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Michelle Nofs

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The Life and Times of Basketball's African-American Pioneers, chronicles the African-American role in the development of basketball in the twentieth century on the college, professional and barnstorming levels. The story of African- Americans in basketball is one of struggle and success, frustrations and achievements, and sacrifice and perseverance. It is a story that reflects American society in the twentieth-century and shows how African-Americans were discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Basketball is the lens through which we can better understand the impact African-Americans have had on American sport and society. This exhibit is dedicated to those individuals who paved the way for today's black athlete.

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Exterior View of Exhibit

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= tv monitors

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12 feet high ceilings

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14 ft Gift shop

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Headline

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Audio speakers. They are motioned censored and will activate when you step on the footprints in front of a panel.

Located in the center of the structure are televison monitors playing famous plays. It is resting on top of a glass column filled with basketballs. The base of the column is a round bench couch.

Large backlight images on each wall in the central room

Exiting the central room you will walk througn rows of jerseys above and sneakers on either wall.

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ILLIAM "POP” GATES

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JOHN MCLENDON

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= floor footprints when stepped on

activates audio from speaker above

Audio active footprints: 2 ft diameter

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The Life and Times of Basketball's African-American Pioneers, chronicles the African-American role in the development of basketball in the twentieth century on the college, professional and barnstorming levels. The story of African- Americans in basketball is one of struggle and success, frustrations and achievements, and sacrifice and perseverance. It is a story that reflects American society in the twentieth-century and shows how African-Americans were discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Basketball is the lens through which we can better understand the impact African-Americans have had on American sport and society. This exhibit is dedicated to those individuals who paved the way for today's black athlete.

Glass opener panel: 5.5 x 8 ft

Backlight Images

Display Case: 5 x 8 ftLocated in section3

When basketball was invented in 1891, America was strug-gling with the issue of civil rights and still recovering from the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

By 1885, most southern states had adopted far-reaching Jim Crow laws that included the separation of the races in schools, barber shops, restaurants, hotels and theaters. In 1896, the Supreme Court handed down Plessy vs. Ferguson that proclaimed "separate but equal" as the law of the land, although it was not universally recognized. As the twentieth-century began, African- Americans were denied the most basicbegan, African- Americans were denied the most basic of human rights. Although athletics could have been the great equalizer between the races, sports in the first third of the century were largely segregated. The achievements of black athletes during this time began to reshape the values of American society and to change racial attitudes for the better.

Opener Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Section1 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Section 2 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Section 3 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Opportunity Arrives

NBA THE

Through interracial competition and barnstorming efforts, black basketball players soon began to attract the attention of white leagues and organizers. In 1942, the National Basketball League, a forerunner to the National Basketball Association, became the first major professional basketball league of the modern era to allow black basketball players to play. Two teams, the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets and the Chicago Studebakers, integrated their teams that season.

"There was a better feeling in the NBL, it was a true league. I had played with many of these players before

[collegiately and professionally] and we all knew each other. When I got to Toledo, I did not have any problems with fans, teammates or opponents.

INTEGRATION WAS NOT A BIG DEAL

- Bill Jones, Toledo Jim White Chevrolets.

because I had already gone through it at the University of Toledo."

In the summer of 1942, the call for military service deprived many basketball teams of their star players. Prior to the 1942-43 season, two of seven National Basketball League teams from the previous season folded. Toledo, having already lost its star player, Chuck Chuckovitz, to the Army, was desperate for players. Sid Goldberg, Toledo's owner, solved this problem by signing black players from the Toledo area such as Bill Jones, Shanty Barnett, Al Price and Casey Jones. "I went to the league and I told them, 'I don't know what you fellows are going to do, but if you want me to stay in I'm going to use blacks. Some of them didn't relish it, I suppose, because they thought it would bring problems. But I don't think any of them objected," recalled Goldberg many years later.

The National Basketball League's contribution to the integration of basketball continued until the league's final season in 1948-49. In 1943, Willie Smith, a powerful frontcourt player most known for his days with the New York Renaissance in the 1930s, started at center for the Cleveland Chase Brass. In only four games, Smith averaged 6.0 points. During a two-game playoff loss to Fort Wayne, he averaged 8.5 points a game. Smith, however, was the only black NBL player that season. It was not until the 1946-47 season until blacks joined the league in appreciable numbers.

The Buffalo Bisons signed William "Pop" Gates , a star with the New York Renaissance.

