Baylor's Wainright honors late grandfather, Kansas' first African-American starter
The Baylor guard paid tribute to Maurice King, who played for the Jayhawks in the 1950s
By
Kyle Boone
•
1 min read
Baylor guard Ishmail Wainright sported a custom jersey during Wednesday evening's game against No. 3 Kansas honoring his late grandfather. His grandfather, Maurice King, was the first African-American starter in Kansas basketball history during the 1954 season. So there was no more fitting a place to honor him than at the Allen Fieldhouse. He did so by adding "King" before Wainright's last name on the back of his jersey.
Ishmail Wainright honoring his late grandfather, Maurice King, the first African-American starter in @KUHoops history. #SicKU 🏀 pic.twitter.com/djtUL9Xwqw
— Baylor Basketball (@BaylorMBB) February 2, 2017
King, who was a key figure in KU's one-point loss in the 1957 national championship game, was a teammate of Wilt Chamberlain. He spent four years in Lawrence (from 1953-57) before being selected in the sixth round of the 1957 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. He then spent two years in the Army before playing professionally from 1959-63. King played only one game for the Celtics before joining the Baltimore Bullets in the Eastern Professional Basketball League.
King passed away in 2007.
On Wednesday, Wainright scored 8 points on 3-of-8 shooting and added four steals in the Bears' 73-68 loss to Kansas.
