Walton "Walt" Kirk, Jr. (born September 3, 1924) is a retired American professional basketball player. In four NBL

National Basketball League (United States)

Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League, often abbreviated to NBL, was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later merge with the Basketball Association of America  to form the National Basketball Association  in 1949.- League history :The...

/BAA

Basketball Association of America

The Basketball Association of America was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. The league merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, forming the National Basketball Association ...

/NBA

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 seasons, Kirk played for five different teams: the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets

Indianapolis Jets

The Indianapolis Jets were a Basketball Association of America team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team lasted for one season and was later replaced by a new franchise.-Franchise history:...

, Anderson Packers

Anderson Packers

The Anderson Packers also known as the Anderson Duffy Packers was a professional basketball team based in Anderson, Indiana, in the 1940s and 1950s....

, Tri-Cities Blackhawks and Milwaukee Hawks. In April 1949, while a member of the Jets, Kirk joined former teammates George Glamack

George Glamack

George Gregory Glamack was an American basketball player.The 6'7" giant, during that era, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Glamack, an All-America in 1940 and 1941, was nicknamed the Blind Bomber because of his poor eyesight and remarkably accurate hook shot...

 and Leo Mogus

Leo Mogus

Leo Mogus was an American professional basketball player.A 6'4" forward/center, Mogus played at Youngstown State University from 1939 to 1943, where he scored 1,400 points. Mogus also played football at the school...

 to sue the organization for $4,662.51 each. The three of them had been released from the team and they cited poor management and administration on the part of the Jets as the reasons why they were unable to be retained.

Kirk grew up in Mount Vernon, Illinois

Mount Vernon, Illinois

Mount Vernon is a city located near the center of Jefferson County, Illinois, in the United States. In the 2010 census, the city's reported population was 15,277 people....

 and attended Mount Vernon High School, where he was a second team all-state selection in 1942. He then attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

 where he played basketball. He earned varsity letters in from 1943–44 through 1946–47. In 1944–45, Kirk led the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game while also serving as team captain. He garnered consensus First Team All-American

1945 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

The Consensus 1945 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of four major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Helms Athletic Foundation, Converse, The Sporting News, and Argosy...

 status at the end of the season as well.

Kirk would go on to play professionally after his senior

Senior (education)

Senior is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the 4th year of study .-High school:...

 year of 1947–48. He later coached high school basketball in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.