Bill Garrett (basketball)

For other people named William Garrett, see William Garrett (disambiguation).

William Leon Garrett (April 4, 1929 – August 7, 1974) was the first African-American basketball player in the Big Ten athletic conference.

Born in Shelbyville, Indiana, he was Indiana Mr. Basketball in 1947, the year he graduated from Shelbyville High School, following Shelbyville's victory in the state tournament that year. At Indiana University, he became the first African-American to play on the school's varsity men's basketball team and also the first African-American to regularly start on a Big Ten team. He was All-American when he graduated in 1951. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the draft, becoming the third black player ever drafted by an NBA team.

Shortly thereafter, Garrett was called into military duty. After two years in the U.S. Army, Garrett returned home to find that he had been cut from the Celtics and began playing with the Harlem Globetrotters. Following his stint with the Globetrotters, he began teaching and coaching basketball at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis.

He was assistant dean for student services at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis at the time of his death from a heart attack, aged 45. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Garrett was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1974.

References

Tom Graham and Rachel Cody Graham, Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball, New York: Atria Books, 2006. ISBN 0-7434-7903-3

Hetty Gray, Net Prophet: The Bill Garrett Story, Fairland, Indiana: Sugar Creek Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-9712571-0-8

External links

1951 NCAA Men's Basketball Consensus All-Americans

First Team	Clyde Lovellette Gene Melchiorre Bill Mlkvy Sam Ranzino Bill Spivey

Second Team	Ernie Barrett Bill Garrett Dick Groat Mel Hutchins Gale McArthur

1951 NBA Draft

Territorial pick	Myer Skoog

First round	Gene Melchiorre · Mel Hutchins · Marc Freiberger · Zeke Sinicola · John McConathy · Ed Smith · Ernie Barrett · Sam Ranzino · Don Sunderlage

Second round	Jack Stone · Bill Gossett · Scotty Steagall · Jack Kiley · Don Savage · Roland Minson · Bill Garrett · Ray Ragelis · Mel Payton · Lew Hitch

Associated Press Indiana All-Century high school basketball team

Steve Alford Damon Bailey Kent Benson Larry Bird Hallie Bryant Mike Conley Bill Garrett Terry Dischinger Eric Gordon Billy Keller Clyde Lovellette George McGinnis Rick Mount Greg Oden Bobby Plump Zach Randolph Jimmy Rayl Oscar Robertson Glenn Robinson Scott Skiles Homer Stonebraker Deshaun Thomas Clay Trainum Dick Van Arsdale Tom Van Arsdale John Wooden Fuzzy Vandivier

source: [1]

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Name	Garrett, Bill
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Date of birth	April 4, 1929
Place of birth
Date of death	August 7, 1974
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