Wataru Misaka

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Wataru Misaka

A young Wataru Misaka
No. 15
Point guard
Personal information
Born December 21, 1923 (1923-12-21) (age 88)
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

[edit] 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] in the American occupation of Japan.[3]

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 being cut from the team because, Misaka believes, the Knicks had too many guards.[4][3] He received a degree in engineering from Utah ("The salary for a rookie and the salary for starting engineer weren't much different", Misaka recalled) and joined a Salt Lake City company. He and his wife, Kate, have two children.[3] Misaka was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.[5]

A documentary film, Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story, by Bruce Alan Johnson and Christine Toy Johnson[6] premiered in 2008.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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." 
  2. ^ "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. 
  3. ^ a b c Wertheim, Jon (2012-02-11). "Decades before Lin's rise, Misaka made history for Asian-Americans". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/jon_wertheim/02/11/jeremy.lin.wataru.misaka/index.html. Retrieved February 11, 2012. 
  4. ^ 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. 
  5. ^ Chappell, Bill (2012-02-15). "Pro Basketball's First Asian-American Player Looks At Lin, And Applauds". NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/02/15/146888834/pro-basketballs-first-asian-american-player-looks-at-lin-and-applauds. Retrieved February 15, 2012. 
  6. ^ 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]

[edit] External links


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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wataru_Misaka&oldid=480196588"
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