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Proving to Society that Basketball is a Game for Everyone

According to the article Low Post-Blackness: Race and the Status of the NBA, in 2015,

African American players made up 76% of the NBA while in comparison, to this day, only a

handful of Native Americans have played professional basketball. Women’s basketball has come

a long way yet the popularity of the game does not even compare to men’s basketball. Although

today their opportunities in the game of basketball vary, African Americans, Native Americans

and women all overcame similar adversity to not only be accepted as basketball players but to be

accepted as athletes in society. Despite being talented, African Americans, Native Americans

and women all had their basketball skills overlooked due to either their ethnicity or gender.

Today many of the greatest basketball players are African American but for these stars,

like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Lebron James to be where they are today, it took many,

not only extremely talented but resilient African American players to pave the way for them.

Astonishingly, some African American players began integrating the game of basketball even

before integration of African Americans into society began. As Jim Crowe laws were abolished

in 1965, the first African American, Bill Garrett, to integrate college basketball was years before

that in 1947.

During Bill Garrett’s senior year in high school, he was the greatest high school

basketball player in the entire state of Indiana, being named Mr. Basketball for that season.

Despite this, less talented basketball players were offered scholarships over Garrett merely

because Garrett’s talent was overlooked because of his race. Based off of his basketball skills

and composure on the court, if Garrett was white, scouts would have been fighting over him.

This was a common occurrence for African American players. Even if they were the greatest on

the team, a less talented white player would always be picked over them. Under these
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circumstances, Bill Garrett being the first African American to play in the Big Ten was a huge

step for all African American players following him.

Although Garrett was a star on the court, he was not accepted and was treated inferior

compared to his white teammates. Being the only African American to play in the entire league

was not easy. Garret faced numerous difficulties. Other teams and fans felt animosity towards

Garrett because he was African American. In Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett

and the Integration of College Basketball, author Graham writes “Often it was unusually loud

booing or harder than normal elbows.” (148) Unfortunately, at times it was even worse as fans

would use racial slurs to degrade Garrett.

The difficulties Garrett faced were not unique to him. For example, similar to Garrett, the

Harlem Globetrotters were stars on the basketball but were treated poorly off the court. Both Bill

Garrett and the Globetrotters struggled to find hotels that would permit them to stay. After being

denied a stay at a hotel and service at a restaurant, Globetrotter player Harrison recalls “Later, we

found out that a performing chimpanzee was in town, sponsored by a bowling alley. That

chimpanzee was allowed into the hotel and given a big suite. Here we were, human beings, and

we couldn't get into the hotel or get anything to eat.” (Marcus) By the hotel being so

accommodating to a chimpanzee and refusing to even allow, not only a team of talented

basketball players, but human beings, to stay shows how extreme the mistreatment of African

Americans was.

When the NBA first began, African Americans were strictly prohibited from playing.

Even when the Harlem Globetrotters defeated the best team in the NBA, the Minneapolis Lakers

in 1948, African Americans were still not accepted into the league. This shows the injustice
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African American players faced. However, over the decades African American basketball

players overcame this adversity entirely as today they are the majority in the NBA.

In comparison, to this day Native Americans are still struggling to overcome the

adversity they face and become successful basketball players. There are numerous reasons why

there is a lack of professional Native American basketball players and one reason is certainly not

lack of talent. Native Americans have been facing oppression ever since Columbus “discovered”

America in 1492. Rowland Keshena, a resident on the Navajo reservation says “Looking at it

from my own experience, my own nation’s reservation is gripped by abject poverty and utter

desperation and isolation. Alcohol and drug use are killing more of us than Custer and Sherman

could have ever have hoped to with guns and bombs, and there is little hope for the future when

faced with the full force of the white supremacist, Christian, patriarchal capital-imperialist

machine that is the United States Federal government.” Life on the reservation is difficult and

has lots of hardships.

In regards to the hoop dream, African Americans are extremely successful while Native

Americans rarely make it as professional basketball players. Both races are victims of being

oppressed in the United States of America yet today African Americans are far better off than

Native Americans. It’s not feasible to determine which race faced worse oppression in the past

but Native Americans are struggling a lot more today than African Americans. There are

numerous reason for this struggle. A significant reason is most certainly how much of a minority

Native Americans are. Native Americans make up 6.6 million of the population while African

Americans make up 38 million of the population. (Infoplease)

Another huge reason is the Native Americans’ overall way of life. Living on the

reservation provides Native Americans with the feeling of comfort. Native Americans who hope
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to leave the reservation are considered traitors. This is significant to their lack of achieving the

hoop dream because this dream requires leaving the reservation. One of the most successful

Native American basketball players, Shoni Schimmel, had a difficult time leaving the

reservation. Schimmel, like many Native Americans, grew up very family oriented. She was one

of seven siblings, both of her grandmothers traveled across the state to watch her every game and

her mother was also her coach.

Schimmel’s mother was a huge part of her success. In the book Counting Coop, Sharon

Laforge, a Native American basketball star lacked a strong mother figure. Sharon’s mother was

in and out of Laforge’s life and suffered from alcoholism, a problem for many Native

Americans. According to the article Native Americans in the US Today: Oppressed and Ignored,

“Alcoholism affects eight out of ten families on the Reservation.” Schimmel made it to the NBA

while Laforge threw her talent away. If Laforge had a mother similar to Schimmel’s mother, she

most likely would have capitalized on her talent. Since alcoholism is a big issue for Native

Americans, it is one of the big factors so few make it off of the Reservation. Alcoholism not only

affects the alcoholic but it harms the lives of their family too.

