Don Barksdale deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame as a ground breaker, the first-ever African American to be named to an NBA All-Star team and to play on a U.S. Olympic basketball team.
He got those honors because he was flat out good — from college where he was an All-American to his NBA career (cut short by ankle injuries). It was a different era and seemingly a different game in the early 1950s — notice the one-handed set shots — but that doesn’t make him any less one of the better players of his generation and a ground breaker for the NBA.
Thought you might like the video.
