John McLendon
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 5, 1915 Hiawatha, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | October 8, 1999 (aged 84) Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S. |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1941–1952 | North Carolina College |
| 1953–1954 | Hampton |
| 1955–1959 | Tennessee A&I |
| 1959–1962 | Cleveland Pipers |
| 1964–1966 | Kentucky State |
| 1966–1969 | Cleveland State |
| 1969 | Denver Rockets |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 3× NAIA Champion (1957–1959) 8× CIAA (1941, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1949–50, 1952) 2× CIAA conference (1946, 1950) | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1979, 2016 | |
| College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 | |
John B. McLendon Jr. (April 5, 1915 – October 8, 1999) was an American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any professional sport. He was a major contributor to the development of modern basketball and coached on both the college and professional levels during his career. He has been enshrined three times in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and also inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.