Harold Hunter (basketball)
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Kansas City, Kansas | April 30, 1926
Died | March 7, 2013 Hendersonville, Tennessee | (aged 86)
Nationality | American |
Career information | |
High school | Sumner (Kansas City, Missouri) |
College | North Carolina Central |
NBA draft | 1950 / Round: 10 |
Selected by the Washington Capitols | |
Position | Guard |
Coaching career | 1950–1991 |
Career history | |
As coach: | |
1950–1951 | Williston School |
1952–1954 | P. S. Jones HS |
1954–1957 | Williston School |
1957–1959 | Tennessee State (assistant) |
1959–1968 | Tennessee State |
1974–1977 | Xavier (LA) |
1980s | Dillard (assistant) |
1986–1991 | Southern |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Harold Hunter Sr. (April 30, 1926 – March 7, 2013) was an American basketball coach and player.[1] He became the first African American to sign a professional contract with a National Basketball Association (NBA) team when he joined the Washington Capitols on April 26, 1950.[2][3][4] Hunter was cut from the team during training camp and never played for an NBA team.[2] He later coached basketball for the United States men's national basketball team, Tennessee State University, and the U.S. Olympic basketball team.
Early life[]
Hunter was born on April 30, 1926, in Kansas City, Kansas.[5] He graduated from Sumner High School, now known as Sumner Academy of Arts & Science, in 1944.[3] The school, which had a top ten national ranking in science at the time, was the only all-black high school left in the city.[3] In 2000, a group of Sumner alumni published a book on the history of the school, "The Sumner Story," which focused on Hunter's career.[3]
Hunter played as a guard for North Carolina College, now known as North Carolina Central University, in Durham, North Carolina.[2] He is credited with helping the North Carolina Central men's basketball team win the 1950 Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament championship[2] and was named the most valuable player of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament that year.[3]
In 1984 the university inducted Hunter into its Athletic Hall of Fame.[2] The university also retired his in 2009 to mark the university's centennial.[2][4] The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) inducted him into its hall of fame in 1987.[4]
In 1950, Harold Hunter was drafted during the 10th round of the 1950 NBA draft into the Washington Capitols basketball team.[2] He signed a contract with the Capitols on April 26, 1950, the day after the draft, becoming the first African American player to sign a contract with any NBA basketball team.[2][3] However, he was cut from the team during the Capitols' training camp and did not play professionally for any NBA team.[2][3]
Coaching career[]
Hunter coached the boys and girls basketball teams at Williston School in Wilmington, North Carolina, during the 1950–51 season.[1] He served as athletic director and coach of the football, basketball, track and tennis teams at P. S. Jones High School in Washington, North Carolina from 1952 to 1954.[1] Hunter returned to Williston from 1954 to 1957.[1]
Hunter served as an assistant coach for the Tigers basketball team from 1957 to 1959.[1] In 1959, he became the head coach for the Tigers, succeeding outgoing coach John McLendon.[2] He coached the Tigers for nine seasons from 1959 to 1968, leading the team to a 172-67 winning record, including four instances of more than twenty wins in a row.[2] Seventeen of Hunter's Tennessee State players were drafted into the NBA.[2] Hunter holds the record as the second-winningest men's basketball coach in Tennessee State's history.[4]
Hunter became the first African American to coach the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team in 1968,[2][3] leading them during their tour of the Soviet Union and Europe.[4] He took the U.S. team to a victory over the Soviet national basketball team in a game held in Minsk, present-day Belarus.[4]
Hunter also became the first African American to lead both men's and women's teams to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national basketball tournament.[3] He later coached both men's and women's college basketball at Xavier University of Louisiana from May 1974 to 1977; as an assistant coach for Dillard University's women's team under head coach Mary Teamer during the 1980s; and at Southern University from 1986 to 1991.[4] All of these schools are in New Orleans.
He began coaching Xavier's Gold Rush basketball team in May 1974 following the departure of previous coach Bob Hopkins.[4] Under Hunter, the team placed 11-9 in the 1974-75 season (including his first seven games with the team), 12-15 in the 1975-76 season, and won six games during the 1976-77 season.[4] He was succeeded as coach by Bernard Griffith in 1977.[4] He encouraged the players to participate in charitable activities: In 1975, the team repainted the university's St. Michael's residence hall during summer break.,[4] and they played an exhibition game to benefit the Big Brothers of Greater New Orleans on November 8, 1975.[4]
Retirement[]
Hunter and his wife, Jacqueline, resided in New Orleans after his retirement from coaching.[3] They were forced to leave New Orleans and move to Tennessee after Hurricane Katrina struck and flooded the city in 2005.[3][4]
Hunter was interviewed for the 2008 ESPN documentary, Black Magic, which focused on early, pioneering basketball players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States.[4]
Harold Hunter died at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at 6:55 a.m on March 7, 2013, at the age of 86.[2][3][4] He was survived by his wife, Jacqueline T. Hunter, a biology faculty member at Xavier University of Louisiana; daughter, Micki; and son, Harold Jr.[3][4]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ a b c d e "Harold HUNTER Sr". The Tennessean. March 11, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Former Tennessee State basketball coach Harold Hunter dies". The City Paper. 2013-03-07. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m McDowell, Sam (2013-03-09). "Sumner grad Harold Hunter, first African-American to sign with NBA team, dies at 86". Kansas City Star. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "NBA pioneer Harold Hunter, an ex-Xavier coach, died Thursday". Times-Picayune. 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
- ^ "Basketball pioneer Harold Hunter passes away". . 2013-03-07. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
- 1926 births
- 2013 deaths
- American men's basketball coaches
- American men's basketball players
- Basketball coaches from Kansas
- Basketball players from Kansas
- Basketball coaches from Louisiana
- Basketball players from New Orleans
- College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
- North Carolina Central Eagles men's basketball players
- People from Hendersonville, Tennessee
- Southern Jaguars basketball coaches
- Sportspeople from Kansas City, Kansas
- Sportspeople from New Orleans
- Tennessee State Tigers basketball coaches
- Washington Capitols draft picks
- Xavier Gold Rush basketball coaches
- African-American basketball players
- African-American basketball coaches