Who Is Orame Saperstein An Unconventional Leader

Greg Simpson sat in his dorm room that night and stewed about his rejection. When Simpson hit the Five Star courts the next day he was focused and determined to make a point. Despite being younger than everyone in the sophomore league, he dominated his rivals. He basically pillaged Five Star. When the week was over he was the league’s leading scorer, led his team to the championship earning the MVP honor and was named the top prospect in camp. To top off his week, Simpson threw down a monster dunk in the All Star game, an event that was witnessed by many of the top college coaches in the nation. At that point, Greg Simpson’s name was on the lips of every major college coach in the country. And he was yet to play a high school basketball

Professional basketball started to develop. As said by Reema “Teams flourished across the country throughout the 1920s. There were thousands of men's professional basketball teams in towns and cities all over the United States. Sometimes Players jumped from team to team and teams played in different cities. Leagues sometimes came and went”(slide 9). Many teams started to develop like the Celtics and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Most African American that want to make it to the National Football League (NFL) or the National basketball League (NBA), do not realize there is a slim chance to none of actually going into a professional sport. Gates writes “African American youngster has about as much of becoming a professional athlete as he or she does of winning the lottery” (1). Not many African American youngsters know that there are “12 times more black lawyers than black athletes” or there are only 1200 blacks who play in a professional sport (1). There are 12 times more black professionals that are in the communities accommodating to the needs of those who need the assistance with either legal or health issues. The youth can achieve greatness in today’s society by getting a degree and forming a foundation to make enough to be financially stable.

In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young

In the early spring of 1969 a group of Boston community leaders had an idea about creating a city-wide basketball program to both introduce the

There are many high school basketball phenoms that are scouted by pro teams even when they are in high school. A select few in the past have gone straight to the NBA out of high school and had a lot of success, while some players go to college all four years to develop their skills at the next level. However, there are athletes that will waste one year at the college level just so they could get to the NBA. Why would you waste one year of your life when you could have already been in the NBA a year earlier? Basketball players should either go to college all four years and enhance their skills and get a solid education. If not, skip college and go straight to the NBA, rather than wasting a year of your life, and possibly a classroom seat for a person who wanted to get an education.

Chuck Cooper had became the first black NBA player on April 25th, 1950. Drafted by the Boston Celtics, Cooper had gone through hell as being the only black man in the NBA. He had played six seasons for the Celtics, and one season for the Milwaukee St. Louis Hawks. Before finishing his career with the Harlem Magicians he has played one season with the Forth Wayne Pistons. Cooper had earned his masters in social work from the University of Minnesota. He also had became the city of Pittsburgs black head of directior of the department of of parks and recreation. He also worked as a supervisor of Pittsburgs national bank affirmative action program before he had died in 1984.

The Boston Celtics had 29 wins the season before they drafted Bird. The team improved by 32 games to go 61-21 in Bird's first season. The main reason they won so many more games was because of Larry Bird. Bird was not just a shooter, he was also a great passer and rebounder too, which in turn made his teammates better as a whole. In his second year in the NBA, Bird and Celtics won the NBA Championship against the Houston Rockets. Larry Bird would go on to win two more championships with the Celtics. He would also win the Most Valuable Player award three times. This is what Larry Bird said after his second Most Valuable Player award, "While I was still trying to figure out how I could improve my game for the next season, I was notified that I had been selected as the league MVP for the second year in a row"(Bird and Ryan 153). Larry Bird after being in the league for seven years and winning two straight MVPs was still trying to find ways to get better. Bird proved that perseverance and dedication to the sport he loved would lead to a successful and rewarding

The Harlem Rens first established on February 13, 1923, by Robert “Bob” Douglas, the owner and coach of the team, and also known as the “Father of Black Professional Basketball”. By creating an agreement with the owner of the Harlem Renaissance Casino and Ballroom, Douglas was able to secure the ballroom as the location for the team’s home court. As a result, the first professional African American basketball team was created, and because they were the only non-white basketball

