Lou Hudson, a North Carolina native, was one of the first African-Americans to receive an athletic scholarship to play basketball for the University of Minnesota.
Lou Hudson: Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Class of 2006
Hudson was a Gophers basketball pioneer.
November 19, 2019 at 3:29AM
Hudson along with Archie Clark and Don Yates arrived in 1962 after being offered scholarships by Gophers coach John Kundla.
After playing on the freshmen team in the 1962-63 season, Hudson moved into the Gophers staring lineup as a sophomore in 1963. The 6-foot-5 forward led the Gophers in scoring with an 18.1 points-per-game average. The Gophers finished in third place in the Big Ten with a 10-4 record.
As a junior in the 1964-65 season, he led the Gophers in scoring (23.3 points per game) and helped the Gophers to a second-place finish in the Big Ten. After the season he was named first-team All-Big Ten and honorable mention All-America.
In the fourth game of his senior season, he suffered a broken right wrist. After the injury he played with a cast on his right wrist and shot the ball left-handed. For the season, he averaged 19.8 points per game. He was second team All-Big Ten and third-team All-America.
Following his senior season, Hudson was a first-round draft in the NBA draft. He played 13 seasons in the NBA and was a six-time NBA All-Star.
His college jersey (#14) was retired by the Gophers in 1994 and his NBA jersey (#23) was retired by the Atlanta Hawks.
Hudson is a member of the University of Minnesota's "M" Club Hall of Fame.
Lou Hudson
Class: 2006.
Sport: Basketball.
Teams: Gophers, several NBA teams.
