Here's another good article from last month, this time from the Sacramento Bee, on Wat Misaka, the first nonwhite player to be drafted -- three years before the first black player -- into what would become the National Basketball Association: Japanese American broke the NBA color line in 1947.
Misaka, now 85, is the subject of the documentary Transcending: The Wat Misaka, directed by Bruce Alan Johnson and Christine Toy Johnson The film is currently making rounds at various film festivals and school and community group screenings.
At 5-foot-7, Misaka made history when he was drafted by the Knicks. He played three regular season games, scored seven points and then was cut. Still, his story is pretty amazing, considering this was just a few years after the end of World War II. His moment in the spotlight was short, but that doesn't make him any less of a pioneer.