Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball

(Hardback)

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Today, it is nearly impossible to talk about the best basketball players in America without acknowledging the accomplishments of incredibly talented black athletes like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. A little more than a century ago, however, the game was completely dominated by white players playing on segregated courts and teams.

In Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball, Douglas Stark details the major moments that led to the sport opening its doors to black players. He charts the progress of integration from Bucky Lewthe first black professional basketball player in 1902to the modern game played by athletes like Stephen Curry and LeBron James. Although Stark focuses on the official integration of basketball in the late 1940s, the story does not end there. Over the past 60-plus years, black athletes have continued to change the game of basketball in terms of style, social progress, and marketability.

Spanning the early 1900s to the present day, no other book features such a comprehensive examination of the key events and figures that led to the integration of professional basketball. In Breaking Barriers, these crucial steps in the history of the sport are placed within the larger context of American history, making this book an essential addition to the literature on sports and race in America.

Reviews

Celebrating pioneering black athletes, Stark offers a succinct history of the professional basketball, beginning in 1902 with Bucky Lews entry in the pro leagues up through the golden era of the 1940s and 50s. He examines the life of professional black athletes in the Jim Crow South, where they were excluded from white hotels and often forced to sleep on buses and change uniforms in rest rooms rather than locker rooms. The writing is detailed as Stark discusses the rivalry between the New York Rens (short for Renaissance) and the Harlem Globetrotters (The Globetrotters were entertainers, not basketball purists like the Rens) or the formation of the integrated National Basketball League in 1937. Throughout, Stark revisits long-forgotten players such as Zack Clayton, who played for the New York Rens in the 1940s; William Dolly King who played in the NBLs Rochester Royals in 1946; and Chuck Cooper, who in 1950 became the first black player to be drafted into the NBA. He shows how much basketball has evolved, closing with such NBA stars as the L.A. Lakers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who retired with the most points in NBA history; Bill Russell, who, with the Boston Celtics, revolutionized how defenses could alter the game; and the Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan, regarded as the games greatest player. This is an excellent survey of the breaking of pro basketballs color line. * Publishers Weekly *
Even the most ardent basketball fan may not know who originally integrated the sport. In contrast to the story of baseballs Jackie Robinson, the question of who broke basketballs color barrier is not a simple one, as there were numerous professional leagues in the US before WW II, and most of them garnered little attention. Yet Stark tells an intriguing story here, starting with the first person of color who was paid to play with whites, Bucky Lew. Other noteworthy figures are the first well-known black college player, Dolly King, and Earl Lloyd, the first black NBA player. Credit is given not just to the courage of such players, who often faced stark discrimination if not unapologetic racism, but also to their white teammates and coaches, many of whom championed integration and civil rights at their side. This entertaining book goes on to trace the explosive growth and evolution of the African American influence in basketball. The last chapter is devoted to Michael Jordan and his unparalleled impact on basketball and popular culture. Overall, this is a much-needed, careful look at the integration of one of the worlds most popular sports. Recommended. * Choice Reviews *
In Breaking Barriers, Stark has taken on an important chapter in American Sport and in the history of desegregation in America. The book spans the history of professional basketball from its early years near the opening of the 20th century and concludes with two chapters containing mini-biographies of the major NBA stars of the past half-century. Although the desegregation of professional basket is a central focus of Breaking Barriers, there is a second focus on African American basketball and its players, both before and after segregation. * New York Journal of Books *
Douglas Starks Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball is an integral addition to the sporting library, as the first volumes about Black baseball were to chronicling Negro League play and ownership. Copiously researched, the text is a comprehensive, entertaining account of the pioneering teams and figures who toiled long before the days of television deals and shoe contracts. Readers and fans seeking to gain a perspective on today's game should familiarize themselves through this narrative, with the exciting oral history of Black contribution to integrated touring teams, organized leagues, collegiate ball, and the style of play now accepted as standard. -- Bijan C. Bayne, author, Sky Kings: Black Pioneers of Professional Basketball and Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball

Author Bio

Douglas Stark is the museum director at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. He is the author of three books about basketball: The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketballs Greatest Jewish Team (2011), Wartime Basketball: The Emergence of a National Sport during World War II (2016), and When Basketball Was Jewish: Voices of Those Who Played the Game (2017).