When it comes to racial and ethnic equality, our nation has been a work in progress, and still is a work in progress. The 1950's were a time where there were some dramatic changes in the U.S., including the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education.
The story of 1954 DuSable basketball team gives one a perspective on some of the climate and attitudes toward race in the 1950's. Much of what I am going to write in this blog post is based on the book, The DuSable Panthers: The Greatest Blackest Saddest Team From the Meanest Street in Chicago, written by Ira Berkow in 1978.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
1916- Ziggy Hamblin was first African-American to play basketball at Galesburg HS, Another African-American did not play at GHS until the 1940's when Joe Henderson played for the Streaks.
1930- Chicago Phillips was the first All-Black team to win the City Championship, by beating an All-White Morgan Park. At this time the City Champ automatically advanced to the Sweet Sixteen at Champaign. Phillips was not permitted to participate so Morgan Park went instead.
1947- Jackie Robinson breaks into Major League Baseball.
1947-8- Bill Garrett at Indiana was first African-American to play in the Big
10. No other African-Americans played in the Big Ten during his career.
10. No other African-Americans played in the Big Ten during his career.
1950-1- Earl Lloyd for the Rochester Royals was first African-American in the NBA.
1951-2- Pete Thierry started for Galesburg HS, and Harold Ewing Jr. (Bumpy Nixon's cousin) were the 3rd and 4th African-Americans to play for GHS.
1952-3- DuSable won the Chicago City Championship and was allowed to participate in the Sweet 16 at Champaign. They lost their first round game. They were the first "All-Black team" to be allowed to play at State.
1953-4- DuSable again went to State. They advanced to the State Championship game before losing to Mt. Vernon in a controversial game.
1954- Brown vs. Boards of Education- "separate is not equal"
1954-5- Oscar Robertson and Crispus Attucks HS in Indiana became the first All-Black HS to win a State Championship anywhere in the United States.
1956-7- Galesburg started four African-Americans which resulted in hate mail to Coach John Thiel. In an Elite 8 game, the predominately Black Galesburg team was whistled for 23 fouls vs. 7 fouls for Collinsville.
1957- Little Rock 9- Nine African-American students enrolled at Little Rock Central HS.
1957-8- Chicago Marshall became first All-Black team to win the Illinois basketball title.
Dec. 29, 1962- George Ireland had four African-American starters in his lineup that season. On Dec. 29, Loyola became the first Division I team to play five African-Americans at the same time. This team went onto win the National Championship. Today, they are the only Illinois school to win an NCAA title in basketball.
1963- Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech."
1965-6- Texas Western became the first team to win the NCAA basketball title with 5 African-Americans starting.
1959-1964- Farmville, Virginia closed their public schools rather integrating.
1970- Will Robinson, first African-American basketball coach at D1 university- Illinois State University.
1970-1- Terri Wilburn became the first African-American female selected to be a varsity cheerleader at Galesburg HS. (Donnie Thierry had been a male African-American cheerleader in the 1940's.)
1970-1- Thomas Payne (7'2") was first African-American to play for the University of Kentucky. Adolph Rupp started coaching at Kentucky in 1930. It was 40 years later that an African-American played for him at Kentucky.
THE DuSABLE PLAYERS
Sweet Charlie Brown- 6'2 1/2" Sr- His name was inspired from "Sweet Georgia Brown." He was a great jump shooter. He played at Indiana, where he was #5 scorer in the Big Ten. He left Indiana after his sophomore year. He transferred to Seattle where he played with Elgin Baylor. They made it to the Final Four before losing to Kentucky in the championship game in 1958. He was third team All-American in 1959. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals but did not play in the NBA. In 2006, he was named to 100 Legends of the IHSA State Tourney.
Paxton Lumpkin- Sr- He was a high school All-American. He was considered the best player in Illinois in 1954. In 1954, he averaged 27ppg and 11apg. He played two season for Indiana before leaving school to join the Harlem Globetrotters.
Karl Dennis- 6'3" Sr- He had not been allowed until his senior year as he had an enlarged heart. He went onto play at Northern Illinois where he still holds the career field goal pct. record.
McKinley Cowsen- He was not aggressive and tended to hang on the perimeter to shoot. After graduation, he received a scholarship to Iowa. Iowa withdrew the scholarship after they found out he was married- they did not want to pay the extra cost of married housing. He became a start at DePaul.
Shellie McMillon- He averaged 23.8ppg in the four State Tourney games.
Eugene Howard- He was a reserve guard.
Bobby Jackson- He was a mid-year grad, who started the first half of the season. He went onto start at Northwestern.
Curley Johnson- He also was a mid-year grad, who went onto play at Bradley University was he became a starter.
Reggie Henderson- 6'5" Sr- He was the star of the 1953 team. He had the combination of being physical and quick. His parents had to be convinced to allow him to play because his parents had a rule that he had to be home by dark. He went onto play at Bradley University where he started on an NIT championship team. In college, he experienced not being able to stay in the same hotel as the white players. In a game at New Orleans, when he fouled out, the college band played, "Bye, Bye Blackbird." He went onto play in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons.
Davie Henderson- He was younger brother of Reggie. He went onto to play in the NFL for sixteen years.
