From 'bottom of totem pole,' NBA begins its climb in 1950s

A career in the NBA seemed such an uncertainty as the 1950s arrived that Bob Cousy considered driving school a better option than playing for a team he didn’t even know how to find on a map.

“Basketball was at the bottom of the totem pole,” said Cousy, one of the sport's few bankable stars at the time.

The NBA, known today as a leader when it comes to culture and racial issues, was anything but at a time when segregation divided the country. It was a powerless, fledgling league trying to find its footing. Franchises were folding and few paid much attention to the NBA.

When Jackie Robinson became Major League Baseball’s first Black player in 1947, Cousy remembered it being major national news.

Three years later, Cousy's Boston Celtics made Chuck Cooper the NBA’s first Black player to be drafted.

“And to this day I have yet to read a story about Chuck Cooper breaking the color line in the NBA, because as I say nobody gave a damn what color we were or what we were doing,” said Cousy, now 93.

The powerless NBA largely sat idly by, watching events like the Supreme Court ruled on Brown v. Board of Education challenging racial segregation in public schools, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and national guard troops being sent to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation and protect the Little Rock Nine at Central High School.

However, a foundation was being built for what, as the NBA begins its 75th season, is one of the most influential sports leagues in the world — on and off the court. The 1950s would bring in the league’s first Black stars. The decade also saw the advent of the 24-second shot clock, which sped up the game and made it a more attractive product.

Outspoken and fiercely independent Black stars like Bill Russell,...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/From-bottom-of-totem-pole-NBA-begins-its-climb-16542248.php