The Rochester Royals, behind owner Les Harrison, signed former Long Island University star Dolly King.

The RENS, who were coached by Pop Gates, became the first and only black team to ever play in a white league. Their play proved what insiders knew all along–that they were a good team that could play the game. Unfortunately, this was the last year of the Renaissance as a team.

Section 4 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Integration Happens

NBA THE

The success of black players in the National Basketball League soon paved the way for the integration of the National Basketball Association. In 1949-50, the Basketball Association of American and the National Basketball League merged to form the National Basketball Association. A year later, the league integrated with black players joining four teams.

“I don’t [care] if he’s striped, plaid, or polka dot! Boston takes Charles Cooper of Duquesne.”

- Walter Brown, Boston Celtics owner

Syracuse Nationals 1955-56

"I had good support from the Celtics. There was never any racial problem with the team. I felt a strong relationship with them all," Chuck Cooper remembered.

On April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics selected 6-foot-6-inch Chuck Cooper of Duquesne University in the second round, making Cooper the first black player to be drafted in the NBA. During his first season, Cooper averaged 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in 66 games.

In the same 1950 NBA draft, Washington Capitols coach Horace McKinney, emboldened by Boston's move, drafted Earl Lloyd from West Virginia State, along with Harold Hunter of North Carolina College. Later that summer, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton was the first black player to sign a contract when he signed with the New York Knicks after a short career with the Globetrotters. In addition to those players drafted for the 1950-51 NBA season, former New York Rens Hank DeZonie played five games with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.

Due to a scheduling quirk, Earl Lloyd became the first black player to play in an NBA game when the Rochester Royals defeated the Washington Capitols 78-70 on Oct. 31, 1950. Lloyd scored six points that game. Lloyd's stay with Washington was short lived. After seven games, Lloyd was drafted into the U.S. Army. The Capitols disbanded on January 9, 1951 after compiling a 10-25 record. Earl Lloyd went to the Syracuse Nationals beginning in 1952-53 where he was a solid defensive player for many years and helped lead the Nats to the 1955 NBA Championship.

"I don't think my situation was anything like Jackie Robinson's-a guy who played in a hostile environment, where some of his teammates didn't want him around. In basketball, folks were used to seeing integrated college teams. There was a different mentality."

— Earl Lloyd, Syracuse Nationals

During the first few decades of the 20th century, it was not unusual to see African-Americans participating on basketball teams at predominantly white colleges. Several schools, such as Harvard, Beloit, Amherst, Oberlin and Ohio Wesleyan, had a long tradition of integrated athletic teams. These black athletes often came from middle-class families in the North and sought to balance athletic participation with an education.

Blacks Join In

WHITE

Prior to World War I, several black players emerged at white colleges, including Samuel Ransom at Beloit College, Fenwick Watkins at the University of Vermont, Cumberland Posey at Penn State and Duquesne University, Cleveland Abbott at South Dakota State and Paul Robeson at Rutgers University. Although life was difficult for black athletes at white colleges, these black athletes often overcame their obstacles and made significant contributions to their teams.

As team captain and starting forward, Watkins led Vermont in 1907-08 to a 7-4 record that included impressive wins over Massachusetts, Norwich and Lowell Textile. While at Duquesne, Cumberland Posey led the team offensively and defensively.

The Monticello Delaney Rifles basketball team in 1910, Cumberland Posey is in front row, second from left.

Although blacks made inroads at white colleges, college championships were still dominated by white players. It was not until the 1966 NCAA Championship game when Texas Western defeated Kentucky that the landscape changed. It marked the first time that an all-black starting five defeated an all-white starting five in a championship game, which convinced predominately white schools that recruiting more black players in the future was essential. In 1963, Chicago's Loyola University, which started four blacks throughout the season, defeated the University of Cincinnati to win the national title.

Following the lead of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the NCAA began allowing black schools to compete in its tournament. In 1967, Winston-Salem became the first black school to win a Division II (College Division) title. Led by head coach Clarence Gaines and point guard Earl Monroe, the Rams compiled a 31-1 record on their way to defeating Southwest Missouri State, 77-74. As the 1960s came to a close, blacks had made significant contributions as players and coaches to the game of basketball.

By the late 1950s, Oscar Robertson had catapulted the University of Cincinnati

to national stardom. From 1958-60, the Big O became the first African- American to be a three time Player of the Year. In 1957-58, Robertson became the first African-American to lead the nation in scoring.

