David "Big Dave" DeJernett

David "Big Dave" DeJernett (February 12, 1912 – August 4, 1964) was a pioneer of integration in early basketball in the United States. He is best known for leading the integrated Washington Hatchets to the Indiana state title as a high school junior in the 1929–30 season.

Born in Garfield, Kentucky, on February 12, 1912, DeJernett moved to Indiana as a baby, when his father John DeJernett was recruited to repair extensive flood damage on the B&O track line running from Cincinnati to St Louis. DeJernett attended segregated DunBar Elementary in Washington, Indiana, before entering the public junior high school. The year DeJernett entered seventh grade the school hired Burl Friddle, a Franklin Wonder Fiver, to become the Hatchets' new coach. Friddle later coached the Indianapolis Jets of the NBA.

In 1928 Friddle was impressed by the size and talent of the 6-foot-3, 230-lb DeJernett and put him on the varsity squad. The sixteen-year-old DeJernett posed for studio shots as a team newcomer by flashily palming the basketball, something rarely seen from teens or even pros of that early era. As a sophomore DeJernett steadily improved over the course of the season, and after his Hatchets lost in the 1929 state finals he was named to the All-State team.

In 1930 DeJernett became the first African-American in US history to lead an integrated basketball team to a major tournament championship, as his Hatchets topped an 800-team field by beating the Muncie Central Bearcats 32–21 in the state Final in front of 15,000 screaming fans in Butler Fieldhouse, at the time the largest basketball venue in the USA. Muncie was also led by a black player, Jack Mann, who stood 6-foot-6 but could not outjump DeJernett. DeJernett controlled the center jumps against Mann which contributed largely to the victory. His feat made the nation's newspapers from New York to Nevada—as far away as China DeJernett's picture appeared in Tientsin's North China Star.

Upon winning the state title Friddle accepted a challenge from Coach Jimmy Kitts of the Athens, Texas, Hornets who had won back-to-back National Tournaments in Chicago sponsored by the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. The racial atmosphere was tense in those days. Stagg's tournament only accepted white teams that were either champions or runners-up in their state. Indiana never sent its champions to this 'national' competition. Between the game in which DeJernett's team won the state title and the Athens challenge the infamous Marion lynchings shamed Indiana. The Texans had likely never faced a black opponent on the hardwood prior to meeting DeJernett. DeJernett tied the Hornets' hook-shot-specializing Center Freddie Tompkins for game honors with 11 points as his Hatchets won the "world" title with a thrilling 28–26 victory.

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