Wee Willie Smith
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "For". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". William T. "Wee Willie" Smith (April 22, 1911 – March 14, 1992) was an American professional basketball player.
Career
Smith played for several semi-professional leagues in the Cleveland, Ohio area before being signed by the New York Renaissance, an all-black professional team, in 1932. From 1932 to 1936, Smith and his six teammates won over 400 games, including an 88-game winning streak from January 1, 1933, to March 27, 1933. The entire 1932–33 Renaissance team was collectively inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1963. Smith played for several other professional teams, including the Cleveland Chase Brassmen of the National Basketball League. He was one of the few black players in the history of the NBL.[1]
After retiring from professional basketball, he worked as a custodian in the Cleveland Public Schools and operated a beverage shop. He was inducted into the Harlem Hall of Fame and the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.[2]
References
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- ↑ Ron Thomas. They Cleared the Lane. Hoopshype. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
- ↑ Wee Willie Smith at Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
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External links
- Pages with script errors
- Basketball players from Montgomery, Alabama
- Basketball players from Cleveland
- Centers (basketball)
- Cleveland Chase Brassmen players
- Dayton Rens players
- New York Renaissance players
- 1911 births
- 1992 deaths
- American men's basketball players
- 20th-century African-American sportsmen
- 20th-century American sportsmen