Black stars continued to emerge at white colleges in the 1920s and 1930s. As team captain, George Gregory, Jr., averaged 8.3 points per game, led Columbia University to the league title in 1930-31 and became the first African-American named to an All-America team. Over the next two decades, black stars such as Bill Jones of the University of Toledo, Dolly King of Long Island University, Jackie Robinson and Don Barksdale of UCLA, and the University of San Francisco's Bill Russell came to dominate the game. In 1950, City College of New York became the first NCAA Champion with three African-Americans — Floyd Layne, Joe Galiber and Ed Warner — in the starting lineup.

By the late 1950s, Oscar Robertson had catapulted the University of Cincinnati to national stardom. From 1958-60, the Big O became the first African-American to be a three time Player of the Year. In 1957-58, Robertson became the first African-American to lead the nation in scoring.

Section 5 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Section 6 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

From their beginnings, traditional black colleges offered black students opportunities that were denied them at white colleges. Most of the historically black colleges during the first decade of the 20th century were beginning to organize sports and in some cases athletic departments did not exist. In 1910-11, Howard University fielded its first varsity basketball team. In 1912, the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) was formed to create an athletic association of black schools with a set of rules and regulations. In 1925, Morehouse College won the first tournament was held for black college teams in the South. As the 1920s came to a close, teams such as Morehouse, Wilberforce University and Baltimore's Morgan College dominated black college basketball.

Seperate But Equal

BLACK "You have to play through those things and defeat them. The game itself is made for people who want to play fair," McLendon said.

In 1946, Clarence "Big House" Gaines arrived on the campus at Winston-Salem State as head basketball coach, and soon made a lasting mark on college basketball. Gaines' teams were up-tempo, fast-breaking units that relied heavily on speed and athleticism to overwhelm opponents. In 47 years at Winston-Salem, he compiled an 828-447 record and won the CIAA championship 12 times. The success of Gaines' teams gained additional recognition for the black college game, and his style of play impacted basketball at both black and white colleges.

Over the next few decades, black colleges continued to produce stellar teams and players. Most of the activity centered on Morgan College and Virginia Union. Regarded as the best black college team in the 1920s, Morgan College faced a stern test from upstart Virginia Union, who laid claim as the CIAA's best during the early 1940s. The tide soon turned as Virginia Union played and won games against white colleges, such as Long Island University and Brooklyn College

However, the most significant victory came in 1957 when Tennessee State, under head coach John McLendon, became the first black college to win a national title against a white school by winning the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) tournament. Tennessee State repeated as NAIA champions in 1958 and 1959. In 1946, to promote black basketball, he used his own money to start the CIAA tournament, one of the longest running tournaments in the nation. In 1961, McLendon became the first black professional basketball coach of an integrated team when he signed with the Cleveland Pipers of the new American Basketball League.

McLendon, who learned basketball and life values from James Naismith at the University of Kansas, was a pioneer for black basketball and racial equality his entire life. Throughout his career, McLendon faced insults and racism, but never let it detract from his goals.

Section 7 Panel: 12 x 8 ft

Other Opportunities

OLY MPICS

Besides college and professional basketball, the Olympics, amateur ball and service basketball offered blacks additional opportunities to showcase their skills. Don Barksdale, a UCLA standout, became the first black to play basketball in the Olympics, winning a gold medal with the 1948 USA team. Prior to joining the NBA in 1951, Barksdale was an Amateur Athletic Union star and led the Oakland Bittners to the 1948-49 title. In addition, players such as Jim Usry, Sonny Woods, Sam Jones and K.C. Jones earned honors playing service basketball.

1948 U.S. Basketball Team

Front Row L-R: Coach Omar Browning, Ralph Beard, Jackie Robinson, Cliford Barker, Ray Lumpp, Kenneth Rollins, Lewis Back, Coach Adolph Rupp

Back Row L-R: Wallace Jones, R.C. Pitts, Don Barksdale, Bob Kurland, Manager Louis Wilke, Alex Gordon Carpenter, Vincent Boryla, Jesse Renick

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1891 — James Naismith invents Basket Ball at the International YMCA Training School. raining School.

1902 — James Naismith invents Basket Ball at the International YMCA Training School. raining School.

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1909 — The National Conference of the Negro convenes and leads to the founding of the National Associa-tion for the Advancement of Colored

People (NAACP).

