SALT LAKE CITY-Per a statement released Thursday, University of Utah men’s basketball legend Wataru “Wat” Misaka passed away at the age of 95 Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
Misaka helped lead the Utes to national championships in 1944 and 1947 and became the first non-Caucasian player to play in the Basketball Association of America (the predecessor to the NBA) in 1947.
Misaka is renowned as “the Jackie Robinson of basketball” and is a 1999 inductee into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame.
He was also enshrined in the University of Utah’s Crimson Club Hall of Fame in 2011.
Misaka was the point guard for the Utes’ 1944 NCAA Tournament championship team (Utah edged Dartmouth 42-40) and the 1947 NIT championship team (the Utes downed Kentucky 49-45).
In between his two seasons of playing for the Utes, he was drafted into the military, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Following his playing career, Misaka was drafted by the New York Knickerbockers in the 1947 BAA Draft with the 43rd overall selection.
As the first player of Japanese descent to play in this association, he competed in three games and scored seven points during the 1947-48 season.
In August 2018, he was honored by his hometown of Ogden with the “Kilowatt Court” at Liberty Park.
He was the subject of the 2008 documentary: “Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story.”
