Oscar Robertson on challenges of playing for all-black high school team in Indiana

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"We weren't allowed to say a word" - Oscar Robertson on challenges of playing for all-black high school team in Indiana
Story by Stephen Beslic

Before building a Hall of Fame-worthy career in the NBA, the legendary Oscar Robertson was already achieving greatness on the basketball court, even during his high school days.

Robertson grew up in Indiana and attended Crispus Attucks High School, an all-black public school. As a junior, he led the team to a 31-1 record and a historic state championship, the first for any all-black school in the United States. The following year, Robertson and Crispus Attucks once again made history by capturing a second-straight state championship with a perfect 31-0 record. Robertson was also named Indiana's Mr. Basketball in his senior year, averaging 24.0 points per game.

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In three years with the Bearcats, he averaged 33.8 points per game and was the NCAA's All-time leading scorer before being surpassed by Pete Maravich in 1970. Robertson was also a three-time consensus All-American, winning multiple scoring titles and Player of the Year honors. He also began showing his versatility by notching 10 triple-doubles, a stat that would go on to largely define his NBA career.

Robertson was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in 1960 and went on to stuff the stat sheets on a nightly basis.

He played 14 years in the NBA, averaging 25.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists throughout his remarkable career. He averaged a triple-double during his second year in the league and came close to doing it four other seasons. All in all, the legendary guard tallied 181 triple-doubles. He was also an NBA champion, an NBA MVP, a 12-time NBA All-Star, an 11-time All-NBA member and one of the league's 75 greatest players of all time.

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I will try to find the list of Black high school champions for all sports in Georgia but was told years ago that the track and field championships for the Black high schools were at Fort Valley State. I think it was similar for Tennessee, where Oscar Robertson was born.

Here is some information on the basketball team.

While Indiana had the highest number of klansmen during the 1920s, it is in the north/Midwest and was a part of the Union during the Civil War.

video 1

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9PathwTy1E
 
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therealnews.com

Jack McCallum's 'The Real Hoosiers' chronicles the Crispus Attucks team's historic championship victories

In 1950s Indiana haunted by the Klan, the all-Black Crispus Attucks High School basketball team won two state championships—striking a blow against segregation.
therealnews.com therealnews.com

There are those in Atlanta who still talk about Atlanta's Carver High School from the late 1960s. I am sure that some in Savannah do the same for Beach High School.

www.wtoc.com

Beach High won Georgia’s first integrated state basketball championship

In 1967, Beach High School won the first integrated Georgia state basketball championship.
www.wtoc.com www.wtoc.com

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Black History Month: Burt High in Clarksville won a national basketball championship 60 years ago
George Robinson
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle

L.M. Ellis remembers conversations with Clarksville track legend Wilma Rudolph, who often played pickup basketball in the neighborhood when she wasn't winning Olympic gold medals.

"She kind of taught us some stuff on the court," Ellis said. "She sort of taught us younger kids how to play. She was good."

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Coach David Whitney took his teams to the national tournament four times after his arrival in 1954.

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Whitney, a Kentucky native, coached Burt until 1964 and won more than 200 games. In 1969, he took over at Alcorn State and established a program that in 1980, became the first historically black college to win an NCAA Tournament game.

Whitney, who died in 2015 at 85, cut his teeth as the Tigers' coach, but spent time as a Negro League baseball player for the Kansas City Monarchs. His 1955, Burt finished national runner-up to Louisville Central (Ky.) and Rudolph — a star basketball player at Burt before she became a track legend — was his children's babysitter.

"He was tough and disciplined," Ellis recalled. "But he was fair and he cared. He took me in and treated me like family and I was close to coach and his family."

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