SALT LAKE CITY-Monday, the University of Utah athletics department announced the jersey retirement ceremony for Wat Misaka will occur January 22 as the Utes host USC at the Huntsman Center.

Misaka is noteworthy in basketball history as he became the first non-Caucasian player in the Basketball Association of America (the predecessor to the NBA) in 1947 when he played for the New York Knicks in 1947.

Misaka led the Utes to the 1944 NCAA championship and the 1947 NIT championship and was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

This will be a posthumous honor for Misaka as he passed away November 20, 2019 at the age of 95 in Salt Lake City.