- Wataru Misaka
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Wataru Misaka No. 15 Point guard Personal information Date of birth December 21, 1923 Place of birth Ogden, Utah Nationality American High school Ogden Listed height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Listed weight 150 lb (68 kg) Career information College Utah NBA Draft 1947 / Round: -- / Pick: -- Selected by the New York Knicks Pro career 1947–1948 League BAA Career history 1947–1948 New York Knicks Career highlights and awards Career BAA statistics Points 7 (2.3 ppg) Games played 3 Stats at Basketball-Reference.com Wataru "Wat" Misaka (三阪 亙 Misaka Wataru , born December 21, 1923) is a retired American basketball player. He was the first player of Asian descent and the first non-Caucasian person to play in the National Basketball Association (then known as the Basketball Association of America).[1]
Contents
Biography
Misaka, a Nisei Japanese American, was born in Ogden, Utah. Playing for the University of Utah, he led his school to the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT championships. Misaka took off two years between these titles to serve in the U.S. Army.[2]
A 5'7" point guard, he was selected by the New York Knicks in the 1947 BAA Draft. During the 1947–1948 season, he played in three games and scored seven points before he was cut from the team.[3] Misaka was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
A documentary film, Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story, by Bruce Alan Johnson and Christine Toy Johnson[4] premiered in 2008.
See also
- List of shortest players in National Basketball Association history
References
- ^ Vecsey, George (August 11, 2009). "Pioneering Knick Returns to Garden". The New York Times: p. B-9. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/sports/basketball/11vecsey.html?hp. Retrieved October 28, 2010. "He lasted just three games, but is remembered as the first non-Caucasian player in modern professional basketball, three years before African-Americans were included."
- ^ "A Nisei in the NBA: The Wat Misaka Story". Hokubei.com. 2008-08-29. http://www.hokubei.com/en/news/2008/08/Nisei-NBA-Wat-Misaka-Story.
- ^ Robbins, Liz (January 5, 2005). "Size 7 Sneakers Are Still Hard to Fill". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/05/sports/basketball/05misaka.html?pagewanted=1&8hpib
- ^ Sanchez, Jennifer W. (September 10, 2008). "Utahn broke ethnic wall in NBA". The Salt Lake Tribune. http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10420139?source=rss[dead link]
External links
- 'Wat' a player NBA.com. Retrieved April 7, 2005
- Wat Misaka: an Asian basketball pioneer, Basketball Digest, Feb, 2002 by Douglas Stark.
- Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story film website
Utah Utes Men's Basketball 1943–44 NCAA Champions Arnie Ferrin (MOP) | Bob Lewis | Wataru Misaka | Fred Sheffield | Dick Smuin | Herb Wilkinson
Coach Vadal PetersonCategories:- 1923 births
- Living people
- American basketball players
- Basketball players from Utah
- American sportspeople of Japanese descent
- New York Knicks draft picks
- New York Knicks players
- People from Ogden, Utah
- Point guards
- Utah Utes men's basketball players
- American military personnel of Japanese descent
- American basketball biography, 1920s birth stubs
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