Joe Caldwell

Joe Louis Caldwell, born November 1, 1941, was an American professional basketball player whose career spanned both major leagues of his era. One of eleven children, he was born in Texas City, near Houston, Texas, the son of a longshoreman and mechanic and a homemaker. At the age of six he witnessed the 1947 Texas City disaster, in which a docked ship exploded and 581 people were killed; his family was unharmed, but he recalled decades later, "I can still see people flying through the air." At fifteen he moved with his sister to Los Angeles. A late-bloomer as a player, he was courted by John Wooden to play at UCLA but instead attended Arizona State.

In 1964 Caldwell was a member of the United States Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics, finishing as Team USA's fourth-leading scorer. He went on to play six seasons in the National Basketball Association from 1964 to 1970, followed by five seasons in the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1975. Across the two leagues he was named an All-Star four times, earning two selections in each, making him one of the few players to be an All-Star in both the NBA and the ABA.