1. Wataru Misaka was an American professional basketball player.
31 Facts About Wat Misaka
1. 2.
The National Basketball Association, which was created in 1949 with the merger of the BAA and the NBL, later adopted the BAA's history and thus considers Misaka to be the first non-white player of the league.
3.
Wat Misaka played college basketball for the Utah Utes and led the team to win the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT championships.
4.
Wat Misaka took a two-year hiatus between these titles to serve in the United States Army in the American occupation of Japan.
5.
Wat Misaka was born a Nisei in Ogden, Utah, to Tatsuyo and Fusaichi Wat Misaka.
6.
Wat Misaka grew up poor with his two younger brothers.
7.
Wat Misaka's family lived in the basement of his father's barber shop between a bar and a pawn shop in a bad area on 25th Street, which was rife with prostitution.
8.
Wat Misaka was raised in an era of "virtual apartheid", wrote University of Utah magazine Continuum.
9.
Wat Misaka was not served in restaurants because of his ethnicity, and neighbors would cross the street to steer clear of him.
10.
When his mother tried to encourage the family to move back to Hiroshima, Wat Misaka declined and decided to stay in Utah in spite of all the discriminations.
11.
Wat Misaka attended Ogden High School, where he led the basketball team to a state championship title in 1940 and a regional championship title in 1941.
12.
Wat Misaka attended Weber College, where he helped lead its basketball team to two championships.
13.
Wat Misaka was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1942 junior college postseason tournament and, in 1943, he was named the Weber College athlete of the year.
14.
Wat Misaka subsequently enrolled at the University of Utah and joined their Utes basketball team.
15.
Wat Misaka was later drafted for World War II and rose to the rank of staff sergeant.
16.
Wat Misaka held Wildcats All-American guard Ralph Beard to a single point.
17.
Japan was at war against the United States, and Wat Misaka became a target.
18.
Wat Misaka was selected by the New York Knicks in the 1947 BAA Draft.
19.
Wat Misaka debuted as the first non-Caucasian player in the BAA in 1947, the same year that Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line.
20.
Wat Misaka believed he was cut because the Knicks had too many guards.
21.
Wat Misaka said he did not feel any discrimination from teammates or opposing players during his time with the Knicks, but he did not mingle with everyone.
22.
Wat Misaka declined an offer to play with the Harlem Globetrotters, and he returned home to earn a degree in engineering from Utah.
23.
Wat Misaka then joined a company in Salt Lake City as an electrical engineer.
24.
Wat Misaka died at the age of 95 on November 20,2019, in Salt Lake City.
25.
Wat Misaka went on to pursue bowling after his basketball career ended, notably hitting a near-perfect 299 game at the age of 80.
26.
Wat Misaka won the NCAA tournament during a time of strong anti-Japanese sentiment.
27.
Wat Misaka was relentless in his pursuit of team success and helped the Utah Utes become one of the great Cinderella teams in college basketball history.
28.
In 2012, Wat Misaka attended a Knicks game, this time as a fan, and reflected on Lin's rise to stardom.
29.
Wat Misaka was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
30.
In 2000, Wat Misaka was featured in a landmark exhibit, More Than a Game: Sport in the Japanese American Community, at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.
31.
In 1997 Wat Misaka was inducted into the Japanese American National Bowling Hall of Fame.