About John Barnhill (basketball)
John Anthony "Rabbit" Barnhill (March 20, 1938 – November 11, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the St. Louis Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Baltimore Bullets and San Diego Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA); and the Indianapolis Pacers and Denver Rockets in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Barnhill attended Tennessee A & I State College (now Tennessee State University) where he was the starting point guard on three consecutive NAIA national men's basketball championship teams from 1956 to 1959, playing under Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach John McClendon. These three teams were collectively inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. He was named to the first or second all-tournament teams in each of those seasons. After graduating college, he played for the Cleveland Pipers, winning championships in the National Industrial Basketball League and the American Basketball League. Barnhill was a member of the Pipers team that defeated the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team, scoring 21 points in the only defeat that team ever suffered. He was also selected to play on an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team that played eight exhibition games in the Soviet Union in 1961. As a professional player, Barnhill played for the 1970 ABA champion Indiana Pacers, and was a member of the Pacers championship team during the 1972 regular season. Barnhill's 1957 TSU Tigers were notable as the first all-black team to win a major American basketball tournament. He was a 3 time NAIA All-American (1957, 1958 and 1959) and helped the Tigers to a 3-year record of 94–8 (.922). Source Career statistics from NBA.com · Basketball Reference Coaching record.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.