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Don Barksdale (D 1993) was an American professional basketball player. He was a pioneer as an African-American basketball player, becoming the first to be named NCAA All-American, the first to play on a United States men's Olympic basketball team, and the first to play in an National Basketball Association All-Star Game. After college, he played for the Oakland AAU team until the NBA began to integrate. While playing professional basketball, he started a career in radio broadcasting. In 1948, he became the first black radio disc jockey in the San Francisco Bay area. He also worked in television and owned a beer distributorship. He became the first African-American beer distributor and the first African-American television host in the Bay area with a show called Sepia Review on KRON-TV. In 1951, he signed a lucrative contract with the Baltimore Bullets and entered the NBA as a 28-year-old rookie. He would be one of the first African-Americans to play in the NBA after Nathaniel Clifton, Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Hank DeZonie had joined the league in 1950. While with the Bullets, he became the first African-American to appear in an NBA All-Star Game, in 1953. Shortly afterward, he was traded to the Boston Celtics. Two years later, his playing career was cut short by ankle injuries.
Note about his time with the Bittners’ – from the AAUsports.org site -
“Barksdale had been playing basketball with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) on the Oakland Bittners after his time with UCLA. Then, in 1948, Barksdale was given an at-large berth to join the Olympic team, thanks to lobbying by Fred Maggiora. Maggiora was a member of the Olympic Basketball Committee and a politician in Oakland. He had seen Barksdale play and he knew there was no way the Olympic team could leave him behind. Maggiora recalled to Barksdale that some committee members’ response to a black Olympian was “Hell no! That will never happen.”
After the Olympics, Barksdale would return to the AAU Basketball scene and would play four more years with the Oakland Bittners before the NBA lifted their ban on black players. In 1949, the Bittners, led by Don Barksdale, won the AAU National Championship, breaking the Phillips 66ers streak of six consecutive titles. Barksdale would go on to be named an AAU All-American in 1948, 1949, and 1950.”
Offered is an incredibly rare original 8” x 10” photograph in Oakland Bittners uniform stamped on the back March 30, 1949 from Barksdale’s pre-NBA days. Incredible cystal-clear shot dribbling the roundball.
Encapsulated Authentic as a TYPE 1 photo by PSA/DNA
Item: 13733
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