College career
At Korea University,Chun was a member of the dominant "Tiger Corps" which included Hyun Joo-yup,future KBL Rookie of the Year Shin Ki-sung and future KBL regular season MVP Kim Byung-chul. [1] During his senior year,they won the college division of the National Basketball Festival,then one of the main collegiate competitions. [7]
His time at Korea University coincided with what is often retrospectively dubbed the "golden era" of domestic college basketball. He and his teammates,as well as their counterparts from traditional athletic rivals Yonsei University,enjoyed a level of popularity similar to that of idol singers and A-list actors/actresses due to their skills and good looks. Together with Hyun and Yonsei University's Lee Sang-min,Moon Kyung-eun and Woo Ji-won among others,they were collectively dubbed "Oppa Troupe" (오빠부대) by the media. [8] [9] [10]
Professional career
Chun began his career in 1996 and is among the last generation of players who began their careers during the semi-professional era;the professional league (Korean Basketball League) was founded a year later. He and his college teammate Kim Byung-chul joined the newly-founded Daegu-based amateur team of Tongyang Confectionery,which has since moved to Goyang and is now Goyang Orion Orions after the company rebranding. [7] They beat other more established teams such as Kia,Samsung Electronics and Hyundai to win the last ever amateur championship and notably ended Kia's dominance. [11] [7] [12] When the KBL was founded,Chun stayed with the team. During his first season in the newly-founded professional league,he averaged 23.10 points,which was unheard of for a domestic player especially with the presence of foreign import players with larger and taller physiques. [2]
In 1998,Chun enlisted for mandatory military service. Unlike many of his counterparts,he was assigned to be a public service worker instead of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Sangmu basketball team [ ko ]). [13] In between his routine duties with the Forest Service,he trained in the nearest gym by himself with amateur players. Tongyang were unable to find suitable replacements as he and Kim had enlisted at the same time as several other key players and the mid-table team finished the 1998–99 season at the bottom of the league table. [14] Chun was discharged ahead of the 1999-00 season. His assignment turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he was discharged earlier than his counterparts who joined the Sangmu team. [13]
In 2002,Chun signed with Jeonju KCC Egis but was released at the end of the season. [15] During his brief time at KCC,he was best remembered for an incident during a January game against Seoul Samsung Thunders. He was intentionally struck in the face by Park Sung-hoon but the referee failed to call the foul and Park scored a lay-up immediately afterwards. The referee still did not blow the whistle even though Chun's face was visibly bloodied. Chun's teammate Jung Jae-kun,incensed by the lack of action from the referee and other match officials,retaliated by elbowing Park in the face so hard that Park sustained a broken tooth and jaw and had to be stretchered off. However,Jung was only whistled for a technical foul rather than a more serious flagrant foul,which would have warranted ejection. [16]
In 2003,Chun joined Seoul SK Knights. The 2007-08 season was forgettable as he was mostly on the bench or unavailable due to injuries. With his contract ending that season,he chose to retire rather than join another team or renegotiate another contract. [17] His number 13 jersey was retired by the Knights. [18]
