Harold Hunter

Who was Harold Hunter?

Harold Hunter was an American basketball coach and player. On April 26, 1950, Hunter became the first African American to sign a professional contract with any National Basketball Association team when he signed with the Washington Capitols. He was cut from the Washington Capitols during the team's training camp and never played for an NBA team. He later coached basketball for the United States men's national basketball team and Tennessee State University and the U.S. Olympic basketball team.

Hunter was born on April 30, 1926, in Kansas City, Kansas. He graduated from Sumner High School, now known as Sumner Academy of Arts & Science, in 1944. The school, which had a top ten national ranking in science at the time, was the only all-black high school left in the city at the time. In 2000, a group of Sumner alumni published a book on the history of the school, "The Sumner Story," which focused on Hunter's career.

Hunter played as a guard for North Carolina College, now known as present-day North Carolina Central University, in Durham, North Carolina. He is credited with helping the North Carolina Central men's basketball team win the 1950 Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament championship. He was named the most valuable player of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament, also in 1950. North Carolina Central University later inducted Hunter into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.