Mel Streeter

Mel Streeter (1931 – June 12, 2006) was an American architect and college basketball player. A native of Riverside, California, he was the second African-American basketball player at the University of Oregon for the Ducks in the early 1950s. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army, he moved to Seattle and founded an architecture firm.

Life

Early life Streeter was born in 1931 and grew up in Riverside, California, the son of a porter and a cook.

Education Streeter attended Riverside Polytechnic High School in California where he played basketball. After high school he was offered a spot on the basketball team at UCLA, but declined because he wanted to study architecture. He attended the University of Oregon on an Army scholarship and was the second African-American on the Ducks basketball team and the only African-American player at the time.

Later life In 1954, he married Kathleen Burgess, in one of the first legal mixed-race marriages in Oregon. The couple had four sons — Doug, Kurt, Jon, and Ken.

Career After graduation Steeter was stationed in the Army at Fort Lawton and lived in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood from 1955 to 1957.

Work

Projects African American Academy, Seattle Auburn City Hall, Auburn, Washington Federal Aviation Administration Regional Headquarters at Boeing Field, Seattle Naval Station Everett, Everett, Washington John Muir Elementary School, Seattle Seattle Seahawks Centurylink Stadium, Seattle Sept-Oct 1998/>