Harthorne Nathaniel Wingo (October 9, 1947 – January 23, 2021) was an American professional

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.

Early life and career

A 6'6"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

born in

Tryon, North Carolina Tryon is a town in Polk County, on the southwestern border of North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,646. Located in the escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, today the area is affluent and a center f ...

and from

Friendship Junior College Friendship College was a college in Rock Hill, South Carolina that was established in 1891. One basketball player from the school, Harthorne Wingo, played in the NBA and was an NBA Finals champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'' ...

, Wingo (also known as "Wingo Harthorne") played four seasons (

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

–

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

) in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

as a member of the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

. He averaged 4.8 points and 3.5

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

in his career and won a league championship in 1973. After the 1975-76 season he moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and played with

Pallacanestro Cantu Pallacanestro is the Italian word for basketball. It can refer to the following basketball clubs: * A.S. Junior Pallacanestro Casale * Associazione Pallacanestro Udinese *Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino *Nuova Pallacanestro Gorizia * Nuova Pallacanes ...

(1976–1978), with whom he won the European Cup Winner's Cup twice, and Superga

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...

(1978–1980). He died in New York City in 2021 at the age of 73.Harthorne Wingo, Polk County's only NBA player, passes away at 73
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Notes

External links

* 1947 births 2021 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball players Allentown Jets players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basket Mestre 1958 players Basketball players from North Carolina Junior college men's basketball players in the United States New York Knicks players Pallacanestro Cantù players People from Tryon, North Carolina Power forwards (basketball) Undrafted National Basketball Association players {{1940s-US-basketball-bio-stub