Don Barksdale was the first black to play on the U.S. Olympic basketball team. Unfortunately he could not then join the pro ranks as they did not allow blacks at that time. The 6-6 (1.98) UCLA product then played four years of AAU ball with the Oakland Bittners before the ban on blacks in the NBA was lifted. In the NBA he played for two years with the original Baltimore Bullets and was the top player on that team – averaging 12.6 and 13.8 points per game in the days of much lower scores. In 1953, he was then traded to the Boston Celtics where he played only two more years, but he was elected to play in the NBA All-Star Game in 1953. At the 1951 Pan American Games he won the gold medal with the US team, Barksdale was the only Olympian on the team. He was also an outstanding track star, having won the 1944 AAU triple jump championship. After his retirement from pro basketball, he worked as a real estate investor and nightclub and radio station owner.
United States