000 03985cam a22004938i 4500
001 on1334884690
003 OCoLC
005 20230328144127.0
008 220623s2023 nyua b 001 0 eng
010 _a 2022029151
040 _aDLC
_beng
_erda
_cDLC
_dOCLCF
_dBDX
_dORX
_dUKMGB
_dEZG
_dTOH
_dLJW
_dOCO
_dUAP
_dJVK
_dHHO
_dVP@
_dNFG
015 _aGBC313889
_2bnb
016 7 _a020931809
_2Uk
019 _a1356622924
020 _a9781645036951
_q(hardcover)
020 _a1645036952
_q(hardcover)
035 _a(OCoLC)1334884690
_z(OCoLC)1356622924
042 _apcc
043 _an-us---
092 _a796.3236
_bR943
049 _aNFGA
100 1 _aRunstedtler, Theresa,
_eauthor.
245 1 0 _aBlack ball :
_bKareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the generation that saved the soul of the NBA /
_cTheresa Runstedtler.
246 3 0 _aKareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the generation that saved the soul of the NBA
250 _aFirst edition.
263 _a2303
264 1 _aNew York, N.Y. :
_bBold Type Books,
_c2023.
300 _avii, 355 pages :
_billustrations (black and white) ;
_c24 cm
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
336 _astill image
_bsti
_2rdacontent
337 _aunmediated
_bn
_2rdamedia
338 _avolume
_bnc
_2rdacarrier
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 303-339) and index.
505 0 _aPart 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.
520 _a"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"--
_cProvided by publisher.
600 1 0 _aAbdul-Jabbar, Kareem,
_d1947-
_9179794
600 1 0 _aHaywood, Spencer,
_d1949-
610 2 0 _aNational Basketball Association
_xHistory
_y20th century.
650 0 _aAfrican American basketball players
_xHistory
_y20th century.
650 0 _aBasketball
_xSocial aspects
_zUnited States
_xHistory
_y20th century.
650 0 _aDiscrimination in sports
_zUnited States
_xHistory
_y20th century.
_9256026
650 0 _aRace relations
_xHistory
_y20th century.
994 _aC0
_bNFG
999 _c364320
_d364320