As a second baseman at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, Ken Hudson dreamed of someday wearing a Major League uniform.

His work-study job with the basketball team included refereeing scrimmages, however, and that set him on a groundbreaking career path.

In 1968, Mr. Hudson became a pioneering black referee with the National Basketball Association. Four years later, he founded the popular Boston Shootout, which featured the best high school basketball players in the country.

“Kenny had strong opinions, and he voiced them loud and clear,’’ said Tom “Satch’’ Sanders, the former Celtics star who coached the victorious Boston team in the first Shootout at Boston University’s Case Center. “He also had an affinity for dealing with young people and always had advice for them in the same manner.’’

Mr. Hudson - who published an autobiography, “A Tree Stump in the Valley of Redwoods,’’ in 2006 - died Wednesday in Atlanta after suffering brain damage in a fall. He was 72 and moved more than 20 years ago from Boston to Atlanta, where he had been diagnosed with cancer and was living in Hospice Atlanta.

Mr. Hudson also had initiated the Coca-Cola Gold Helmet Award, which is presented to New England college football players.

Celtics legends Bill Russell and Red Auerbach were impressed with Mr. Hudson’s officiating at a college game and recommended him to the NBA, for which Mr. Hudson refereed until 1972.

“Red had a soft spot for him, because Kenny could disarm a tiger and he was a friend to the game,’’ said Leo Papile, a former Celtics executive and longtime coach with the Boston Amateur Basketball Club. “Kenny was comfortable in the boardroom and on the playground.’’

At 5 foot 6, Mr. Hudson may have been short in stature, but in Boston’s neighborhoods he stood tall to countless young people for whom he was an important mentor.