The true story behind Crispus Attucks High School and the all-Black basketball team loosely depicted as the championship opponent in the beloved classic sports movie Hoosiers , pulling back the curtain on the unheralded underdog playing the game at the highest level in the 1950s in a racially divided Indiana. For far too long the storyline of Indiana basketball has been dominated by Hoosiers . Framed as the ultimate underdog, feel-good story, there has also long been a cultural debate surrounding the film, and The Real Hoosiers sets out to illuminate the narrative absent from the film. This is the story of the real-life team that inspired the team that most have long assumed was Hickory High’s championship opponent. They were Crispus Attucks, an all-Black team playing in the 1950s in a racially divided Indiana. Veteran sportswriter and the bestselling author of Dream Team , Jack McCallum, excavates the history of the Crispus Attucks Tigers. After a crushing loss to Milan High School (the real Indiana team Hickory High is based on) in the 1954 semi-final (not the final), Attucks went on to win back-to-back Indiana state championships led by a young Oscar Robertson and an African American coach who recognized the seemingly insurmountable challenges of playing basketball in a state that was a bastion not only for the game but also for the Ku Klux Klan.This is much more than a sports story. The history of Attucks is rich, far beyond the basketball court, and filled with cultural influence and importance. The Real Hoosiers replaces a lacuna in the history of Indiana while dissecting the myths and lore of basketball; placing the game in the context of migration, segregation, and integration; and enhancing our understanding of this country’s struggle for Civil Rights.

The Real Hoosiers: Crispus Attucks High School, Oscar Robertson, and the Hidden History of Hoops PDF

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