null

Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA (PB) (2024)

$19.99
SKU:
9781645036975
Weight:
0.00 LBS
Shipping:
Calculated at Checkout
In Stock & Ready To Ship!
Availability: This book will ship on Oct 8, 2024
Current Stock:Only left:

Frequently Bought Together:

Total: Inc. Sales Tax
Total: Ex. Sales Tax

Description

A vital narrative history of 1970s pro basketball, and the Black players who shaped the NBA

Against a backdrop of ongoing resistance to racial desegregation and strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation's imagined descent into disorder. A new generation of Black players entered the league then, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spencer Haywood, and the press and public were quick to blame this cohort for the supposed decline of pro basketball, citing drugs, violence, and greed. Basketball became a symbol for post-civil rights America: the rules had changed, allowing more Black people onto the playing field, and now they were ruining everything.

Enter Black Ball, a gripping history and corrective in which scholar Theresa Runstedtler expertly rewrites basketball's "Dark Ages." Weaving together a deep knowledge of the game with incisive social analysis, Dr. Runstedtler argues that this much-maligned period was pivotal to the rise of the modern-day NBA. Black players introduced an improvisational style derived from the playground courts of their neighborhoods. They also challenged the team owners' autocratic power, garnering higher salaries and increased agency. Their skills, style, and savvy laid the foundation for the global popularity and profitability of the league we know today.

Details

Author:
Theresa Runstedtler
ISBN 10:
1645036979
Pages:
384
Publisher:
Bold Type Books
Publication Date:
October 8, 2024
Binding:
Paperback

Enjoy our Podcasts