Joe Hamilton (basketball)
Joe "Little Joe" Hamilton (born July 5, 1948) is a retired American basketball player.
Hamilton played high school basketball at Dunbar High School in Lexington, Kentucky.[1] He was an All-American high school basketball player at Dunbar. He played college ball at Christian College of the Southwest, where he was a two-time Junior College All American. He later played college basketball at North Texas State (now the University of North Texas); he was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference Player. Hamilton was also selected as an alternate on the 1968 U.S. Olympics Basketball Team.
After college Hamilton, a 5'10" guard,[1] was selected in the ninth round of the 1970 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks[1] and was also selected in the 1970 ABA Draft by the Texas Chaparrals.[1] Hamilton opted to sign with the Chaparrals and to play in the American Basketball Association.[1]
Hamilton played during the 1970-71 season with the Texas Chaparrals, scoring 1,318 points in 84 games (15.7 points per game)[1] and was named to the 1971 ABA All-Rookie team. The next two seasons saw Hamilton with the Dallas Chaparrals,[1] and he played during the 1973-74 ABA season with the San Antonio Spurs.[1] For the 1974-75 season Hamilton joined the Kentucky Colonels; he played in only 9 games for Kentucky but was a member of the Colonels team that later won the 1975 ABA Championship, though he did not play in the playoffs.[1] Hamilton then finished out his professional career during the 1975-76 season with the Utah Stars.[1]