Leland Mitchell

Infobox NBA Player
name = Leland Mitchell


caption =
position = Guard
nickname =
height_ft = 6
height_in = 4
weight_lb = 210
league = American Basketball Association
team =
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1941|2|22
birth_place = Kiln, Mississippi
college = Mississippi State University
highschool =
draft = 2nd round, 6th pick,
draft_year = 1963
draft_team = St. Louis Hawks
career_start = 1967
career_end = 1968
former_teams = New Orleans Jazz
awards =

Leland Mitchell (born February 22, 1941 in Kiln, Mississippi) is a retired American basketball player.

College

A 6'4" guard, Mitchell played at Mississippi State University under Babe McCarthy during the early 1960s. He was an All-Southeastern Conference honoree in 1963, a season in which Mississppi State lost to eventual champion Loyola University Chicago in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. [Jim Mashek. "History on the Hardwood: McCarthy, State made statement in 1963". "The Sun Herald". 20 March 2003.]

MSU's appearance in the tournament was controversial in their home state. To that point, MSU's all-white teams had only played against other all-white teams, but the NCAA Tournament was open to integrated teams, including Loyola, which fielded four black starters. [Henry Goolsby. "Top Ten Sports Stories of the Century". "The Clarion-Ledger". 29 December 1999.] The school had to sneak out of town to reach the tournament, since an unwritten Mississippi law prevented racial integration on the basketball court. Mitchell later said, "We wanted to play. We had just won the SEC championship for the third year in a row and we hadn't been allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament the past two years. For us, the biggest thing was getting the opportunity to play in the tournament because it was something we felt we deserved." [Slim Smith. "Remembering '63". "The Sun Herald". 30 March 1996.] He also noted, "It was much more than a basketball game. We were making history. We were ambassadors for the south, though none of us realized it at the time". [Russell J. Henderson. "The 1963 Mississippi State University Basketball Controversy and the Repeal of the Unwritten Law: 'Something more than the game will be lost'. "The Journal of Southern History", Vol. 63, No. 4. (Nov. 1967).]

In the regional semifinal, Mitchell had 14 points and 11 rebounds against Loyola before fouling out with over six minutes left. The "Chicago Tribune" identified Mitchell's absence down the stretch as the key to Loyola's victory, noting, "Mitchell was a great performer and the only southerner who could rebound with [Loyola] ." ["The Story of the Game". "Chicago Tribune". 16 March 1963.] Mitchell was later named to the All-Tournament Team, along with Jerry Harkness of Loyola, Dave Downey of Illinois, Howard Komives of Bowling Green State University, and Nate Thurmond, also of Bowling Green. [Roy Damer. "Harkness Meets Most Valuable". "Chicago Tribune". 18 March 1963.]

Professional career

Mitchell was later selected by the St. Louis Hawks in the second round of the 1963 NBA Draft. He never played for the Hawks, but spent the 1967-68 season in the American Basketball Association as a member of the New Orleans Buccaneers, who had hired Babe McCarthy as their coach. In 78 games, he averaged 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds. [basketball-reference. Retrieved 8 December 2007.] [Jimmy Smith. "Buc's coach prided himself on being fair". "The Times-Picayune". 14 June 1998.]

Notes