In the history of African-american participation in sports, basketball always played a key role. In fact, since 1891, although the United States was facing at that time a rising disenfranchisement of its black citizens, basketball contributed to elevate African Americans’ reputation as great players, putting in the 21st century the African-Americans and afro-descendants at the core of american sports.
Since this game was first invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a Canadian-American physical education teacher at the (then) School for Christian Workers in Springfield, Massachusetts, American college basketball has been actively participated by Black Americans for more than a century. The National Collegiate Athletic Association – Men (NCAAM), a member-led organization founded in 1906 to regulate the rules of college sport and protect young athletes, is well established, and the competition is also followed nationally by the African American communities, who cheer on the young champions who each give American basketball a gift. The tournament is so popular that almost every operator in the market has decided to provide their own odds for the NCAAM and the individual games scheduled for each round. To learn more, you can read on oddschecker a guide to the major online platforms and the different offers they provide, ranging from the best odds to the forecasts of the major sport events worldwide.
There are many famous players who, coming from the NCAAM, arrived to the world’s top basketball league: the National Basketball Association (NBA). But there are also those who paved that way in the last century, fighting for the rights of African-Americans during the segregation period and making it possible to see in our days champions like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. These Black Americans are Harry “Bucky” Lew, Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd, Harold Hunter, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Hank DeZonie. Starting from the beginning of 20th century, with Harry Lew as the first Black player to join professional basketball, and passing through the mid-century with Earl Lloyd, who became the first African-American to play in the NBA in 1950, it was these gentlemen who fought the racism and white supremacism allowing, in our times, the Kobe’s and LeBron’s to play in the NBA.
The centrality of Black Americans is not only among players. The National Basketball Association has now 15 Black head coaches among 30 teams. So half of the NBA coaches are Black. During the last five years there has been a sharp increase in their presence because in 2020/2021 there were only 7. This is not a case but a path consciously taken by the NBA; indeed, Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, said that diversity and inclusion are a priority for the league. This strongly contrasts with another sport’s major league, the National Football Association (NFL) and college football and college basketball. Silver also said he is really pleased to see that there was also an increase, not only in Black head coaches overall, but especially in head coaches who are former players. Former Black NBA players who are now head coaches include Ham, Lue, Udoka, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Doc Rivers, the Atlanta Hawks’ Nate McMillan, the Phoenix Suns’ Monty Williams, the Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Kidd and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Willie Green.
Eventually, Silver said the NBA proudly affirms its efforts in increasing Black presence among head coaches, although there needs to be more diversity in the league office and in general managers and presidents. He also said that it is important to have an increase in women in prominent roles. It’s still a long way to go but we’re on the right one.
