University of Minnesota Athletics
Black History Month: Lou Hudson
2/27/2020 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Gopher Athletics is celebrating those who made us great in honor of Black History Month. We will be highlighting the careers of 20 black, former student-athletes from various sports as they share what Black History Month means to them, their best memories as Gophers, and their advice for current student-athletes. In addition, the legacies of Gopher legends that have passed away will be honored.
Lou Hudson arrived on campus at the University of Minnesota in 1962. Coming from Greensboro, N.C., Hudson moved to Minnesota and onto a campus that was evolving faster than the universities he grew up around. Hudson was not recruited heavily by southern schools, so we found his way to Minnesota where he was one of the first three Black basketball players to receive an athletic scholarship at the University of Minnesota, alongside Archie Clark and Don Yates.Â
Lou Hudson, nicknamed "Sweet Lou", finished his career with 1,329 points, 14th all-time for the Gophers, and was selected as an All-American and All-Big Ten First Team selection in 1965. His No. 14 jersey was retired in 1994.Â
Segregation in southern schools made it more difficult for Lou Hudson to gain the attention of big time coaches. According to Irwin Smallwood, a local sports reporter in the Greensboro, N.C., area, most papers did not cover the Black high schools at the time. While southern schools were not ready to take a chance on a talented, Black player like Hudson, Minn., was.Â
In a 1994 interview, Hudson said, "I was 17 when I got to Minnesota. I had been out of high school less than a week. Clark and Yates did not arrive until later in the summer. It was amazing, for a kid who had lived with segregation in North Carolina, to be on that campus [in Minneapolis]."
After his career with the Gophers, Hudson was picked fourth-overall in the 1966 NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks, eventually compiling a 13-year career in the NBA. A six-time All-Star, he amassed nearly 18,000 career points and finished 12th in the league's all-time scoring list upon his retirement. After playing 11 seasons with the Hawks, Hudson's number 23 is one of just three retired Hawks jerseys. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Today, we honor and remember Lou Hudson as a tremendous basketball player for the Gophers and as a trailblazer for all black student-athletes that came after him.
Black History Home
Lou Hudson arrived on campus at the University of Minnesota in 1962. Coming from Greensboro, N.C., Hudson moved to Minnesota and onto a campus that was evolving faster than the universities he grew up around. Hudson was not recruited heavily by southern schools, so we found his way to Minnesota where he was one of the first three Black basketball players to receive an athletic scholarship at the University of Minnesota, alongside Archie Clark and Don Yates.Â
Lou Hudson, nicknamed "Sweet Lou", finished his career with 1,329 points, 14th all-time for the Gophers, and was selected as an All-American and All-Big Ten First Team selection in 1965. His No. 14 jersey was retired in 1994.Â
Segregation in southern schools made it more difficult for Lou Hudson to gain the attention of big time coaches. According to Irwin Smallwood, a local sports reporter in the Greensboro, N.C., area, most papers did not cover the Black high schools at the time. While southern schools were not ready to take a chance on a talented, Black player like Hudson, Minn., was.Â
In a 1994 interview, Hudson said, "I was 17 when I got to Minnesota. I had been out of high school less than a week. Clark and Yates did not arrive until later in the summer. It was amazing, for a kid who had lived with segregation in North Carolina, to be on that campus [in Minneapolis]."
After his career with the Gophers, Hudson was picked fourth-overall in the 1966 NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks, eventually compiling a 13-year career in the NBA. A six-time All-Star, he amassed nearly 18,000 career points and finished 12th in the league's all-time scoring list upon his retirement. After playing 11 seasons with the Hawks, Hudson's number 23 is one of just three retired Hawks jerseys. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Today, we honor and remember Lou Hudson as a tremendous basketball player for the Gophers and as a trailblazer for all black student-athletes that came after him.
Black History Home
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