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John McLendon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John B. McLendon (April 15, 1915 – October 8, 1999) was a former basketball coach. Born in Hiawatha, Kansas, McLendon studied at the University of Kansas in the 1930's where he learned basketball from Dr. James Naismith. He did not play college basketball, however, as the KU varsity team did not accept African Americans at the time. He went onto to become a successful high school and college coach, at schools such as North Carolina College, the Hampton Institute, Tennessee State A&I University, Kentucky State College, and Cleveland State University. He was a three-time winner of the NAIA Coach of the Year award, and won three consecutive NAIA championships at Tennessee State.
McLendon would later coach professionally when George Steinbrenner hired him to be the head coach for the Cleveland Pipers of the American Basketball League 1961-63. McLendon's hiring made history as he became the first ever African American head coach in professional sports. McLendon later went on to coach the American Basketball Association's Denver Rockets.
In 1979, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. The basketball arena at Cleveland State is named after McLendon.
| Preceded by Jim Rodriguez |
Cleveland State Head Men's Basketball Coach 1966 – 1969 |
Succeeded by Ray Dieringer |
| Preceded by Bob Bass |
Denver Rockets Head Coach 1969 |
Succeeded by Joe Belmont |
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