Black History Month is halfway gone, and on the eve of this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, we thought we would examine the rich history of Basketball and Hip-Hop.
Let us begin with the founders of the NBA as we know it today:
After succeeding his father, George V. Brown, as manager of the Boston Garden, helped to found the Basketball Association of America in 1946, and was instrumental in merging the BAA and the National Basketball League into the National Basketball Association in 1949. He founded the Celtics in 1945, and helped to transform the team into a dynasty, as the Celtics won six championships in the seven years before his death. He is buried in St. John the Evangelist Cemetery in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Brown was honored by having the NBA championship trophy named after him after he died in 1964.
A distinguished lawyer, he was of impeccable character and was instrumental in the development and success of professional basketball. On June 6, 1946, already serving as president of the American Hockey League, he was appointed president of the newly formed Basketball Association of America (BAA), becoming the first person to lead two professional leagues simultaneously.
After BAA teams signed several of the best players in the National Basketball League, Podoloff negotiated a merger between the two groups to form the National Basketball Association, or NBA, in 1949. His great organizational and administrative skills were later regarded as the key factor that kept the league alive in its often stormy formative years.
In 17 years as president, Podoloff expanded the NBA to as many as 17 teams in three divisions and worked out a 557-game schedule.
''He was the first president at the time when it was unclear whether pro basketball could ever be successful in this country,'' said David Stern, the N.B.A. commissioner, yesterday. ''It's through the efforts of sports pioneers like Podoloff that the N.B.A. has become an everyday part of the American sporting scene.'' (source: NYTimes)
Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League (NBL) was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later dissolve and some of its teams would be absorbed into the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949. Unlike the records and statistics of the rival BAA, NBL records and statistics are not considered valid in official NBA totals for records and statistics.
The composition of race and ethnicity in the National Basketball Association (NBA) has changed throughout the league's history. The first non-white player entered the league in 1947. According to racial equality activist Richard Lapchick, the NBA in 2011 was composed of 78 percent black players, 17 percent whites, four percent Latinos, and one percent Asian. The league had by far the highest percentage of black players of any major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
Wataru Misaka debuted in 1947 as the first non-white and Asian-American player in the league. Blacks first appeared in the NBA in 1950. Chuck Cooper was the first black player drafted in the NBA. On April 26, 1950, Harold Hunter signed with the Washington Capitols, becoming the first African American to sign a contract with any NBA team in history. However, Hunter was cut from the team during training camp and did not play professionally. On May 24, Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton was the second African-American player to sign an NBA contract. Earl Lloyd was the first to play in the NBA. Hank DeZonie also played that year. At that time, blacks believed they were limited by an unofficial league quota of four black players per team
The term Black Fives refers to all-black basketball teams that thrived in the United States between 1904, when basketball was first introduced to African Americans on a large scale organized basis, and 1950, when the National Basketball Association became racially integrated. The period is known as the "Black Fives Era" or "Early Black Basketball" or simply "Black Basketball".
Early basketball teams were often called "fives” in reference to the five starting players. All-black teams were known as colored quints, colored fives, Negro fives, or black fives.
Dozens of all-black teams emerged during the Black Fives Era, in New York City, Washington, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and other cities. They were sponsored by or affiliated with churches, athletic clubs, social clubs, businesses, newspapers, YMCA branches, and other organizations.
The terms "Black Fives" and "Black Fives Era" are trademarked phrases owned by Black Fives, Inc., whose founder and owner, Claude Johnson, coined the terms while researching and promoting the period's history.
The season also marked the first appearance of black players in the league. Chuck Cooper became the first black player to be drafted when he was chosen by Boston; Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton became the first to sign an NBA contract when he signed with New York, and Earl Lloyd became the first to play in an NBA regular-season game because the schedule had his Washington team opening one day before the others.
Lloyd said he was rarely allowed to go into restaurants or hotels with his white teammates. While playing for Syracuse during the 1952-53 season, he wasn’t allowed to play at a preseason game at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, because he was Black. The Nationals still played the game, and to this day it pains Lloyd that none of his teammates showed any remorse. In 1968, Lloyd became the NBA’s first Black assistant coach with Detroit. After seven games with the Capitols, Lloyd was drafted into the military and sent to Korea for two years. When he returned to the United States, the Capitols had gone out of business, and so he went to play for the Syracuse Nationals (who later became the Philadelphia 76ers). (source: newsone.com)
Nat "Sweetwater Clifton (source: NBA.com)
Basketball is a single that was written by Stephen Wiley and recorded by Kurtis Blow released in 1984 from his album Ego Trip. Music video for the original Kurtis Blow version was produced and directed by Michael Oblowitz in New York City in 1984. The song was used in the opening video, and as part of the soundtrack, in the video game NBA 2K12.
