Hall of Fame
A native of Harlem, N.Y., Harkness averaged 21.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game during his three seasons on the varsity squad, helping the Ramblers to a 67-14 (.827) overall record and the 1963 NCAA Championship. A two-time All-American, Harkness was the face of the 1963 team that helped forever change college basketball when it faced Mississippi State in the Game of Change. His pregame handshake with MSU captain Joe Dan Gold is one of college basketball's most indelible images as the game helped change segregation in the South while further integrating college basketball.
Harkness was drafted in the second round of the 1963 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons and played with the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967-69. He then made a successful transition into the business world, where he continued to be a trail blazer, becoming the first African-American salesman for Quaker Oats, the first African-American fundraiser for the United Way of Greater Indianapolis and the first African-American sports anchor at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis.