They Cleared the Lane

Through in-depth interviews with players, their families, coaches, teammates, and league officials, Ron Thomas tells the story of what basketball was really like for the first black NBA players, including superstars such as Maurice Stokes and Bill Russell, and the league's first black coaches.

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Today, black players comprise more than eighty percent of the National Basketball Association's rosters, providing a strong and valued contribution to professional basketball. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, pro basketball was tainted by racism, as gifted African Americans were denied the opportunity to display their talents. A few managed to eke out a living playing for the New York Renaissance and Harlem Globetrotters, black professional teams that barnstormed widely, playing local teams or in short-lived leagues. Also, a sprinkling of black players were on integrated teams. Modern professional basketball began to take shape in the late 1940s, during which time the NBA was formed. Fearful of economic repercussions, team owners originally imposed an unwritten ban on black players. But pressured by several progressive owners and the increasing emergence of talented black players, the nba gradually accepted integration. A few pioneers, such as Sweetwater Clifton, Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd, and Don Barksdale, managed to break through and confronted discrimination and numerous frustrations. Yet they persevered, often with support from white teammates and coaches.
Through in-depth interviews with players, their families, coaches, teammates, and league officials, Ron Thomas tells the largely untold story of what basketball was really like for the first black NBA players, including early superstars such as Maurice Stokes and Bill Russell, and the league's first black coaches. They Cleared the Lane is both informative and entertaining, full of anecdotes and little-known history. Not all of the stories have happy endings, but this unfortunate truth only emphasizes how much we have gained from the accomplishments of these pioneer athletes. Ron Thomas is a sportswriter for the San Francisco Examiner and covered the NBA for nine years.