BLOW: I played everything as a kid: baseball, tennis, track, swimming, football, and basketball. I was actually a better football player than basketball, because I'm kind of short, you know? As a spectator, I liked them all, but basketball became my favorite after I met my idol. I loved Walt Frazier, Dick Barnett, Earl Monroe, those Knicks teams of course, but I was a big, big fan of Julius Erving. Dr. J., he was the guy and I hated — hated — that he was in the ABA. Things would have been much better for everybody if Dr. J. was winning those championships rings in the NBA where he belonged (source: sbnation.com).
The 1985 NBA Draft was the first to use the NBA Draft Lottery. Prior to that year, the team with the worst record in the NBA would get the first pick in the draft (as is done in the National Football League). The Golden State Warriors, which represent the San Francisco Bay Area, finished with the worst record in the NBA during the 1984–85 season and would have had the first draft choice under the previous system. That year, Georgetown center Patrick Ewing was the favorite to be the number one pick in the draft.
In 1985-86, about 75 percent of players were black, and, on average, black players earned almost 3 percent more than white players. In fact, the only three players during that season who earned more than $2 million were black (Magic Johnson, Moses Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Also, white players tended to play in cities with lower population, a higher white share of population and higher home-game attendance.
Rappers Who Got Game
Percy Miller aka Master P had a contract with two different NBA teams: the Charlotte Hornets during the 1998-99 season, and the Toronto Raptors in 1999 pre-season. Despite this, he was never actually on the regular season roster for an NBA team. He also played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for the Fort Wayne Fury. In 2004, he played for the ABA's Las Vegas Rattlers. He took part in the 2008 McDonald's NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and scored 17 points (source: wikipedia.org)
Killa Cam was a sick basketball player back in the day. Playing for Manhattan Center High School, ‘Cam was a Top-25 recruit in 1994, earning attention from the University of Miami, Georgetown, and USC. ‘Cam dropped out of school and got his GED after losing in the first round of the State playoffs and the coaches stopped calling. Still stuck on the dream, Cam’ron enrolled at Navarro Junior College in Texas with the hopes of transferring to Miami a year later. Unfortunately that never materialized, but a career in rapping did (source: bleacherreport.com)
Also known as Jayceon Taylor, “The Game” played for Compton High School in the late 1990s, earning a basketball scholarship to Washington State University. Unfortunately for the 6’4’’ small forward, things didn’t work out, and he only lasted one semester. According to The Game, in high school he "averaged 14.9 points a game, 6 rebounds and 4 assists" while playing alongside future NBA stars Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler, Gilbert Arenas, and Tayshaun Prince. Not bad. (source: bleacherreport.com)
I was always in love with basketball as a kid, but I thought I was way better than I really was, because I didn’t have a male figure around to show me how to actually play. Me and my brother just kind of figured it out playing rec ball. I went to a middle school that didn’t have a team. That kind of set me back.
Then when I got to high school, I tried out for the team my freshman year and I got cut. I couldn’t understand because I thought I was really good, so I blamed the coaches and thought they had it out for me. Then I went out the next year and I got cut again. And that’s when I really had to take an honest look at myself and be like, yo, why did this happen? It’s got to be on me now. I can’t blame anybody else. That was the first time I started working like a real basketball player: a thousand shots a day, sprints, minute drills, one-on-one full court with the star player on the team, every day, literally, for the entire school year then the entire summer. Then I also sprouted up to 6-foot-2. By the time next season came around, I made the team. By the time I was a senior, I was finally starting. I wasn’t the star player, far from it, but my growth was so quick that by the time I was a freshman in college I had the talent of someone that should have at least been on the bench at a D-I school (source: extramustard.si.com).
The All Star Music Experience – the first ever star studded networking event of its kind – kicked off on Friday, Feb. 14th in New Orleans, Louisiana. Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, and Erick Sermon along with rap goddess Trina, were awarded at the Lifetime Achievement Presentation Dinner. Notably absent are Juvenile & Lil Wayne (in NEW ORLEANS)?!
Now, lets take a look at how Blacks are faring in the NBA off the court.
From The 2013 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association
In the NBA league office, 35.7 percent of all professional employees are people of color and 41.1 percent are women. The League Office also had 44 women serving as vice presidents in the 2012-2013 season.
