Ralph Albert Hamilton (June 10, 1921 – June 5, 1983) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played for the

Fort Wayne Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at ...

and

Indianapolis Jets The Indianapolis Jets were a Basketball Association of America (BAA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded as the Indianapolis Kautskys and used that name until the team joined the BAA. They played for one year in the BAA and then ceased o ...

of the National Basketball League and the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball Lea ...

(BAA), precursors to the modern day

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). Hamilton was traded by the Pistons to the Jets in December 1948. Hamilton, a native of

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, played collegiately at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

in Bloomington. He played for the Hoosiers in 1941–42 and 1942–43 (his

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and junior years, respectively) but then served in the

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for three years during the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. When he came back as a 25-year-old

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 1946–47, he served as team captain and led them in scoring, was named First Team All-

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and was dubbed a consensus First Team All-American. He also scored nearly 1,000 points during his staggered college career. Hamilton died in 1983 just shy of his 62nd birthday.

BAA career statistics

Regular season

References

External links

Photo of Ralph Hamilton
1921 births 1983 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons players Fort Wayne Pistons players Forwards (basketball) Guards (basketball) Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Indianapolis Jets players Undrafted NBA players United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American sportsmen {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub