Birthdate: October 30, 1929
Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio
High School: Wilbur Wright HS (1947)
College: University of Dayton (1952)
Died: September 3, 2013
Year Inducted: 2008

Don Meineke was the foremost player in lifting the University of Dayton to national prominence in the early 1950s. A graduate of Wilbur Wright High School, he played on three Dayton teams (1949-52) that averaged 26 victories. The 6-foot-7 center scored 1,866 points, which still ranks fifth in school history, and scored 49 points in one game. He averaged 16.5 points as a sophomore, 20.6 as a junior and 21.1 as a senior. He led the Flyers to back-to-back NIT championship games in 1951 and 1952. As a junior he led the nation in field goal percentage with a .512 mark. Drafted by the Fort Wayne Pistons, he won the NBA’s first rookie of the year award in 1953. He also played for Rochester and Cincinnati in a five-year NBA career.

Don Meineke died on September 3, 2013 at the age of 83.