Black ball : Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the generation that saved the soul of the NBA / Theresa Runstedtler.
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- 0 of 1 copy available at LARL/NWRL Consortium.
- 0 of 1 copy available at Lake Agassiz Regional Library. (Show preferred library)
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| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Lakes Public Library | 796.3236 RUN (Text) | 33500013761291 | New | Checked out | 04/08/2023 |
Record details
- ISBN: 9781645036951
- ISBN: 1645036952
- Physical Description: vii, 355 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Bold Type Books, 2023.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-339) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Part 1: battling monopoly -- Exile: Connie Hawkins's long journey to the NBA -- Hardship: Spencer Haywood vs. the white basketball establishment -- Bondage: overthrowing the option clause -- Part 2: the black tide -- Troubled: Black Players flood the league -- Professional: Simon Gourdine and the NBA's white ceiling -- Part 3: backlash -- Criminal: Kermit Washington's infamous punch -- Undisciplined: The NBA's "cocaine crisis" -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments. |
| Summary, etc.: | "Against the backdrop of ongoing massive resistance to racial desegregation and increasingly strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation's imagined descent into disorder. The press and the public blamed young Black players for the chaos in the NBA, citing drugs, violence, greed, and criminality. The supposed decline of pro basketball became a metaphor for the first decades of integration in America: the rules of the game had changed, allowing more Black people onto a formerly white playing field, and now they were ruining everything. But Black Ball argues that this much-maligned period was pivotal to the rise of the NBA as the star-laden powerhouse we know today, thanks largely to the efforts of Black players in challenging the white basketball establishment of owners, coaches, and spectators. Spotlighting legendary players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bernard King, and Connie Hawkins, scholar Theresa Runstedtler expertly rewrites basketball's "Dark Ages," weaving together her deep knowledge of the game's key icons and institutions with incisive social and political analysis of the era. Black ballers created an aerial, improvisational, and creative style derived from the playground courts of their neighborhoods, laying the foundation for the explosive popularity and profitability of the league in subsequent decades. They also transformed labor in the pro-basketball world, filing lawsuits and organizing unions to demand better salaries and greater autonomy. Without their skills, style, and savvy, there would be no Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, or LeBron James today"-- Provided by publisher. |
Reviews
Author Notes
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 February #2
*Starred Review* Runstedtler, who teaches African American history at American University and who in 2012 authored a thoughtful take on legendary boxer Jack Johnson, here pays respect to several key NBA playersâConnie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among themâwho, in the supposedly apolitical 1970s, laid the essential economic and political groundwork upon which the modern, hugely successful NBA was built. For example, Haywood, flouting NBA rules requiring players to wait four years after high-school graduation before joining a team, would leave the University of Detroit after his sophomore year to play with the upstart ABA Denver Rockets for the 1969â70 season. The NBA Seattle SuperSonics signed him for the next season, leading to an antitrust suit the team would win against the league, thus not only knocking down the NBA's four-year requirement but also leading to the dismantling of other serious antitrust practices. This low-key but important title fills some glaring gaps in the history of American sports, economics, race relations, and politics. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews. - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 February #2
*Starred Review* Runstedtler, who teaches African American history at American University and who in 2012 authored a thoughtful take on legendary boxer Jack Johnson, here pays respect to several key NBA playersâConnie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among themâwho, in the supposedly apolitical 1970s, laid the essential economic and political groundwork upon which the modern, hugely successful NBA was built. For example, Haywood, flouting NBA rules requiring players to wait four years after high-school graduation before joining a team, would leave the University of Detroit after his sophomore year to play with the upstart ABA Denver Rockets for the 1969â70 season. The NBA Seattle SuperSonics signed him for the next season, leading to an antitrust suit the team would win against the league, thus not only knocking down the NBA's four-year requirement but also leading to the dismantling of other serious antitrust practices. This low-key but important title fills some glaring gaps in the history of American sports, economics, race relations, and politics. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews. - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 February #2
*Starred Review* Runstedtler, who teaches African American history at American University and who in 2012 authored a thoughtful take on legendary boxer Jack Johnson, here pays respect to several key NBA playersâConnie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among themâwho, in the supposedly apolitical 1970s, laid the essential economic and political groundwork upon which the modern, hugely successful NBA was built. For example, Haywood, flouting NBA rules requiring players to wait four years after high-school graduation before joining a team, would leave the University of Detroit after his sophomore year to play with the upstart ABA Denver Rockets for the 1969â70 season. The NBA Seattle SuperSonics signed him for the next season, leading to an antitrust suit the team would win against the league, thus not only knocking down the NBA's four-year requirement but also leading to the dismantling of other serious antitrust practices. This low-key but important title fills some glaring gaps in the history of American sports, economics, race relations, and politics. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews. - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 February #2
*Starred Review* Runstedtler, who teaches African American history at American University and who in 2012 authored a thoughtful take on legendary boxer Jack Johnson, here pays respect to several key NBA playersâConnie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among themâwho, in the supposedly apolitical 1970s, laid the essential economic and political groundwork upon which the modern, hugely successful NBA was built. For example, Haywood, flouting NBA rules requiring players to wait four years after high-school graduation before joining a team, would leave the University of Detroit after his sophomore year to play with the upstart ABA Denver Rockets for the 1969â70 season. The NBA Seattle SuperSonics signed him for the next season, leading to an antitrust suit the team would win against the league, thus not only knocking down the NBA's four-year requirement but also leading to the dismantling of other serious antitrust practices. This low-key but important title fills some glaring gaps in the history of American sports, economics, race relations, and politics. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.
Theresa Runstedtler is a scholar of African American history whose research examines Black popular culture, with a particular focus on the intersection of race, masculinity, labor, and sport. She is the author of Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line (UC Press, 2012), a book that explores the first African American world heavyweight championâs legacy as a Black sporting hero and international anticolonial icon. Her book won the 2013 Phillis Wheatley Book Prize from the Northeast Black Studies Association. Dr. Runstedtler has also published scholarly work in the Radical History Review, the Journal of World History, American Studies, the Journal of American Ethnic History, the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, and the Journal of Womenâs History, and book chapters in Escape from New York: The New Negro Renaissance Beyond Harlem, and In the Game: Race, Identity, and Sports in the Twentieth Century. She is a professor at American University and lives in Baltimore with her husband and son.
