Harry Haskell "Bucky" Lew (January 4, 1884 – October 22, 1963)
Leo F. Ferris (May 31, 1917 – June 1, 1993)
Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019)
Played for (Lew): Lowell P.A.C. (1902–1903), Haverhill (1903–1905), Peabody (1905–1906), Lowell Five (1905–1926), Springfield (AC) (1906–1907), Brattleboro Athletics (1906–1907), Lowell (1908–1909, 1915–1916)
Managed (Ferris): Founder of Buffalo Bisons (modern Atlanta Hawks) in 1946, NBL vice president (1948-1949), General manager of Syracuse Nationals (1949-1955)
Played for (Misaka): Weber State (1941–1943), Utah (1943–1944, 1946–1947), New York Knicks (1947)
I would like to introduce a pioneers group to the Unsung Hall of Fame, which is meant to honor pioneers that either haven't got their due from a select Hall of Fame (in this case the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame) or folks that don't have enough of a history within a major league to write about for their own entry. In short: guys who played in the way way back*. Born in Massachusetts, Mr. Lew is considered the first black professional basketball player. He apparently started playing basketball from a young age, which included the local YMCA team. As an 18-year-old, he played ball with the Lowell P.A.C. (Pawtucketville Athletic Club) of the New England Professional Basketball League, which occurred after a series of injuries forced his manager to put him on the court on one November 7, 1902. Sure, it was hard to do say, a long-range shot with no backboard or get points at will, but the 5'8 Lew cultivated a fairly lengthy career even with the disbanding of the New England League in 1905 as Lew barnstormed around the region for the next 20 years while running a dry-cleaning business on the side. In the first 50 years of the 20th century, there were opportunities for black men to play in basketball to varying levels of acceptance from teams such as New York Renaissance & Harlem Globetrotters to pioneers like Lew that basically have been forgotten. A biography of him came out in recent years that likely has insight on the man beyond basketball.
Ferris has been continually ignored by the Basketball Hall of Fame despite clear and obvious accomplishments as an executive. The Elmira, New York native co-founded the Buffalo Bisons with Ben Kerner in the National Basketball League in 1946. The Bisons later relocated and rebranded to become the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (as one does when playing in Illinois), then Milwaukee as the Hawks, and, well, St. Louis and Atlanta. Ferris signed Pop Gates, the first black player to play in the league since the 1942-43 season had seen players of all colors due to roster depletion (Dolly King became the second by the Rochester Royals a few days later). Ferris soon became involved in the front office of the NBL, even becoming vice president in 1948 that saw him try to combat the Basketball Association of America. In 1949, he focused his attention at the position of GM for the Syracuse Nationals of the NBL and signed a handful of players that became noted stars such as Dolph Schayes and Al Cervi. On August 3, 1949, the NBL and BAA merged, for which the NBA willfully ignores by pretending the BAA history is what matters to them in anniversaries. Most importantly, Ferris, alongside Nats owner Danny Biasone, devised a way to make games more interesting with: a shot clock (others had ideas of doing a shot clock, most notably Oregon/Yale coach Howard Hobson, and Nats scout Emil Barboni also had a contribution). Yes, until the 1954-55 season, the NBA just let teams...have the ball without any way to stop them besides hoping they missed. The :24 part likely came because of Ferris, who calculated the number of seconds in a 48-minute game (2880) by the average shots seen taken in a game (120). The team went to the Finals three times and won it all in 1955, the year that Ferris had left sports to do real estate. A tough negotiator ignored by the time he died in 1993, the Ferris family still waits for his induction. Biasone got inducted in 2000 for the Hall of Fame with his contributions, even though, you know, it was Ferris who also was there with the idea of the shot clock. At least Syracuse recognizes Ferris in their Hall of Fame and his name (alongside Biasone, Hobson, and Barboni) is also included on the shot clock monument in the city.
Misaka's story is one of perseverance that merits kudos. Born in Ogden in hardship as a second generation Japanese American in the 1920s, he saw discrimination from a young age in his youth that saw him play basketball for Ogden High that won a state championship in 1940. He started his college education in 1941 at Weber College that excelled to win multiple ICAC junior college titles. He was named the 1943 athlete of the year for the college. He then took his studies to Utah in 1943 and his defense (for which he earned the nickname "Kilowatt") soon played key to success. The 1943-44 lost three times in the regular season and were slated to just play in the NIT. They lost in the first round but a stroke of chance (a car accident that saw Arkansas drop out) saw them invited to the NCAA tournament, where they played four days after the NIT loss. In the eight-team tournament, Utah beat Missouri 45-35 and Iowa State 40-31 to get to the championship, where they won 42-40 in overtime at Madison Square Garden over Dartmouth for the NCAA title. He was soon drafted for the war effort and became a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army before the war ended. He returned in 1946 to Utah and in his final season, the Utes beat Kentucky in the 1947 NIT 49-45. Drafted in the 7th round of the BAA draft in 1947 by the New York Knicks, he ended up getting a spot on the team in a historic occasion ignored by basically everyone: the only person of color to play in the BAA (yes, the NBL was considerably less racist, but the NBA is terrible at their own history); in 1950, the NBA had its first black players. Misaka played three games for the Knicks and scored seven points for a crowded team that cut him in mid-season. Rejecting an offer from the Harlem Globetrotters to pursue engineering, Misaka became an electrical engineer in Salt Lake City and had a worthwhile life with a family, a 2009 documentary, a 2022 jersey honoring and various Hall of Fame inductions: Weber State & Utah Crimson Club, and the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. Not bad for a 5'7 guard.
On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome this group to the Hall with a blanket induction.
N O T E S
*There will also be a blanket induction for players/managers of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as well, starting with three folks to be named later. You might recognize that the AAGPBL has its own exhibit in the National Baseball Hall of Fame but, well, this seems like a good time to name some names as well.
