James "Joe" Hamilton Jr. (born July 5, 1948) is an American former 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.

College career

Hamilton played high school basketball at

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...

(

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

) where he was an All-American. He played collegiately at Christian College of the Southwest ( Garland, Texas), where he was a two-time Junior College All American. He was also an alternate on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

team for the 1968 Olympics. He transferred to North Texas State in 1968 and was a two-time All- Missouri Valley Conference Player.

Professional career

Hamilton was selected in the ninth round (152 overall) of the

1970 NBA Draft The 1970 NBA draft was the 24th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 23, 1970, before the 1970–71 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball player ...

by the Milwaukee Bucks. He was also picked in the fourth round of the 1970

American Basketball Association Draft The American Basketball Association draft was held from 1967 to 1975. First overall picks Note: 1974 ABA College Draft, not 1974 ABA Draft of NBA Players Further reading *{{cite book, last=Bradley, first=Robert D., title=The Basketball Draft Fac ...

by the

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and signed with the

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team. He scored 1,318 points in 84 games (15.7 points per game) during the

1970–71 ABA season The 1970–71 ABA season was the fourth season of the American Basketball Association. Notable franchise moves from the previous season included: * The Washington Caps moved to Norfolk, Virginia, became the Virginia Squires and switched divisio ...

and made the ABA All-Rookie team. He stayed with the team for the next three seasons (as it became the Dallas Chaparrals and then San Antonio Spurs). He next played for the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

but was cut 9 games into the 1974–75 season. Though he was contacted by his former Spurs coach

Tom Nissalke Thomas Edward Nissalke (July 7, 1932 – August 22, 2019) was an American professional basketball coach in the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association. He coached several teams in both leagues, and had an overall coa ...

to rejoin the team, Nissalke was fired soon after. He was then offered a minimum salary contract by the

Memphis Sounds The Memphis Sounds were an American professional sports franchise that played in Memphis, Tennessee from 1970 until 1975 as a member of the American Basketball Association. The team was founded as the New Orleans Buccaneers in 1967. Known durin ...

but the ABA veteran turned it down. He instead played for the Munich Eagles of the

European Professional Basketball League The European Professional Basketball League (EPBL) was a professional basketball league held in Europe in 1975. Despite being played in five European countries (Belgium, Israel, Spain, Switzerland and West Germany) it was for the most part owned ...

. Though he was the league top scorer with 24 points per game (along with a league second-best 4 assists), the league folded in April 1975 with Hamilton still owed part of his salary. He was signed by Nissalke, now coach of the Utah Stars, in late 1975 but was traded ten days later to the newly-formed

Baltimore Claws The Baltimore Claws were an American basketball team which was supposed to appear in the 1975–76 season in the American Basketball Association. The team collapsed before the season started, playing only three exhibition games, all losses, in its ...

. The Claws reportedly ran out of money (with Hamilton stating the players "couldn't even get meal money") and folded three days before the

1975–76 ABA season The 1975–76 ABA season was the ninth and final season of the American Basketball Association. The shot clock was changed from 30 to 24 seconds to match the NBA. Dave DeBusschere was the league's new commissioner, its seventh and last. This was a ...

. He returned to the Utah Stars and played the start of the season with them. However the Stars would themselves fold in December 1975. After these bad breaks, Hamilton retired from basketball at 27 to work as district salesman for a basketball shoe manufacturer in Chicago. The married father of two preferred the security of a stable job over an offer to play in the semi-pro Eastern League.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Joe 1948 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Lexington, Kentucky Dallas Chaparrals players Kentucky Colonels players Milwaukee Bucks draft picks North Texas Mean Green men's basketball players San Antonio Spurs players Texas Chaparrals draft picks Texas Chaparrals players Utah Stars players Point guards American expatriate sportspeople in West Germany American expatriate basketball people in Germany Expatriate basketball people in West Germany