A Selma native died Monday in Manhattan, New York.

Basketball legend Calvin Ramsey passed away at a rehabilitation center at the age of 81 of cardiac arrest. According to the New York Post, Ramsey was in poor health the last few years of his life.

Ramsey was born in Selma on July 13, 1937, but his family later moved to Harlem, New York.

In Harlem, Ramsey quickly developed into a basketball star as a teenager on the playground courts of the legendary Rucker League during the 1950’s. He earned the reputation of being a big-time performer.

Three of the NBA’s 50 greatest players, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar (then as Lew Alcindor) and Julius “Dr. J” Irving, are among the basketball legends to play in the historic league.

But Ramsey accomplished what neither Hall of Famer did: he remains the only person ever to win Rucker MVP honors at the high school, college and pro level. He’s also in the NYU Athletics and New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

Ramsey added onto his legacy at Madison Square Garden. He played at the Garden for three seasons as a forward at N.Y.U. from 1956 to 1959. Ramsey, who earned a degree at NYU, remains the school’s 12th career scoring leader.

The St. Louis Hawks selected Ramsey in the second round of the 1959 NBA Draft. His pro career, however, was brief: playing a combined 13 games with the Hawks and New York Knicks during the 1959-60 season and the Syracuse Nationals in 1960-61.

I read there were two reasons why Ramsey didn’t succeed in the NBA.

At six-foot-four, Ramsey was considered too small to play forward and not a good enough dribbler to make it as a guard. A knee injury ended his career in the semi-pro league.

Ramsey told Charles Salzberg for the oral history “From Set Shot to Slam Dunk” (1987) that race may have been a factor.

“I’ve been told at the time there was a quota system in the league,” in which teams “may have wanted only two or three blacks,” Ramsey said in the book.

Ramsey became successful behind the scenes and admired in NBA circles beyond New York.

Ramsey was a color analyst for Knicks’ broadcasts from 1972 to 1982 and worked as a community representative in 1991. He was also an assistant basketball coach at N.Y.U. from 1983 until 2018. He was N.Y.U.’s assistant director of community relations for 20 years and received the N.Y.U. President’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2004.

Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan called Ramsey “one of the greatest ambassadors in New York City basketball history.”

The Knicks plan to honor Ramsey at its contest against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sent condolences to Ramsey’s family via Twitter on Monday night.

“From Rucker Park to the Garden, Cal Ramsey was a New York City basketball icon, he was a kind and caring friend who gave so much to the game he loved,” Silver wrote.

Ramsey may not have honed his basketball skills in Selma, I still consider him a pioneer for Queen City hoops.