Professional Basketball Player. For seven seasons (1957 to 1963 and 1965 to 1966), he played at the forward and center positions in the National Basketball Association with the Philadelphia Warriors, St. Louis Hawks, Chicago Packers/Zephyrs and Boston Celtics. Raised in California, where he attended Compton High School, he played collegiate basketball at Texas Southern University and established himself as one of the school's all-time leaders on the hardwood. He played for two seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters (1955 to 1957), prior to being selected by Philadelphia during the 8th round of the 1957 NBA Draft. His impact on the league was immediate as he produced 912 points scored which earned him NBA Rookie of the Year honors for the 1957-1958 season. The following season (1958-1959), he yielded a career-high 1,112 points and earned NBA All-Star status. A dispute with St. Louis head coach Harry Gallatin led to his suspension during the 1962-1963 season and after a year of playing in another basketball league (1964), Sauldsberry left the game for a period. From the encouragement of Bill Russell, he returned to the NBA and experienced a world championship with the 1965-1966 title-winning Celtics. In 462 regular season games, he compiled 4,930 points. After retiring from the game, he moved about the country and worked at various jobs including automobile salesman. Sauldsberry became weary of the sport he once starred in and felt animosity due to the negative treatment that black players endured during the 1950s and 1960s. This led to a life of seclusion. He settled in Baltimore and gradually found his way through his personal darkness. In his later years, he suffered from diabetes which resulted in the amputation of a foot. He died in virtual obscurity.