Barry Howson (born 17 June 1939) is a Canadian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He competed in the men's tournament at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

, and was the first

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...

member of Canada's Olympic basketball team.Norman De Bono
"At long last, Canada's first Black Olympic basketball player gets his due"
''

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

'', February 27, 2024. He was the son of Frank Howson and Christine DeGroat Jenkins; his mother was the publisher of '' The Dawn of Tomorrow'', an important early Black Canadian community newspaper which had been founded by her first husband James Jenkins. He was also the half-brother of broadcaster and activist Kay Livingstone, his mother's daughter with James Jenkins.Eli Yarhi
"Kay Livingstone"
''

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'', March 5, 2019. He attended Sir Adam Beck Secondary School in

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Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, where played on the school basketball team which won the

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provincial basketball championship in 1957. He subsequently attended the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, playing basketball at the university level, before playing at the senior level for the Toronto Dow Kings, who served as Canada's Olympic basketball team in 1964. He subsequently completed a master's in education at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

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, and became a high school teacher and athletics coach in

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in his professional life. Because Canada had simply sent the Toronto Dow Kings to the Olympics rather than organizing an official national team, Howson's status as a pioneering Black athlete was overlooked for many years, with

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incorrectly identifying somebody else as the first Black Canadian basketball player to compete at the Olympics in its

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materials. In February 2024, the error was rectified with the organization presenting him with a trophy and a special framed Olympic jersey to commemorate his achievement.

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* 1939 births Living people Basketball people from Ontario Canadian men's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Canada Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from London, Ontario 1970 FIBA World Championship players Black Canadian basketball players University of Western Ontario alumni {{Canada-basketball-bio-stub