A four-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Barber High School where the 6 ft 1 in 14-year old learned basic basketball skills from coach Simon Coates.

About the experience, he recalled: "In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana.

[4] In his final college game, he set an Indiana and Big Ten Conference record that still stands with 33 rebounds in an 82–67 win over Michigan.

[4] Bellamy was the starting center on the gold medal-winning 1960 American basketball team at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

[7] 10 of the 12 college players on the undefeated American squad went on to play professionally in the NBA, including fellow Big Ten player Terry Dischinger (a future Bellamy NBA teammate in Chicago and Baltimore[8][9][10]), and fellow future Hall-of-Famers Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry Lucas.

[16] Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award writer Peter Vecsey believes that the significance of this trade to the Knicks future success obscured the fact that Bellamy was one of the top players in NBA history.

[16] Bellamy ended his NBA career with 20,941 points and 14,241 rebounds,[15] and is a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, being inducted in 1993 for his individual career,[15] and in 2010 as a member of the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team.

[15] After his retirement from the NBA, Bellamy was active with the NAACP, the Urban League and the YMCA in the Atlanta area.

[28] He served as a Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Executive Committee of the NAACP's Georgia State Conference.