The 5ft 7in point guard’s career took him from Utah to New York City and a national title. But he was the last person to boast about his achievements
On 24 March 1947, Wataru “Wat” Misaka, a Japanese American walk-on with the University of Utah men’s basketball team, held one of the nation’s best players, Kentucky’s Ralph Beard, to a single point during the NIT championship at Madison Square Garden. Thanks to that performance, Misaka’s team won the tournament 49-45, cementing the 5ft 7in guard’s folk hero status, both in his home state and in the Big Apple. But that wasn’t even the most significant basketball accomplishment on Misaka’s lengthy resume that year. Just a few months later on 1 July, after seeing the talent he displayed at the NIT, Misaka was drafted by the New York Knicks into the fledgling NBA, then known as the BAA. In the process, he broke the NBA’s color barrier the same year that Jackie Robinson did so in Major League Baseball – an achievement Misaka had never strived for (there were other pro leagues in the US at the time, including the PBL, which employed players of color, such as William “Dolly” King).
“That was never something that he aspired to,” says Nancy Misaka of her father’s ambitions. “He never said, ‘Oh, I want to be the first whatever.’ He just enjoyed playing. He wanted to play with friends. I would say it was the team relationships that meant more to him than any kind of accomplishment.”