Lindsay Hairston (born December 8, 1951) is a retired

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

player who spent one season 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 ...

(NBA) as a member of the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

during the 1975–76 season. Born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, Hairston played high school basketball at Kettering High School in Detroit before playing collegiately for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, averging 19.3 ppg and 11.5 rpg in his senior season (1974–75), and was twice named first-team All-Big Ten. Controversially, Hairston was one of a number of black players who walked out on Michigan State coach Gus Ganakas before a key Big Ten game on January 4, 1975 against

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. Ganakas elected to start Jeff Tropf, who was white, 10 black players, led by team captain Hairston, walked out of the team meeting, returned for the game but were then suspended by Ganakas. Michigan State lost the game 107–55 with a patchwork roster that included junior varsity players. Tropf led the team with 21 points. The players would meet with Ganakas the next day, aired a number of grievance, were reinstated after apologizing, and then defeated

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

88–84 the next day. Tropf would transfer to

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan cor ...

at the end of the season. Hairston was selected by the Pistons during the fourth round (64 pick overall) of the

1975 NBA Draft The 1975 NBA draft was the 29th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 29, 1975, before the 1975–76 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players a ...

, spending one season with the hometown NBA team, averaging 5.8 ppg in the 1975-76 Detroit Pistons season. He went on to play in France for several years, winning the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

in 1984 as a member of the team of

Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez Elan Corporation plc was a major drugs firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which had major interests in the United States. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ELN, the Irish Stock Exchange as ELN.I, and the London Stock Exchange as ELN ...

References

External links

Lindsay Hairston
– player profile on cholet-basket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Hairston, Lindsay Living people 1951 births American expatriate basketball people in France American men's basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Cholet Basket players Chorale Roanne Basket players Detroit Pistons draft picks Detroit Pistons players Élan Béarnais players Kettering High School alumni Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players