Ian Harold King is a former Australian first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

er, one of only a handful of Indigenous Australians to have played first-class cricket.

Born one of ten children in Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, King was a successful junior basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

er and professional welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 boxer who won 28 of 32 fights under the name "Young Rainbow" (derived from his preference for brighly coloured clothes) before turning to cricket.

A right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batsman, King started playing for Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 club Bankstown before returning to Queensland where he continued to impress with his express pace bowling in grade cricket, leading to his first-class debut for Queensland

Queensland Bulls

The Queensland cricket team, nicknamed the Bulls, are the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket team in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments:*Sheffield Shield, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season...

, against Western Australia

Western Warriors

The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...

 at the Brisbane Cricket Ground

Brisbane Cricket Ground

The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as The Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. It is named after the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located....

 on 31 October 1969. The first Aboriginal to play for Queensland since Eddie Gilbert

Eddie Gilbert (cricketer)

Eddie Gilbert was a Queensland Aboriginal cricketer. He was an exceptionally fast bowler.-Early years:...

 in 1936, King opened the bowling, taking 1/27 and 2/59.

On 7 December 1969, King became the first Indigenous Australian to play List A cricket, taking 5/33 against New South Wales

New South Wales Blues

The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...

. It was to be King's only List A match, leaving him with the impressive List A bowling average of 6.60.

Considered to be the fastest bowler to represent Queensland since Wes Hall

Wes Hall

Wesley Winfield Hall is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bowl long spells. Hall played 48 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1969...

, King (who gained the nickname "Sammy" due to his similarity to Sammy Davis Jr) was a popular figure with young fans and would spend lunch breaks after a session in the field signing autographs rather than resting.

King "gave glimpses of rare talent, exceptional pace and splendid fielding ability." during the 1969/70 season, including his best figures of 6/70, against South Australia

Southern Redbacks

The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...

 and a bright future seemed assured but following problems with the law in the 1970 off-season, King moved to Perth, where he seemed content to play club cricket before then moving to the Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

where he was involved in coaching. King was chosen as coach of the 1988 Aboriginal cricket team to England.

As of April 2009, King is facing child sex charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.