Lou Hudson elected to Basketball HOF!

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Honestly, I thought he was already in many years ago.
 


A great player when so many universities would not recruit black players, especially from the south. Hudson, Archie Clark, and Don Yates we’re trail blazers and put UMN on the basketball map. Clark played at a high level in the NBA for the LA Lakers. Not sure what happened to Yates.
 

I was a kid on the prairie listening to gopher basketball games on Scratchy radio that faded in and out depending on weather conditions. I thought I remembered him breaking his shooting hand so checked out his bio. His senior season year he broke his right hand, missed seven games, and came back shooting left-handed and still averaged 19 points per game. His bio also said he and Archie Clark were the first black players for the U. All amazing stuff in hindsight.
 


The prez sez said:
I was a kid on the prairie listening to gopher basketball games on Scratchy radio that faded in and out depending on weather conditions. I thought I remembered him breaking his shooting hand so checked out his bio. His senior season year he broke his right hand, missed seven games, and came back shooting left-handed and still averaged 19 points per game. His bio also said he and Archie Clark were the first black players for the U. All amazing stuff in hindsight.
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Lou was my favorite player as a kid! Saw him play with the cast on his hand several games. Loved that team. My brother scrimmaged with those guys daily as he played on the freshman team. Went to several practices and watched my brother scrimmage with those guys! Didn't Don Yates have grade problems that year?
 


Bobek said:
A great player when so many universities would not recruit black players, especially from the south. Hudson, Archie Clark, and Don Yates we’re trail blazers and put UMN on the basketball map. Clark played at a high level in the NBA for the LA Lakers. Not sure what happened to Yates.
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Yates was interviewed back in 2011 when he was elected into the Fayette County Sports hall of fame. He followed former to Uniontown High School students Sandy Stephens and Bill Munsey to Minnesota.

The article give a summary of his career after playing for the Gophers. He also talked about his regret in being ineligible his senior year.

Minnesota was building a pretty strong team and the trio of Clark, Hudson and Yates helped the Gophers to a third place Big Ten finish in 1963-64 and a second place finish in 1964-65.


"I think we were ranked number two in the country for awhile my junior season," Yates recalled. "I had several complications with my grades and I was young and stupid and I didn't get my honor points during the summer and I couldn't play my senior year. I was so immature with respect to what I really wanted to do and being away from home I didn't have a mentor to guide me through - I truly, truly regret it."
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Sweet Lou is still my all time Gopher fav. Top 10 all NBA scorer when he retired. Saw him at The Barn against NW as a young lad.

At the time I had no idea Hudson, Clark & Yates were first blacks at the U. (Actually
I believe there was a black player on the team around 1900 or so). Nor did I know that Sandy Stephens, Judge Dickson & Aaron Brown(?) were doing the same for Murray Warmath.
 



A favorite of mine growing up - I was lucky enough to be at the game when either Lou was inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame in 1991 or when his jersey was retired in 1994 (can't remember which one). Ray Christensen provided the introduction (and, as expected, did a wonderful job).

Lou is one of the few basketball Gophers to letter in an additional sport (track). I can think of two others - Bud Grant and Dave Winfield - but sure there must be more.
 

cemba99 said:
A favorite of mine growing up - I was lucky enough to be at the game when either Lou was inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame in 1991 or when his jersey was retired in 1994 (can't remember which one). Ray Christensen provided the introduction (and, as expected, did a wonderful job).

Lou is one of the few basketball Gophers to letter in an additional sport (track). I can think of two others - Bud Grant and Dave Winfield - but sure there must be more.
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Ken Yackel lettered in three sports, Hockey (3 times), baseball (3 times), and football (twice) during the mid-fifties. I remember seeing him play semi-Pro hockey for the Minneapolis Millers. He was one tough dude.
 

cemba99 said:
A favorite of mine growing up - I was lucky enough to be at the game when either Lou was inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame in 1991 or when his jersey was retired in 1994 (can't remember which one). Ray Christensen provided the introduction (and, as expected, did a wonderful job).

Lou is one of the few basketball Gophers to letter in an additional sport (track). I can think of two others - Bud Grant and Dave Winfield - but sure there must be more.
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A few more off the top of my head that lettered in basketball and at least one other sport:

Tony Dungy
Charlie Sanders
Archie Clark (baseball)
There was a PG in the Monson (or early Tubby era) that also played football. I think this lasted a year, he wasn't that good at either.
Barry Wohler


Go Gophers!!
 




Well deserved.
1966 draft is interesting. Lou has the highest Win Shares by a good margin of all the drafted players.
Archie was obviously drafted too low.
www.basketball-reference.com

1966 NBA Draft | Basketball-Reference.com

Checkout the summary for NBA 1966 Draft with Round by Round selections and more on Basketball-Reference.com
www.basketball-reference.com www.basketball-reference.com

To add to the former basketball players that played another sport, Bill Davis.
Think he was more of a baseball player that played basketball also. Averaged a double double his senior year for the U and helped lead them to the national title in baseball in '64. Ended up in the major leagues.
 


BleedGopher said:
A few more off the top of my head that lettered in basketball and at least one other sport:

Tony Dungy
Charlie Sanders
Archie Clark (baseball)
There was a PG in the Monson (or early Tubby era) that also played football. I think this lasted a year, he wasn't that good at either.
Barry Wohler


Go Gophers!!
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Was looking something up and stumbled upon it. Bryant Allen.
Sophomore Bryant Allen, a wide receiver on the Gophers' football team, along with freshmen guards Maverick Ahamisi and Gerald "Chip" Armelin will also factor into the mix and look to add depth to the backcourt. Allen will join the team at the conclusion of the football season as he did last January. A high school finalist for Mr. Basketball in Missouri, Allen averaged 2.4 minutes per game and went 2 of 4 from three in his first season.
 

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