THE DuSABLE EXPERIENCE
DuSable was coached by 36 year old Jim Brown. Brown and Ray Crowe of Crispus Attucks in Indianapolis are believed to be the only African-Americans at an integrated school.
For their home games, they played in a gym that held 600, but often played in front of crowds of 1000. DuSable had success in 1953 and knew they would be good again in 1954. After losing in 1953, they realized they needed to prepare for playing downstate teams and their style. They played road games at Moline and Danville.
While downstate team's style was an adjustment for DuSable, DuSable's style was an adjustment for the downstate teams. DuSable averaged over 80 points per game, and 25% of the time scored over 100 points. On defense, they gambled and might give up layups but were forcing the other team to play fast. While most teams today may take 45-65 shots per game, DuSable averaged an unbelievable 95 shots per game. It sounds like they were Grinnell before Grinnell. Legendary Pinckneyville coach, Duster Thomas described DuSable this way,"DuSable ain't nothing but a five ring circus."
In 1954, DuSable again won the City Championship and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. DuSable was undefeated. Once they got outside of Chicago, they were not permitted to eat in the restaurants but got the food to go. Charlie Brown the weekend at State by saying,"I felt my blackness every minute of every hour of every day."
Downstate official were all-white, and they tended to call the game much closer than the Chicago officials. This was not good for the super aggressive DuSable team.
Experts felt the top teams going into the State tourney were DuSable, Pinckneyville, Moline, Quincy, and Mt. Vernon- in that order. Coach Duster Thomas of Pinckneyville shared his thoughts on DuSable,"How can a team expect to play 4 rough games in three days in that run-run pattern and not sprain some ankle's, get sorefeet, or just run themselves right out of gas?" Obviously such comments just fueled DuSable. Perhaps Thomas represented the old guard of Illinois coaches who did not like the change.
THE STATE TOURNEY
In the Sweet 16 game, DuSable beat Bowen 87-64. Fans from throughout the state at the game were in awe of DuSable even in the warmups as they were dunking the basketball. A tradition among DuSable fans was that when they got up late, they would chant, "Showtime, showtime, showtime." They wanted to see Sugar Lumpkin do his Harlem Globetrotter routine to run out the clock. In this game, they could have state record for most points in a game but Lumpkin did the "showtime."
Despite the delay, DuSable got up 110 field goal attempts and making 39. Of concern, DuSable had 21 fouls and Bowen shot 32 free throws. Charlie Brown was 10-34 and Paxton Lumpkin went 8-28- they got their shots. In the meantime in the Pinckneyville vs. Springfield game, combined the two teams got off a total of 83 shots.
In the quarterfinals, DuSable matched up against Quincy. Quincy led by one at the quarter but DuSable came back to win 80-66. In this game, DuSable only took 56 shots, but also only committed 13 fouls.
In the semi-finals, DuSable defeated Edwardsville 89-73. This established a record for most points in a game. DuSable got the 89 points on 87 shots. In the meantime, Pinckneyville was upset by Mt. Vernon 70-44. So it was DuSable vs. Mt. Vernon for the State Championship. This was the first time that any public league champion had ever made it to the championship game.
Mt.Vernon was 27-3. Albert Avant was the star of Mt.Vernon and their only African-American player. Mt.Vernon had won State titles in 1949 and 1950, while taking third in 1952. They had been considered underdogs in three of their four games at State.
This was the first IHSA tourney game to be televised. Some claim that they picked out officials who would call it close. One of the officials supposedly called a foul on a player after he made a ft but in backing up bumped an opponent. Both refs had a reputation for "calling it close."
The game was tied at half 35-35, and after three 57-57. Mt. Vernon won the game 76-70 to end DuSable's run for perfection and the State title.
The Controversy
The end of the game was full of controversy-
1- Mt. Vernon outscored DuSable 20-10 from the foul line.
2- Three DuSable players (Brown, Dennis, Lumpkin) all fouled out.
3- One Mt.Vernon player had three fouls, no other had more than two.
4- In the fourth quarter, DuSable had four baskets taken away for "violations."
5- Three block or charge calls occurred down the stretch- all went Mt. Vernon's way.
For some, there was a real question about the calls of one of the refs that seemed to mostly go against DuSable. Years later when Berkow was writing his book, he went to interview that official, who lived in southern Illinois. When asked about the game, the official responded,"I know I did a good job. That's right. I never even give that game a thought. And race prejudice? Hell, I've never had nothin' against n***ers."
A Sports Illustrated article later alleged that the same ref was involved in a college gambling scandal. After he bought a new business and new car, the IRS investigated and could find no source of income to support those purchase. The charges were never proven but he was later banned from officiating in the Big 10, the Big 8, and the Missouri Valley.
THE IRONY
In his book, Berkow shares a story that took place after the community celebration in Mt. Vernon. Albert Avant, the star and only African-American, of the Mt.Vernon team was a community hero. The next Monday, he decided to see if he could a milk shake at a local drugstore that did not serve Blacks. The conversation went something like this-
Drug Store- "Great game, congratulation!"
Avant- "Thank you, sir."
Drug Store- "What can I do for you?"
Avant- "I'd like to order a milkshake."
Drug Store- Now Al, you know we don't serve coloreds here."
RECOMMENDATION
I would highly recommend:
The DuSable Panthers: The Greatest, Blackest, Saddest Team From the Meanest Street in Chicago by Ira Berkow
