Sociology of Basketball: American Basketball- Changing of the Fate of African- American Bryan Ho ( ) Zoe Lam ( ) Cha Kong ( ) Crystal Wong ( ) Sherman Wong ( ) Chalmers Yip ( )

Overview Early Discrimination The Change Current Domination

Discrimination ● Racial discrimination is serious, especially in Southern United States ● Chuck Cooper : the first black player in NBA in1950 ● Few chances to participant in matches

Discrimination Referee Recruitment Customer Salary Team number Stereotype

Customer& Recruitment discrimination 1980s ● replacing black with white attendance Increased fans: 5,700 to 13,000 per year =NBA owner want more white players as to increase revenue

Salary Discrimination 1980s ● black players earn likely 20% less than the white players ● discriminated the African-American Limited participation 1960s unofficial limited number of four

Referee discrimination ● Prof. Joseph Price Cornwell University “Racial Discrimination Among NBA Referees’’ Stereotypical idea ● their success was: physically superior only

Why there was a decline in this discrimination?

African-American Civil Rights Movement ● the phase of the movement is between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the South ● the case of Brown v. Board of education (1954) is a landmark for civil rights movement ● Martin Luther King is the leader in this movement ● he delivered a speech: “I Have a Dream” (1963) ● end up in 1968, which King died in that year

Bill Russell ● one of the most successful and decorated athletes in NBA ● one of first big earners in NBA, he earned around $100,000 in salary in 1965 ● an outspoken backer of civil rights movement ● charged the NBA with maintaining a de facto quota system which limited the number of blacks on each team ● used self- experiences to point out the problems

The Story of “Glory Road”

Background 1966 NCAA Basketball National Final Game ● It happened in Civil Right Era ● Kentucky “Wildcats” vs Texas Western “Miners” ● Texas Western’s head coach Don Haskins: started five black players in the game, and only played black players in the whole game ● Five black players vs Five white players on the court ● A huge milestone on American basketball history

Context ● Texas was a Southern segregated state - racism was very popular ● In the Southeast conference of NCAA - there was no black basketball players before the year when Western Texas College recruited seven black players. ● Unwritten rules of racism In the movie, “One at home, two on the road, three when you are losing” → Quota of playing black players

The Impact of The Game ● Head coach of Kentucky – Adolph Rupp -recruited the first black player in Kentucky history – Tom Payne ● In the season: every Southern conference,even the Southeast Conference -had integrated basketball teams ● Between 1966 and the average number of blacks on college teams jumped from 2.9 to 5.7 ● Blacks now were recruited as reserves as well as starters. Athletes who had been directed to small black schools -now were being lured to major state universities

As the discrimination was eased, there should be an equal situation among race…. WHY black players are over- representing in NBA?

Physically Better? ● Why are black people so good at basketball? ● Stereotypical Answers: They are made better athletes e.g. Their genes make them easier to grow muscle, their bone density is lower etc. ● But it is rejected by recent genetic researchs.

Are black people really born with better physical talent? ● 34% of white male middle school and high school students did not believe  : they can compete with African Americans in basketball ● 40% of black high school students: claimed to participate in basketball only 15% of whites: said that they did → More black people are interested to play basketball.

● "Suburban kids tend to play for the fun of it. Inner city kids look at basketball as a matter of life and death“ ● Black people work harder on basketball than white people. ● Therefore, there are more successful black athletes Why do they work so hard on sports?

Important Plot Point ● In the movie “Glory Road” One of the scene of recruiting Harry Flournoy Harry’s mother quickly accepted the offer =because she wanted to get his son the education. ● Implication: → Basketball was then treated as one of the means for African American to seek their tertiary education.

Only a small amount of black people hold a bachelor degree

Low income of black people

Huge unemployment of black people

Example Social mobility cases

Lebron James Childhood ● borned in a single parent family ● As his mother was no skill and no educational background, his mother could never keep a job =they bounced from apartment to apartment with low income. Current life ● But now his net worth is about $185 million USD, moves to the upper class while joining the NBA

Zach Randolph Childhood ● borned in a single parent family. ● His mother, Mae Randolph, raised her four children without a male influence ● Their family was destitute, on welfare much of his childhood. ● Randolph wore the same pair of jeans to school day after day Current Life ● But now Zach Randolph now owns $65 million USD,moves to the upper class while joining the NBA.

Conclusion How? ● In the 50s and 60s - The discrimination in American basketball was severe ● Things started to change in the 60s - Civil Right Movement NCAA Basketball Final  Black people have the equal chance to compete in basketball Why? ● Black people are more talented as basketball players  the idea was objected ● Social factors that made black people better basketball players - Poor living standards  Spend more time and effort in playing ball =Therefore, their skills are more advanced

Reference Online resources Reference books Pomerantz, Gary M. The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

Now, please don’t hesitate! ASK Questions!

Can you think of any impact of Domination?

Rules changed =Increase excitement of each game???? Reverse discrimination =White players decreased????

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