Wataru 'Wat' Misaka, First Non-White Player in NBA, Dies at 95

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Wataru “Wat” Misaka, the first person of Japanese descent to play in the NBA, died at the age of 95 on Wednesday, the University of Utah announced in a news release Thursday.

Misaka led the school to titles in 1944 and 1947 before being drafted into the Basketball Association of America in 1947, where he became the first non-white player in BAA history.

When the BAA later merged with the National Basketball League to form what is now known as the NBA, Misaka became the first non-white player in league history.

"We are saddened to learn of the passing of Wat Misaka," Utah Director of Athletics Mark Harlan said in a statement." He was a part of the Utah teams that won national championships in the 1940s, but Wat was bigger than the game of basketball, blazing trails into places nobody of his descent had gone before. He was such a kind and thoughtful man and will be missed by so many. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and Utah fans, who all mourn his passing."

Misaka was born in Ogden, Utah in 1923. After leading Utah to a 1944 NCAA tournament title, he went off to World War II as an interpreter in East Asia after the U.S. military dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Misaka was often described as “Hawaiian” to protect him from anti-Japanese sentiment after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Following his service, he returned to Utah, where he again led the Utes to an NIT title. Misaka was then drafted by the New York Knicks in the BAA and made history when the league merged with the NBL in 1949 to form the NBA. Misaka played three career games with New York before being waived.