In the book Counting Coop, Colton writes “The only sign of energy in the town is the

ubiquity of basketball hoops, on telephone poles, sides of houses, scrawny trees. These hoops

aren’t fancy Air Jordan NBA specials purchased at the Rim Rock Mall in Billings, they have

rotting plywood backboards and flimsy rims drooping toward the hardened dirt.” (3) This is a

huge similarity between Native American and African American hoop dreamers. These players

have so much passion for the game that they always make the best out of their situation. Bill

Garrett is a prime example because since the Booker T. Elementary School was for African

Americans, the school had limited funds and was run down. The run down court never deterred
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Garret from practicing just like the way playing on the dirt rather than a court never stopped

Schimmel. Ironically, the lack of resources made Schimmel the player she is today as instead of

driving to the hoop she would have to shoot threes because it’s too difficult to dribble on dirt.

Not only did African Americans and Native Americans have to conquer adversity to be

accepted as basketball players, but women had to do the same. In the case of women athletes

today, they are still not equal with their male counterparts. Women’s sports are far less popular

than men’s sports. The lack of popularity leads to a lack of resources for women. Male

dominated sports typically get more funding and have larger fan bases.

Funding for women’s sports used to be nonexistent until Title IX passed in 1972. It was

typical for women to receive no support from their schools. There were numerous disadvantages

to this including having to buy their own uniforms, scheduling their own games and finding a

volunteer coach. By not receiving scholarships to further their basketball career, many women

were not able to pursue their hoop dreams.

One very rare exception of women athletes receiving more funding than men athletes is

the Flying Queens who were beyond fortunate not only due to scholarships but their wealthy

benefactor Claude Hutcherson. For women athletes their situation was far from typical.

According to the article Before Uconn There Was Wayland, “Wayland’s players traveled in a

fleet of Beechcraft Bonanzas, stayed at upscale hotels, ate at the best restaurants, wore identical

blouses and skirts on the road and had their hair styled courtesy of Hutcherson, who also
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provided the satiny blue-and-gold uniforms.” Taken from the article is this photo, showing the

Flying Queens riding around

with Hutcherson while showing

off one of their trophies. They

are seen wearing their

matching blouses and skirts

with their hair done. During

their time, this was a beyond

lavish way to travel for a

college basketball team. Their financial resources contributed to their success and if other female

teams had equal resources women’s basketball would be more popular.

The Flying Queens were so wildly successful due to their wealthy benefactor but even

without their benefactor they would have been a great team as all the girls were talented and

considered basketball a priority. It took the Flying Queens much persistence to even find a coach

in the beginning and then once they had their coach their benefactor came along. A player with

the motivation similar to Sharon Laforge would not even reach the level of being funded by a

wealthy benefactor because it took the Flying Queens much determination to find a coach. On

the other hand, Shoni Schimmel, could be considered a Flying Queen. Like the Flying Queens,

her success was not based on pure luck. Schimmel had an unfortunate event, getting injured her

high school junior season, that could have easily could have taken away her career. Instead of

giving up, she came back even stronger.

In society, gender roles and stereotypes based of sex exist. Today’s society accepts

women athletes but to a certain extent as once these athletes go against society’s conception of
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femininity, they are critiqued. For example, one of the greatest female athletes, Serena Williams,

is often body shamed for being toned and having muscles. William’s tip top shape should be

admired, instead of shunned but this is common treatment for female athletes. In Finding a Way

to Play: The Pioneering spirit of Women in Basketball, Lannin quotes a successful female golfer

who grew up in the 1930s discussing the phenomenal athlete Babe Didrikson saying “The image

remains vivid of the geometric, bosomles, narrow-thin Texan with the hacked off hair.” (73) For

someone to shun an athlete for the way they look is absurd and never would this happen to a

male athlete. Still to this day, this idea potentially discourages many women to play sports as

they do not want to be shunned by society for having the body needed to excel in their sport.

In conclusion, basketball is more than a recreational game. Basketball helped minorities

become accepted into society and also proved to society that females are capable of being

talented athletes. Without the game of basketball, integration of African Americans would have

taken a longer period of time. It was through basketball, on the court, that African Americans

were seen as equals for one of the first times. Also, when women began to play with the same

rules as men, this was proof to society that women have the same athletic capability as men.
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Works Cited

“Before UConn, There Was Wayland.” Jere Longman, http://www.nytim es.com /2010/

12/19/sports/ncaabasketball/19wayland.html?_r=0.

Colton, Larry. Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn.

New York: Warner Books, 2000. Print.

Frank, Ka. “Native Americans in the US Today: Oppressed and Ignored.” Frontlines of

Revolutionary Struggle, 30 Mar. 2010,

revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/native-americans-in-the-us-today-

oppressed-and-ignored/.

Gram, B. “Low Post-Blackness: Race and the Status of the NBA.” Seven Scribes, 9 Apr. 2015,

sevenscri Graham, Bill and Rachel Graham Cody. Getting Open: The Unknown story of

Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball. Indiana UP. 2006. bes.com/low-

post-blackness-race-and-the-status-of-the-nba/.

“Infoplease.” Infoplease, www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762156.html.

Lannin, Joanne. Finding a Way to Play: the Pioneering Spirit of Women in Basketball. Place of

Publication Not Identifed, Portlandia Press, 2015.

Marcus, Steven. "Harlem Globetrotters Faced Racism for Years in U.S. "Newsday. 13 Feb. 2010.

Web. 02 Oct. 2016.