In just two seasons with the Eagles basketball team, Joe Hamilton was a two-time all-Missouri Valley Conference pick who still ranks among the school's all-time career scoring leaders.
Hamilton, a 5-foot-10 guard, wa a Junior College All-American before arriving in Denton. At North Texas, he averaged 21.4 points per game for his career. He his 81.6 percent of his career free throws.
Hamilton was selected in the ninth round of the 1970 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and in the fourth round of the 1970 American Basketball Association Draft by the Texas Chaparrals, and he signed with the ABA team that would become the Dallas Chaparrals and later the San Antonio Spurs. He scored 1,318 points in 84 games (15.7 points per game) during the 1970–71 ABA season and made the ABA All-Rookie team.
He also played for the ABA's Kentucky Colonels and later in the European Professional Basketball League, where he averaged 24 points per game.