“When David Stern steps down as NBA Commissioner in 2014, among the legacies he will have created is an era in professional sport when leagues and teams hired the best people possible. He embraced the moral imperative for diversity while helping to show the other leagues that diversity is also a business imperative. The evidence for the NBA’s continued commitment to racial equality is seen in the strong grades in the League Office and in many key areas on the team level. Nearly 47 percent of all head coaches were coaches of color, the second highest percentage in NBA history. The NBA set a new record for assistant coaches of color at 45.6 percent. The percentage of people of color who held team professional administration positions increased by 3.1 percentage points to 27.6 percent, the highest percentage since the 2008-09 season. However, there were notable declines for women at the team level in senior and professional administrative roles with drops of 4.3 and 4 percent, respectively.”
African-Americans comprised 76.3 percent of all NBA players. Eighty-one percent of players were players of color.
• African-American head coaches represented 43.3 percent of all NBA head coaches, the second
highest percentage in NBA history.
There were four African-American chief executive officers and presidents in the NBA. Latinos,
Asians, or those classified as “others” held none of the CEO/president positions.
NBA general managers of color decreased from 25.8 percent in 2011-2012 to 23.3 percent in the 2012-2013 season. There are six African-American (20 percent) general managers/directors of player personnel in the NBA. Rich Cho, General Manager of the Charlotte Bobcats, remains the only Asian general manager in the history of the NBA. Upon his hiring by the Portland Trailblazers in 2010, he became the first Asian-American general manager in major American men’s professional sports.
Vendor Diversity
• The NBA takes steps to further its goal of maximizing contracting opportunities for Women/Minority Business Enterprises to participate in the business opportunities generated by the NBA. The NBA has implemented a process by which potential suppliers who are Women/Minority Business Enterprises can be identified for inclusion in the NBA’s vendor procurement process.
• The NBA maintains the following vendor diversity-sourcing initiatives in connection with the NBA’s annual All-Star event: (i) building alliances in the All-Star host city with business advocacy organizations, tourism officials and local business regulatory agencies;
(ii) informing prospective local business entities of the types of contracting opportunities available by conducting vendor diversity seminars in the host city; and (iii) compiling and publishing a comprehensive vendor resource guide that serves as the central resource for the NBA, its sponsors and local contractors in identifying prospective vendors.
• The NBA continues to partner with Women/Minority Business Enterprises through other events such as the NBA Nation Tour, NBA Draft, and other events, when applicable. Based on the alliances that have been built in the All-Star host cities, we continue to provide opportunities to those businesses when we host other events in their cities.
Considering that NBA programming maintains 4 top spots in African-American households, not to mention the spending that takes place on official NBA jerseys, shoes endorsed by it's top players, etc., it makes sense to examine where this historic relationship with the National Basketball Association is headed.
BLACKS' TOP 10 PROGRAMMING - SPORTS PROGRAMS (source: The AfricAn-AmericAn consumer 2013 Report)
- Super Bowl XLVII CBS 6.5
- Super Bowl XLVII – Delay CBS 6.4
- Super Bowl XLVII Post-Game CBS 5.2
- NBA Finals on ABC – Game 7 ABC 4.4
- NBA Trophy Presentation ABC 4.0
- NBA Finals on ABC – Game 6 ABC 3.7
- Super Bowl XLVII Kick-Off CBS 3.6
- NBA Finals On ABC – Game 4 ABC 3.1
- AFC Championship on CBS CBS 3.1
- FOX NFC Championship FOX 3.0
Blacks read financial magazines 28% more than other consumers and spend an average of 87 minutes online looking at websites related to finance and investment, which is 12% higher than the overall market. however, african-americans under index for most categories within the financial sector, particularly in purchasing common financial products such as mutual funds, first mortgages, and stocks. this information indicates that there is a disconnect between curiosity and participation. Hmm... given that 37% of Black households have incomes of less than $25,000 - this"disconnect" isn't at all surprising.
Since 1954, the earliest year for which the Bureau of labor Statistics has consistent unemployment data by race, the unemployment rate among African-Americans has averaged 9.9%, almost twice the national average. In the august 2013 unemployment report published by the Bureau of labor Statistics, the rate was 13% among Blacks, compared to 7.3% as the national average. Contrary to popular belief, Blacks’ unemployment today is not significantly different than it has been historically. In spite of these numbers, Blacks have demonstrated a resiliency in coping with tough economic times.
We elected Barack Obama in 2008 in a nation with 13% Black population. Progress continues to be made, and the NBA seems to be one of the few organizations leading the charge. It will be interesting to see if/when the NBA will have a Black president of it's own. For now, I think too much fun is being had at this year's All-Star Weekend festivities to notice.
