Personal information | |
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Born | Ogden, Utah, U.S. | December 21, 1923
Died | November 20, 2019 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. | (aged 95)
Listed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
Listed weight | 150 lb (68 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Ogden (Ogden, Utah) |
College |
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NBA draft | 1947: 7th round, 61st overall pick |
Selected by the New York Knicks | |
Position | Point guard |
Number | 15 |
Career history | |
1947 | New York Knicks |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Stats at NBA.com | |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com |
Wat Misaka | |||||
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Japanese name | |||||
Kanji | 三阪 亙 | ||||
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Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. A 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball[1][2] by being the first non-white player and the first player of Asian descent to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), known then as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).[3][4][5]
Misaka played college basketball for the Utah Utes and led the team to win the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT championships. He took a two-year hiatus between these titles to serve in the United States Army in the American occupation of Japan.[6][7] Misaka subsequently played three games for the New York Knicks during the 1947–48 season.
For a long time, he was remembered, if at all, as the first Asian-American player — the first nonwhite player, really — in the N.B.A.
Misaka is Japanese-American, and when he was drafted in 1947 -- after helping lead the Utes to the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT championships -- he became not only the first Asian to enter the NBA (then called the Basketball Association of America), but the first non-white player in the league. He came before Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper and Sweetwater Clifton broke the color barrier for black players.
Wataru Misaka, the first non-white NBA player and like Lin an Asian American, sent the Chinese-American point guard a letter of encouragement.
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