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Former North Carolina College (now NCCU) guard Harold Hunter passed away Thursday morning. |
When superstar NBA athletes sign big-time contracts these days, they are following a path blazed by a man most of them probably have never heard of. Former North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central) guard Harold Hunter, was the first African-American player to sign an NBA contract and the first African-American to coach the U.S. Olympic basketball team. He passed away Thursday, March 7 at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn at the age of 86.

He also coached the women’s and men’s basketball teams at Xavier, Dillard and Southern universities in New Orleans.
Hunter was inducted into the NCCU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984, and received a Trailblazer Award from the Department of Athletics during NCCU’s Centennial celebration in Dec. 2009.
Hunter was born April 30, 1926, in Kansas City, Kansas.
Details regarding the memorial service are not available at this time.