1909-10 — Cumberland Posey forms the barnstorming team Mon-ticello Rifles, one of the first great black barnstorming teams.

Edwin Henderson, a pioneer in orga-nizing black basketball, organizes Washington’s YMCA 12th Street team.

1923 — Robert Douglas forms the New York Renaissance, an all-black barnstorming basketball team.

1924 — William Hubbard becomes the first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal with a long jump of 24 feet, 5 1/8 inches.

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1926 — The National Conference of the Negro convenes and leads to the founding of the National Associa-tion for the Advancement of Colored

People (NAACP).

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1926-27 — Morgan State of Balti-more, coached by Dr. Charles Drew, is considered the No. 1 one black college team in the country.

1927 — Members of Chicago’s Wendell Phillips High School call themselves the Savoy Big Five. With booking agent Abe Saperstein, the team becomes the Harlem Globetrotters and plays its first game in Hinckley, Illinois.

1930-31 — George Gregory of Columbia University becomes the first African-American named All-America.

1933 — On March 27, the Original Celtics defeat the New York Renais-sance to end their 88-game winning streak. The Rens, however, win the season series 8-6.

1935 — Hank Williams, a 6’4” black center, plays for the Buffalo Bisons in pro basketball’s Midwest Basketball Conference.

1936 — Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

1937 — Joe Louis becomes the heavyweight champion by knocking out James J. Braddock.

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1952-53 — Tennessee State becomes the first black college to compete in the NAIA tournament after it qualified by winning the national Negro Basketball Tournament that doubled as an NAIA district qualifier. Tennes-see loses in the quarterfinals.

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1954 — The United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education rules that racial segregation is uncon-stitutional, thereby overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson.

1955 — Rosa Parks, a black woman, refuses to give her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The Syra-cuse Nationals’ Earl Lloyd and Jim Tucker become the first African-Americans to play on an NBA championship team.

1957 — Tennessee State is the first black college to win an NAIA tournament and becomes the first team to win three straight NAIA championships (1957-59).

Congress approves the first civil rights bill for blacks since Reconstruction to protect voting rights.

1963 — Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., gives his “I Have A Dream” speech in Washington, D.C.

1966 — Texas Western defeats Kentucky for the NCAA championship. It is the first time in NCAA Finals history that an all black starting five defeat an all-white starting five.

Edward Brooke, a Republican from Mas-sachusetts, became the first African-American United States Senator in 85 years.

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1952-53 — Tennessee State becomes the first black college to compete in the NAIA tournament after it qualified by winning the national Negro Basketball Tournament that doubled as an NAIA district qualifier. Tennes-see loses in the quarterfinals.

1 9 6 01 955 1 9 6 5

1954 — The United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education rules that racial segregation is uncon-stitutional, thereby overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson.

1955 — Rosa Parks, a black woman, refuses to give her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The Syra-cuse Nationals’ Earl Lloyd and Jim Tucker become the first African-Americans to play on an NBA championship team.

1957 — Tennessee State is the first black college to win an NAIA tournament and becomes the first team to win three straight NAIA championships (1957-59).

Congress approves the first civil rights bill for blacks since Reconstruction to protect voting rights.

1963 — Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., gives his “I Have A Dream” speech in Washington, D.C.

1966 — Texas Western defeats Kentucky for the NCAA championship. It is the first time in NCAA Finals history that an all black starting five defeat an all-white starting five.

Edward Brooke, a Republican from Mas-sachusetts, became the first African-American United States Senator in 85 years.

1967 — Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African-American United States Supreme Court Justice.

Winston-Salem becomes the first black college to win an NCAA Division II title by defeating Southwest Missouri 77-74.

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1968 — Ken Hudson becomes the first African-American referee in the NBA.

1972 — Wayne Embry becomes the first African-American general manager in the NBA and also in professional sports.

1972-73 — Seven games into the 1972-73 season, Fred Zollner fires Lloyd and replaces him with Ray Scott. It is the first time in NBA history that an African-American coach is named to suc-ceed another African-American coach.

1975 — Lee Elder becomes the first African-American golfer permitted to compete in the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.

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1974 — Frank Robinson becomes baseball’s first African-American manager with the Cleveland Indians.

1975 — John Thompson of Georgetown University becomes the first African-American head coach to win an NCAA Division I championship

Timeline: 6 x 3 ft