Boid Buie (1922–1996)

Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) native Boid Buie achieved renown as the only one-armed athlete to compete in professional basketball.

Boid Buie was born on July 19, 1922, in Pine Bluff to John Buie and Maggie Teasley Buie and grew up in the areas of Tillar (Drew and Desha counties) and Portland (Ashley County). At age thirteen, the promising young athlete was severely injured in a near-fatal car accident, losing much of his left arm. As far as sports were concerned, Buie had to relearn everything.

He played basketball at St. Peter’s Catholic School and J. C. Corbin High School in Pine Bluff. By high school, he had learned to overcome his physical challenge and had become a star basketball player. During his senior season, his team won the Arkansas Negro State Championship.

Buie had attracted the attention of professional basketball scouts, and after graduation he was offered a contract with the famous Harlem Globetrotters. Cherishing an education, he declined the professional offer to instead pursue a college degree. Buie briefly attended Arkansas AM&N (present-day University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) before enrolling at Tennessee A&I College (present-day Tennessee State University, TSU) in Nashville. He was successful both in the classroom and on the basketball court. Buie was team captain his senior year when his team won the Negro National Championship.

Buie attended college year-round and earned a BS, with a minor in physical education, in three years. He helped finance his education by working as a barber.

After graduation from college in 1946, he finally signed a contract to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. Buie, who was billed as the “One Armed Wonder” and “One Armed Firecracker,” was known for his handling skills and scoring. Before Buie left the Globetrotters after the 1953 season, he had visited sixty-one countries. Buie also briefly pitched for the Globetrotters baseball team in 1948.

After leaving the Globetrotters, he toured with other teams such as the Harlem Magicians. By the 1950s, he had created his own touring team, Harlem Stars. He retired from basketball in 1960.

In 1993, he was inducted into the Tennessee State University Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2009, the Tennessee state legislature recognized him as one of several TSU players who had played for the Globetrotters. In 2025, he was inducted into the Jefferson County Sports Hall of Fame.

Buie died on February 20, 1996, and is buried in Roosevelt Memorial Gardens in Gardena, California. He and his wife Mary Ann Pride Buie, who died in 2017, had no children.

For additional information:
“Boid Buie.” Find a Grave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44981466/boid-buie (accessed August 21, 2025).

“Buie Wowed as One-armed Globetrotter.” Pine Bluff Commercial, March 1, 2021, pp. 1, 3. Online at https://www.pbcommercial.com/news/2021/mar/01/buie-wowed-as-one-armed-globetrotter/ (accessed August 21, 2025).

“Remembering Boyd Buie, TSU’s Original One-Armed Basketball Star.” Pride Publishing Group, August 27, 2021. https://pridepublishinggroup.com/2021/08/27/remembering-tsus-original-one-armed-basketball-star-boyd-buie/ (accessed August 21, 2025).

Mike Polston
CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas