Joe Dan Gold (June 7, 1942 – April 14, 2011) was an American basketball player and coach, most notably at Mississippi State University.

[2] In his senior year, Gold was captain of the first Mississippi State basketball team to compete against African-American players.

After turning down NCAA tournament invitations in previous years, Coach McCarthy and his team accepted a bid to the 1963 NCAA tournament (the school's first), where they faced an integrated Loyola of Chicago team in what has since been named the Game of Change.

The Bulldogs had to sneak out of the state to play the game, as they defied an order from Mississippi governor Ross Barnett.

Gold's pregame handshake with Loyola star Jerry Harkness was the subject of a photograph that was heavily circulated in newspapers across the United States.