Jackie M. Fitzpatrick, born on July 14, 1935, was a 6’4″ center, had an impressive high school basketball career at Dunbar High School in Somerset, KY. He was a key member of the 1953 Kentucky High School Athletic League championship team and helped them maintain an undefeated record for the season. The team also placed second in the 1954 National High School Tournament, which took place at Tennessee State University. This tournament showcased some of the best African American high school teams from 17 different states. After graduating from high school, Fitzpatrick continued to play basketball at Knoxville College, a historically Black college in Tennessee. He then joined two American Basketball League teams – the Harlem Globetrotters and Saperstein’s Chicago Majors – as a guard from 1961 to 1963. In recognition of his athletic achievements, Jack Fitzpatrick was inducted into the Dawahares-Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2005.
SOURCE: “Fitzpatrick, Jackie Marcellus “Jack”,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed January 5, 2024, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/187.
