Muleskinner

Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Sports

Commentary: Nate Taylor [Click to enlarge]

Usually I tend not to touch on subjects that deal with race when it comes to the world of sports. On the other hand, today's column I feel is necessary.

If you haven't heard of the news or watched the program, ESPN televised a four-hour, commercial free documentary film called "Black Magic" this past Sunday and Monday.

The film is based on the history of basketball from historic black colleges and universities and how its African-American athletes struggled to make it in a white society, not only politically, but also on the basketball court.

As an avid basketball fan and lover of the game, I was moved by what these pioneers had to go through: So much disrespect and not considered equal. Two stories that particulary caught my attention were the stories of Earl Lloyd and John McLendon.

Lloyd was the first black to play in the NBA in 1950 and had problems going into a society that wasn't welcoming to him. Throughout his life, Lloyd never had a white student in his class; from kindergarten through college. Just watching Lloyd talk about what he went through was inspiring and emotional at the same time.

McLendon was the father who started it all for black coaches at North Carolina College for Negroes and Tennesse A&I. McLendon was the coach that created the fast break and led A&I to three consecutive NAIA championships when only one black school could compete in the national tournament.

Through his efforts, both the NAIA and NCAA tournaments were intergrated. He also mentored and recruited with coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines who won a remarkable 828 games as a coach at Winston-Salem State in North Carolina.

Now whenever I think of all the black coaches that have taught the game, McLendon will always come to mind because of the changes and sacrifices he made for basketball.

A few years ago, I was able to go see Jerry Bruckheimer's film "Glory Road," the story of how the tiny Texas Western University Miners men's basketball team was the first school to have starting lineup of all blacks who went on to win the NCAA title over the all-white lineup of the Wildcats from the University of Kentucky. Little did I know, that was just the tip of the black sports iceberg.

I was so proud, not only as a journalist, but also as a sports fan, that the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN, had the right mind to go outside the box and not show the documentary during Black History month.

They placed it in primetime television perfectly after the NCAA tournament brackets were set, in an attempt to get as many viewers as possible.

I only hope and pray that sports fans and athletes from all walks of life got the chance to see this film.

The director, Dan Klores, watched more than 250 hours of basketball film that most

Americans have never seen and was able to produce four hours of wonderful sports education.

In all my years of sports, no documentary has moved me like this.
With that, I thank the men who went through it all for the love of the game.

Now that's "Black Magic."

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