03108cam a2200337 i 4500 884837523 TxAuBib 20230801120000.0 220623s2023||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2022029151 9781645036951 HRD 29.00 1645036952 HRD 29.00 TxAuBib rda Runstedtler, Theresa, author Black ball. Black ball [BOOK] : Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the generation that saved the soul of the NBA / Theresa Runstedtler. First edition. New York : Bold Type Books, 2023. vii, 355 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-339) and index. 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. 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, 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. Provided by publisher. 20230801. National Basketball Association History 20th century. African American basketball players History 20th century. Basketball Social aspects United States History 20th century. Discrimination in sports United States History 20th century. Race relations United States History 20th century.