Walt Bellamy Jr.,(July 24, 1939-November 2, 2013)
1960 Gold Medalist Walt Bellamy Jr.,(July 24, 1939-November 2, 2013 (aged 74) From New Bern, North Carolina.
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He was selected to join others on the USA Basketball team representing the United States at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy.
Team USA dominated the competition - undefeated 8-0 in the tournament - scoring an average of 101 points per game and defeating the opponent by an average 42 points per game.

1960 Gold Medalist Walt Bellamy Jr.,(July 24, 1939-November 2, 2013 (aged 74) From New Bern, North Carolina.
@IrememberOurHistory®
He was selected to join others on the USA Basketball team representing the United States at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy.
Team USA dominated the competition - undefeated 8-0 in the tournament - scoring an average of 101 points per game and defeating the opponent by an average 42 points per game.
Bellamy was the starting center on the gold medal-winning 1960 American basketball team at the 1960 Summer Olympics. 10 of the 12 college players on the undefeated American squad went on to play professionally in the NBA, including fellow Big Ten player Terry Dischinger and fellow future Hall-of-Famers Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry Lucas.
In the top photo, you see Bellamy at the front of the Olympic podium with his team wearing his gold medal. The Soviet Union took silver and Brazil took bronze.
Bellamy learned how to play basketball on the playgrounds in New Bern, then with West Street School and J.T. Barber High School.
By the time he turned 14 years old, Bellamy was already 6-foot-1, but his game was still raw.
J.T. Barber coach Simon Coates taught Bellamy the fundamentals and helped him throughout high school and college.
In his senior year at J.T. Barber High School, Bellamy guided his team to the 1956 football state championship and garnered all-state recognition.
He scored 47 points in a game against Durham in the 1956 state basketball playoffs.
Walt Bellamy Jr. attended the J.T. Barber School in New Bern and upon graduating, went on to play college basketball at Indiana University for the Hoosiers from 1958-1961. Success would continue for this 6’11” star.
He was an All-American in 1960 and 1961, finishing his college career with 1,070 points. He averaged 17.8 rebounds per game as a senior.
@IrememberOurHistory®
“In the summer after my junior year of high school, I played with some guys from Indiana,” Bellamy once told the Bloomington (Ind.) Herald Times.
“Indiana at the time was closest school to the South that would accept African Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make.”
Bellamy graduated from Indiana University with the most school rebounds in a career with 1,087 in only 70 games, or 15.5 per game. He also averaged 20.6 points per game and shot 51.7 percent from the floor for his college career.
As a senior, Bellamy averaged 17.8 rebounds per game (still Indiana's record).
He also holds the school records for most rebounds in a season (649) and most double-doubles in a career (59). In 2000, he was selected to Indiana University's All-Century Team.
In his final college game, he set an Indiana and Big Ten Conference record that still stands with 33 rebounds in an 82–67 win over Michigan. Bellamy was named an All-American in both his junior and senior year (1960 and 1961).
Bellamy was the first Hoosier taken No. 1 in the 1961 NBA draft and the first Hoosier named NBA Rookie of the Year.
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NBA Career
Bellamy had a stellar 14-year career in the NBA, and was the NBA first overall draft pick in 1961. Bellamy was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1962 after having arguably one of the three greatest rookie seasons in NBA history along with Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson.
His 31.6 points per game average that season is second all-time for a rookie to Wilt Chamberlain's 37.6, and the 19 rebounds per game he averaged that season is the third-best all-time rookie mark (to Chamberlain's 27 and Bill Russell's 19.6).
No NBA rookie has since surpassed Bellamy's 973 field goals during the 1961–62 season. Bellamy also led the NBA in field goal percentage in his rookie season, and had a 23-point, 17-rebound performance in the 1962 NBA All-Star Game.
In the 1964–65 season, Bellamy scored 30 points and 37 rebounds in a win against the St. Louis Hawks. His 37 rebounds was his career-high in rebounds. Bellamy played with the Chicago Packers, which became the Baltimore Bullets, for his first four seasons before he was traded to the New York Knicks for Johnny Green, Johnny Egan, Jim Barnes, and cash a few games into the 1965–66 season.
Due to trades to teams with offset game schedules during the 1968–69 season when he was traded (with Howard Komives) from the Knicks to the Detroit Pistons for Dave DeBusschere, Bellamy set a still-standing record for NBA games played in a single season with 88, playing 35 games with the Knicks and 53 with the Pistons. He later played for several seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, and finished his career with the New Orleans Jazz.
Bellamy ended his NBA career with 20,941 points and 14,241 rebounds, and is a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, being inducted in 1993 for his individual career, and in 2010 as a member of the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team.
Personal Life
After his retirement from the NBA, Bellamy was active with the NAACP, the Urban League and the YMCA in the Atlanta area.
He served as a Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Executive Committee of the NAACP's Georgia State Conference.
Bellamy was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
His half-brother is professional boxer Ron Bellamy.
Bellamy died on November 2, 2013, at the age of 74.
He was survived by his wife of 53 years, Helen Hollie Ragland Bellamy, son Derrin Bellamy, and two grandsons.
He was buried at Atlanta's South-View Cemetery.
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Sources: NC Sports Hall of Fame; Image US Olympic Hall of Fame; wikipedia; New Bern Sun Journal obituary article