Don Barksdale

Oakland-born Don Barksdale was a pioneer–more than once.

He was cut from the Berkeley High School basketball team for three straight years, a victim of the era’s widespread racism: reportedly, the coach didn’t want more than one Black player on his squad.

Barksdale honed his game on playground courts, starred at the College of Marin, and earned a scholarship to UCLA. The 6′ 6″ center became the first Black player to be named a consensus All-American.

In 1948, he was the first Black player ever on a U.S. Olympic basketball team, and then the first Black player to win a gold medal in basketball when the U.S. won at the London Olympics.

Barksdale had an eye on life after basketball, appearing as the Bay Area’s first Black disc jockey in 1948, hosting a show on KLX while playing AAU basketball. When the National Basketball Association integrated, Barksdale signed with the Baltimore Bullets, entering pro basketball as a 28-year-old rookie. Two years later, there was another Barksdale landmark: he became the first Black player to appear in an NBA All-Star Game.

An ankle injury cut Barksdale’s basketball career short, but radio was ready for him. He returned to the Bay Area, taking over the evening hours on Oakland’s KROW. Starting in 1955, he was holding down two airshifts a day on KWBR: middays and late-evening.

“Big Don” stayed aboard when Egmont Sonderling bought KWBR and switched the call letters to KDIA. He parlayed his radio success into other ventures, opening two Oakland nightclubs, the Sportsman’s Club and the Showcase. He remained a popular radio personality through the 1960’s.

In 1983, Barksdale launched the Save High School Sports Foundation, which raised well over a million dollars in an attempt to keep high school sports funded in his hometown.

Don Barksdale died in 1993 at age 69.