Zelmo "Big Z" Beaty ( ; October 25, 1939 – August 27, 2013) was an American basketball player. He played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four in the rival American Basketball Association (ABA). A three-time ABA All-Star, Beaty was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2016. Early life Zelmo Beaty Jr. was born on October 25, 1939 in Hillister, Texas, a small town of 250. He attended Scott High School in Woodville, Texas and played for Coach John Payton winning back to back Prairie View Interscholastic League 1A state championships in 1957 & 1958. For college, Beaty attended Prairie View A&M. College Prairie View A&M Panthers "From 1958–1962 at Prairie View A&M Beaty averaged 25 points and 20 rebounds per game and was a two-time first team NAIA All-American (1960 & 1962). The "Big Z" led Prairie View A&M to the NAIA national basketball title in 1962 and was named the Chuck Taylor Tournament MVP." NBA St. Louis Hawks He was selected with the third pick of the 1962 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft by the St. Louis Hawks. Beaty was named to the inaugural NBA All-Rookie Team in 1963. He averaged more than 20 points per game in three different seasons, and over ten rebounds per game in six of his seven seasons with the Hawks. A physical player, Beaty led the NBA in personal fouls in 1962–63 and 1965–66, and tied for the league lead in disqualifications during the 1963–64 season. On December 3, 1967, Beaty scored an NBA career high 42 points in a 123-109 win over the Seattle SuperSonics. During the 1969 NBA Playoffs, the first Hawks postseason in Atlanta, Beaty averaged 22.5 points (his highest NBA playoffs average) and 12.9 rebounds in 11 games before, in a pattern familiar for the 1960s Hawks, they were eliminated in the Western Division Finals, the round before the NBA Finals. During his Hawks tenure, Beaty made two NBA All-Star Game appearances in 1966 and 1968, and helped the Hawks reach the playoffs every season of his tenure. In 1969, Beaty left the NBA to play in the rival American Basketball Association (ABA). ABA Utah Stars Beaty was legally barred from playing in the ABA by a legal injunction from the Hawks during the 1969-70 NBA season. In his first season in the ABA, Beaty led the league