Oscar Robertson's Early Impact on the Game

I've always been a little uncomfortable with the whole MLK Day/basketball conflation. For instance, I'm going to do some service today, which means I'll miss a huge high school tournament here, and get back just in time for Bron/Kobe.

Nonetheless, while we shouldn't equate progress in American history with the story of African-Americans asserting themselves in sports, there are some moments that seem important, part of a larger narrative of struggle and self-definition. This all-important clip is one of these. Here's Oscar Robertson's Crispus Attucks High team of 1956, taking on Lafayette for the Indiana state championship. Crispus Attucks hadn't lost all year, and were the defending champs, but Lafayette clearly had the structure of the game (see: no shot clock), and The Man on its side. But Robertson almost single-handedly wrested control away from them, and in the process, once and for all transformed Hoosier-dom.

Then the authorities cut short celebrations for fear of a race riot, a sad footnote but also proof that something big had happened.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.