I grew up in Highland Park, Michigan playing basketball twelve months a year. I reckoned Highland Park to be the basketball capital of Michigan. How could it not be with such greats as George "Baby" Duncan (Wayne State University), George Lee (University of Michigan), John Bradley (Lawrence Institute of Technology), and Bobby Joe Hill (University of Texas at El Paso). They starred at Highland Park High School. Bobby Joe Hill's UTEP team beat Pat Riley's Kentucky team 72-65 for the NCAA title in 1966. All four men had excellent college basketball careers, but only George Lee had an NBA career. I've often wondered why the others didn't have NBA careers.
A friend and I watched John Bradley and Linberg Moody (North Carolina A. & T.) play during their tryout with the Detroit Pistons NBA team. They looked great to me, scoring at will, playing tough defense, and they seemed quicker than the Pistons they were playing against. Instead of selecting Bradley or Moody the Pistons choose Johnny Egan of Providence College. I couldn't believe it. Egan was both short and slow; but he wasn't black - and that made all the difference. Of course the Pistons passed on Earl "The Pearl" Monroe too.
Black Magic was produced by Earl "The Pearl" Monroe for ESPN. It aired previously on ESPN and is four hours long. It's a historical account of many of the legends of basketball at historically black colleges. It is also a compelling account of the civil rights movement and the racism of the NCAA, NBA, and the other usual racist suspects. So if you're up to a tear-filled four hours in which you'll find out about the great coaches and players we've never heard of, get a hold of a DVD of Black Magic.
The Fab 5 is also an excellent ESPN documentary that was produced by Jalen Rose, a member of the University of Michigan's basketball team known as the Fab 5, five freshman starters. If you desire to know about Chris Weber's time-out call and many very interesting aspects about that great team, here's another DVD that you must see. When The Fab 5 aired on ESPN, I passed on it; I thought I knew all I needed to know about the team and its disappointing loss to North Carolina in the NCAA finals. I didn't.
Watching Black Magic and The Fab 5 provided the answers that I needed regarding many of my questions regarding both basketball and life in America. Sports-nuts need the information that these two works provide. Both the NCAA and the NBA are not what they seem, or seemed, to be. But we should have known this, I guess.
Ray, Don't forget John Trapp who played professionally. I saw him at a BB Game in either Houston or Atlanta (can't remember which). I called out his name when he was going to the locker room but he didn't acknowledge me. I believe he was in the class of 1961 or 2. He didn't last long though.
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