Walt Bellamy - College Career

College Career

Bellamy chose to play basketball at Indiana University, despite the fact that African-American players were still rare in college basketball at the time. "In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana," he said. "Indiana at the time was the closest school to the South that would accept African-Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make. Not that I was naive to what was going on in Bloomington in terms of the times, but it didn't translate to the athletic department or the classroom. Every relationship was good."

Bellamy graduated from Indiana University with the most rebounds in a career with 1,088 in only 70 games, while averaging 15.5 a game. Averaging 20.5 points a game and shooting 51.7 percent from the floor, Bellamy also averaged 17.8 rebounds a game (still Indiana's record). He also holds the school records for most rebounds in a season (649), most rebounds in a single game (33), most double-doubles in a career (59), most rebounds in a three-year career (1,008). In 2000 he was selected to Indiana University's All-Century Team.

In his final college game, he set Indiana and Big Ten Conference records that still stand with 33 rebounds (and 28 points) 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 fist Hoosier taken No. 1 in the NBA draft and the first Hoosier named NBA Rookie of the Year.