John Austin - Boston College Athletics

THE AUSTIN FILE

Boston College Class of 1966
Men's Basketball • Guard
Washington, D.C. • DeMatha Catholic

John Austin was a trailblazer, a program-changer. First he transformed DeMatha, a Catholic high school in his hometown of D.C., into a powerhouse program with back-to-back conference titles in 1961 and 1962. After playing on the freshman team at Boston College, he moved into the starting lineup for head coach Bob Cousy’s squad and was the best player on the floor, night-in and night-out, for three years as the most prolific scorer the Eagles have ever had.

Austin broke barriers at both schools as the first African-American in either program’s history. At DeMatha, he opened doors for many, including Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley, gold medal Olympian Kenny Carr, NCAA champion Sidney Lowe, ACC Player of the Year Joseph Forte, current NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo and dozens of other African-American ballplayers.

In his three varsity seasons on the Heights, Austin amassed 1,845 career points; graduating in 1966 as the program’s all-time leading scorer. He still ranks ninth all-time at BC with a 27.1 per game average, which remains the highest in program history, while he also holds the top three sports for single-season scoring. The African-American to play for the Eagles, he helped pave the way for future BC legends such as Danya Abrams, Dana Barros, Troy Bell, Jared Dudley, Tyrese Rice, Craig Smith and so many others.

“John Jones was a high school teammate of John Austin and was also the recreation director at Marie H. Reed elementary school when I was growing up. He always used to talk about how great a player John Austin was when they were teammates at DeMatha.
“John Austin, I believe, was the first African-American player from D.C. to go to DeMatha. Those sorts of legacies are the ones that inspire all of the young kids from D.C. to follow in the footsteps of those who came before us. John Austin was one of those greats we all looked up to.”

Chris Cheeks, BC Assistant Men's Basketball Coach (2018-pres.)

John Austin: By The Numbers

1,845

Career Points
(Ninth all-time at BC - graduated as program leader)

27.1

Career Points Per Game
(Ninth all-time at BC - graduated as program leader)

2x

All-American
(1965-USBWA [1st], AP [3rd], NABC [3rd]; 1966-NABC [2nd], USBWA [2nd])