By Eric Bowlen, Superintendent MSD of Martinsville
When people think about the names, John R. Wooden and Branch McCracken, they usually reflect on their coaching successes and their basketball pedigrees. Something that is often overlooked is their impact on our society as a whole and especially upon our racial struggles in America during the “Jim Crow” era before the onset of the Civil Rights movement. How could two rural Morgan County Indiana natives, one from Martinsville and the other from Monrovia, help alter the racial landscape in America and help usher in a movement that reshaped our country’s future? The answer lies within their relationships with two African American players, Clarence Walker and William (Bill) Garrett.
John Wooden recruited guard Clarence Walker from East Chicago Washington High School in 1946, to play for him at Indiana State Teachers College (Later changed to Indiana State University – 1965) in Terre Haute, Indiana. While playing for coach Wooden’s Sycamores, Clarence and his teammates were invited to play in the NAIB National Tournament. However, since the tournament organizers refused to allow Black players to compete in the tournament, coach Wooden turned down the offer to play. The following year, 1948, the team was once again invited to play in the NAIB National Tournament in Kansas City. The NAIB still had a prohibition against Black players participating and when coach Wooden and the Sycamores refused to play again, the NAIB changed their stance and ended their prohibition against Black players competing in their tournament. Therefore, the Sycamores entered the tournament and finished runner-up. They might have been the runner-up, however, the national basketball landscape had changed with Clarence Walker becoming the first Black player to compete in a college national basketball tournament, thus breaking the color barrier!
What role did coach Wooden play in this? Like any coach, he wanted to win. But, at what cost? Could he turn his back on one of his Black players so his team could compete in the national tournament? In his book, My Personal Best, written with Steve Jamison, Wooden writes, “The invitation carried with it a prohibition against black players. Like most people, I had been raised to believe that segregation was wrong.” He went on to quote his father, “You’re just as good as anybody, but no better than anyone.” He pondered this at the time. “Not better, but just as good – equal. Now as a coach, I was being asked to participate in segregation, a system based on the belief that some people are better than others. That is not what my Dad taught me.” His upbringing and his character were on full display while taking a stance against segregation during a time that was fraught with racial animus and racial tension. In an article written by Will Price and posted February 16, 2023, on the mywabashvalley.com website, historian Crystal Reynolds, said, “We need to hear about what other people did to make it right. Because we wouldn’t have a Clarence Walker story without John Wooden or other people around them, it’s not just a Black story, it’s an American story.”
Indiana University basketball coach, Branch McCracken, recruited the talented African-American star from Shelbyville, Indiana, Bill Garrett, to play for the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Indiana in 1948. His recruitment of Bill Garrett resulted in Garrett becoming the first African-American to play basketball in the Big Ten. Thus, breaking the color barrier in this prestigious conference.
From humble beginnings to coaching greatness, these two rural Indiana and Morgan County natives not only left a mark on the basketball landscape but their fine character and belief in judging people “By the content of their character” like Dr. Martin Luther King would later champion, helped reshape America. Thank you for your example, gentlemen!