Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentLou Gehrig delivers his "Luckiest Man" farewell speech
  • Top headlineGermany invades Poland — World War II begins
  • Technology milestoneFirst regular television broadcasts in the US (NBC)
  • Defining fadThe Wizard of Oz mania
  • Notable inventionNylon stockings
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population130.9M

1939 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Lee Shaffer's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19392026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,200$435,000
Average income$2,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population130.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, NBA. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.