We can all agree that basketball is almost becoming popular around the world. So many people play this sport but do people know how basketball started and how it evolute throughout the years since basketball was borned? So like every other sports and creations, there has to be a inventor and in basketball there was a man by the name of Dr. James Naismith. “Created in 1891 in a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA gymnasium has grown into a game played worldwide by more than 300 million people”(historybits.com). So this game has been out for a very long period of time with many changing of the rules in basketball throughout the history. When it was first played in the late 1800s, there were different rules and even different looking basketball. As for the rules, originally there would be 10 people on the court but it first started with 18 people on the court which after couple of years it changed to only 10 people. Substitution was also different and the rule for this was at first no one can enter until the next game. “The rule was changed in 1920 to allow a player to re-enter the game one time. In 1934, the rule was expanded to allow players to re-enter the game twice, and, in 1945 the rule was finally changed to permit players to return to the game an unlimited number of times”(hooptactics.com). The first basketball looked very alike a football but round. The backboards were made out of straight wood and the baskets were made out of peach baskets or square boxes. There was only

Nicholas Andrade 1/9/18 Period 4 Washington Generals The Washington Generals are an American exhibition basketball team. This basketball team is best known for their losing streak against their nemesis The Harlem Globetrotters. The Washington Generals team’s coach was Louis “Red” Klotz and was also a player of his team.

When it comes to sports, it was not until 1947, that Jackie Robinson was able to integrate baseball. But there were many other famous African American athletes before him. Other famous names include Jesse Owens who was the clear star of the 1936 Olympic Games, and blacks such as Ralph Metcalfe, Archie Williams, Frederick Pollard Jr., and Mack Robinson claimed half of the medals won by the United States in Berlin. Football, basketball, and golf would gradually follow suit. Professional basketball integrated in 1950 when the Boston Celtics drafted Chuck Cooper. The New York Knickerbockers soon signed Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, although Earl Lloyd was the first black to actually play in a National Basketball Association (NBA) game during the

On May 6, 1999, Bill Russell, the man who redefineed the center by his unique shot-blocking, man-to-man defense and rebounding ability, and contributed to his team Celtics by his outstanding performance and remarkable leadership, finally attended his own retirement ceremony after 27 years of retirement. This great man in the history of American basketball refused to have a ceremony in 1972 in Boston, the city he perceived as the “racist city”, because of his concern of discrimination. On February 15th, 2011, Bill Russell received the Medal of Freedom from President Obama for his contribution to civil rights movement. Obama described him as “the man who stand up for the dignity of all men”. From being insulted, being refused in restaurants during tournaments, intimidating the world with his long arms and strong opinions, to challenging the politics of sports and fighting against racism, it has been a long way for Bill Russell, for American basketball, and for American society. Basketball, one of the major sports in America, presents the civil rights breakthrough both in professional games and in colleges. The book “King of the Courts: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution” by Aram Goudsouzian and “Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball” by Tom Graham, and Rachel Graham Cody, reveal the story of how two of the greatest players in the history of American basketball, broke the color barriers in basketball and foster the

The Harlem Renaissance represents the rebirth and flowering of African-American culture. Although the Harlem Renaissance was concentrated in the Harlem district of New York City, its legacy reverberated throughout the United States and even abroad, to regions with large numbers of former slaves or blacks needing to construct ethnic identities amid a dominant white culture. The primary means of cultural expression during the Harlem Renaissance were literature and poetry, although visual art, drama, and music also played a role in the development of the new, urban African-American identity. Urbanization and population migration prompted large numbers of blacks to move away from the Jim Crow south, where slavery had only transformed into institutionalized racism and political disenfranchisement. The urban enclave of Harlem enabled blacks from different parts of the south to coalescence, share experiences, and most importantly, share ideas, visions, and dreams. Therefore, the Harlem Renaissance had a huge impact in framing African-American politics, social life, and public institutions.

He got to thinking and started combining ideas from other games to make the game of what it is known today as basketball. Naismith invented this game in 1891 (Faurschou).