relatively short, he left his mark in the record books on November 13, 1967, when he hit an game-winning buzzer beater to lead the Pacers past the Dallas Chaparrals, 119–118. It was the longest shot in professional basketball until 2001, when Baron Davis hit from to end the third quarter. Harkness' shot remains the longest game-winning shot ever made. Life after basketball Harkness became the first African-American salesman for Quaker Oats. In 1970, Harkness became the first African-American fundraiser in Indianapolis, working for the United Way of Greater Indianapolis. He was Indianapolis' first African-American sportscaster at WTHR (formerly WLWI) in the mid to late 1970s. He also devoted much of his time to civil rights issues. He worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the early 1970s, and he served as executive director of the Indianapolis chapter of 100 Black Men, a national organization dedicated to supporting and training young African American males. Harkness died in Indianapolis on August 24, 2021, at the age of 81. Awards and honors On July 11, 2013, in the Oval Office of the White House, Harkness and former Loyola teammates John Egan, Les Hunter and Ron Miller met with President Barack Obama to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the school's 1963 national championship. To date it remains the only NCAA Division I basketball championship won by a university from the state of Illinois. In September 2013, Harkness and the entire 1963 Loyola Ramblers NCAA Championship basketball team was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. The 1963 Loyola Ramblers were inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in November 2013. In June 2013, Harkness was awarded the Muhammad Ali Athlete Award. He is a member of the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame and the Loyola Athletics Hall of Fame. Notes References Further reading Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 – The Team That Changed the Color of College Basketball by Michael Lenehan, published by Agate Publishing, February 18, 2013. External links Dan Carpenter: Indy's Jerry Harkness lived basketball and history, in black and white 1940 births 2021 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people Activists for African-American civil rights African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York City DeWitt Clinton High School alumni Indiana Pacers players Loyola Ramblers men's basketball players New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players People from