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Joseph Alton Byrd (born November 3, 1957 in San Francisco, California) is an American basketball player. He grew up in the San Francisco area, where he was a high school basketball star. He continued to be a basketball star at Columbia College, where he was one of the best point guards in the country in spite of his small stature. His height was usually officially listed as 5 foot 9 (173 cm) but that was a generous estimate.

His style of play was similar to that of Magic Johnson, although he was about half Magic's size: he was a strong, fast, fearless player who excelled in every facet of the game. (He was even an outstanding rebounder.)

He still holds the school records for career assists (526) and assists in a single season (210.)

After receiving his bachelor's degree from Columbia College in 1979, he attended the Boston Celtics rookie camp, along with a similarly named fellow draftee, Larry Bird. Larry Bird made the team. Alton Byrd did not, so he accepted a job offer in London, England. It seemed that his basketball career was over. However, it was just getting started.

Professional basketball was still in its infancy in Britain when he began playing ball with Crystal Palace of the British league just for the exercise and the fun of it. However, he soon blossomed into a major star: thanks to his exciting style of play and his compelling personality, he became the most famous basketball player in Britain. His rookie season, he led Palace to an amazing 50-5 record. He later starred for teams in Glasgow, Manchester, Guildford and Kingston.

Off the court, he pursued a variety of broadcasting and business ventures. From 1997 to 1998, he was the general manager of the London Monarchs of NFL Europe. In 1999, he returned to the United States to be a Vice President of the Sacramento Kings. He then founded a management consulting company, Clear Focus Communications [1].

• Columbia College Today alumni magazine profile (February 2001)