Thomas Nicholas Meschery ( ; born Tomislav Nikolayevich Meshcheryakov (russian: Томислав Николаевич Мещеряков); October 26, 1938)TOM MESCHERY: THE FIRST RUSSIAN IN THE NBA
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. Born in China, Meschery was a

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

with a 10-year

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 ...

career from 1961 to 1971. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

. He played in the 1963 NBA All-Star Game, making him the first foreign-born NBA player to be selected as an

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of al ...

. The Warriors not only retired his number 14, but also gave him a unique honor by incorporating the number into the team's logo from 1967 till 1974.

Early years

Meschery was born as Tomislav Nikolayevich Meshcheryakov in

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

. His parents were Russian emigrants who fled from the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

in 1917. The Meschery family was later relocated to a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese internment camp near Tokyo during World War II. After the war, Meschery and his parents emigrated to the United States. It was also in this phase of his life where his father renamed the family "Meschery" due to the anti-Communist/anti-Soviet

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

under

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

, and Tomislav Nikolayevich was renamed Thomas Nicholas, which later was abbreviated to Tom. Living in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, Meschery attended Lowell High School. After graduating in 1957, he went to

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a Private college, private Catholic Church, Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college of ...

Moraga Moraga is a List of municipalities in California, town in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The town is named in honor of Joaquín Moraga, member of the famed Californio family. As ...

. Meschery helped Saint Mary's reach the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight in 1959. Two years later, he was chosen as a First Team All-American, and was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1961.

Professional basketball career

Standing 6 ft 6 in, Meschery also was a highly talented basketball player. After graduating from St. Mary's, he was drafted by the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

as the 7th pick overall in the

1961 NBA draft The 1961 NBA draft was the 15th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 27, 1961, before the 1961–62 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball playe ...

. Meschery played alongside legend

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a Center (basketball), center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 yea ...

, to whom he later dedicated a poem. Meschery was the starting forward on the 1961-62 Philadelphia Warriors team in which Chamberlain scored 100 points. Meschery led the NBA in personal fouls in 1962 and he became the first foreign born player to play in an NBA All-Star Game when he played in the 1963 NBA All-Star Game. The following year, Meschery made his first

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

appearance, as the Warriors lost 4-1 to the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

. Chamberlain left the Warriors in 1965, returning to his home town

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, to play with the

76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

. The Warriors however, strengthened by the arrival of

Rick Barry Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (born March 28, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player who starred at the NCAA, American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) levels. Barry ranks among the ...

, made it to the 1967 NBA Finals, in which they lost to Chamberlain's 76ers. After his second NBA Finals appearance, Meschery was selected by the NBA's

during the

1967 NBA Expansion Draft The 1967 NBA Expansion Draft was the third expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 1, 1967, so that the newly founded San Diego Rockets and Seattle SuperSonics could acquire players for the upcoming ...

. In the SuperSonics' inaugural season, Meschery led the team in rebounds (10.2 per game) as well as personal fouls. He retired following the 1970–71 season, having played four seasons for the SuperSonics. After retiring as a player, Meschery became head coach of the ABA's

Carolina Cougars The Carolina Cougars were a basketball franchise in the American Basketball Association that existed from 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Ca ...

, which he guided to a record of 35–49 in the 1971–72 season before being replaced by Larry Brown. Meschery has been inducted into the San Francisco High School Hall of Fame; Saint Mary's College Hall of Fame (his college jersey #31 retired); and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Post-basketball life

Meschery published his first book of poems in 1970, and returned to school after his coaching stint, receiving his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1974. He studied poetry with

Mark Strand Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004 ...

, U.S.

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

, at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. After receiving his teaching credentials at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

, Meschery taught high school English at Earl Wooster High School and Reno High School in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, until his retirement from teaching in 2005. He is also a poet, whose works often relate to basketball, teaching, and being a Russian immigrant. In 2002, Meschery was inducted into th
Nevada Writers Hall of Fame
. Meschery is now living in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

with his wife, artist Melanie Marchant Meschery. His son is

Matthew Meschery Matthew Thomas Meschery Shakey Lo the Creation Kid (born April 12, 1975) is a vocalist and programmer. He is best known for being the original lead vocalist of the California based band OPM. His father is former basketball player Tom Meschery. ...

who is the former lead vocalist of OPM. Meschery continues to write poems, fiction, and essays. He traces his love of writing to his Russian maternal ancestors, Alexei and Leo Tolstoy. Embarking on a new career as a novelist, Meschery has completed three novels in manuscript: Mr. Dolby's Dream, She's Got Game, and The Kid Has Hops and a

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel, also in manuscript, entitled The Society for the Prevention of Bullying. He has two published collections of poetry: ''Nothing We Lose Can Be Replaced'' and ''Some Men and Sweat: New and Selected Poems About Sports''. Meschery and his wife Melanie are presently collaborating on a book of poems and art about saints. His blog 'Meschery's Musings' discusses a variety of controversial subjects relating to sports. Each blog ends with a sports poem. Meschery says he wishes to introduce the public to fine contemporary poems whose subject is sports in the same way

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

makes poetry in general available to his listeners on his morning radio broadcasts.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Works

*''Over the Rim'' (1970), New York: McCall Publishing. *''Caught in the Pivot: a Diary of a Rookie Coach in the Exploding World of Pro Basketball'' (1973). Dell. *''Nothing We Lose Can Be Replaced'' (1999), Black Rock Press, University of Nevada, Reno. *''Some Men'' (2012), Black Rock Press, University of Nevada, Reno. Reno, Nevada. *''Sweat: New and Selected Poems About Sports'' (2015), Black Rock Press, University of Nevada, Reno. Reno, Nevada.

References

External links

Meschery's Musings on Sports, Literature and LifeSt Mary's College Hall of Fame Members
* ttp://guides.library.unr.edu/nvwriters-hall-of-fame/meschery-2002 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meschery, Tom 1938 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American male poets American men's basketball players American people of Russian descent Basketball players from Harbin Basketball players from San Francisco Carolina Cougars coaches Chinese emigrants to the United States Chinese people of Russian descent Continental Basketball Association coaches Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni National Basketball Association All-Stars National Basketball Association players from China National Basketball Association players with retired numbers Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People of Manchukuo Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Philadelphia Warriors players Portland Trail Blazers assistant coaches Power forwards (basketball) Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball players San Francisco Warriors players Seattle SuperSonics expansion draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players