Destiny is a funny thing. No matter how circumstances may try to impact it, destiny...happens. Take the case of Hall of Famer basketball player Don Barksdale.
While growing up in Oakland California, Barksdale did not make his varsity basketball team at Berkley High School because his high school coach said that the quota of one black player on the team had been met.
After graduation, he played pick-up basketball and was discovered by junior college Marin Junior College in San Francisco. That led to him getting a scholarship at UCLA. Entering his senior season, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to play. Then he got a visit from an Bruin alum. You may recognize the name: Jackie Robinson. "He told me I might have to go through the same thing [he did],'' Barksdale said in 1991. "It was Jackie who convinced me I could take whatever they had to dish out. I could take it so long as I could play.''
The 6' - 6" center led UCLA to the Pacific Coast Conference Championship. That same year (1947), he became the first African-American to become a consensus All-American.
For you sports readers with eagle eyes, 1947 was a notable year in sports for other reasons.
The following year, Barksdale became the first African-American to make an Olympic basketball roster. That team won the gold in London. Barksdale spoke about hard it was to roster...for the wrong reasons:
"This guy fought, fought and fought", Barksdale said, "and I think finally the coach of the Phillips 66ers Omar Browning said, 'That son of a bitch is the best basketball player in the country outside of Bob Kurland, so I don't know how we can turn him down.' So they picked me, but Maggiora said he went through holy hell for it – closed-door meetings and begging."
As the commercial goes, but wait, there's more. As a member of the Baltimore Bullets, he became the first African-American to play in the NBA All-Star Game. For his career, he averaged 11 points and eight rebounds.
So destiny is like the words of one of my rap tunes...love it, hate it but you can't ignore it.
