Across Indiana
Hoosier Hoops
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The story of legendary Indiana high school basketball star and trailblazer Oscar Robertson.
The point guard who made history. In 1998, Across Indiana producer Todd Gould covered the rise of high school basketball star Oscar Robertson and the legendary state championship win of Crispus Attucks High School back in 1955.
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Across Indiana is a local public television program presented by WFYI
Across Indiana
Hoosier Hoops
Clip | 5m 32sVideo has Closed Captions
The point guard who made history. In 1998, Across Indiana producer Todd Gould covered the rise of high school basketball star Oscar Robertson and the legendary state championship win of Crispus Attucks High School back in 1955.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- I think the city of Indianapolis, Indiana had the greatest high school basketball in the country.
And fans, and the fans that generate so much emotion and excitement among the fans.
It was just it, I thought.
I thought, and I then, and I think now I think more about it now because I've grown up and got to look back on it.
I thought it was tremendous.
- [Narrator] The scene was typical for African Americans in the South during the late 1930s.
Oscar Robertson was born into poverty in a deeply segregated neighborhood in rural Tennessee.
His family status improved only slightly when they moved to a new home on Colton Street in Indianapolis' Lockfield Gardens District, the heart of the city's African American community.
It was here on the lots of sand and concrete rubble known as the Dust Bowl, where young Oscar learned to play the game of basketball.
- I love the game.
I really went out and practiced in all kinds of weather and shot in snow or the moonlight.
And, you know, I just perfected my game.
And I learned, I learned the fundamentals.
- [Narrator] Because of segregation the city designated only one high school exclusively for African-Americans, Crispus Attucks.
In the fall of 1953, Robertson enrolled at Attucks, where he met a soft-spoken 36-year-old basketball coach by the name of Ray Crowe.
- Oscar Roberts would be a coach's dream, any coach's dream.
I mean, with his ability, basketball ability, and as a person, great person, great individual.
You know, easy to coach, had leadership ability that made everybody else on the team better.
- You couldn't help but but love those Attucks teams with, with Oscar.
And he was, he was such a great player.
In my mind, no one has ever come close to being that good.
- [Narrator] Because they had no gym of their own the Attucks Tigers had to play every one of their games on the road.
Their talent and overall success attracted thousands of curious spectators statewide.
Many small town fans had never seen a black team before.
Demand for tickets soared, and soon Coach Crowe's club found themselves playing their home games at the spacious Butler Fieldhouse.
- I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
I mean, you know, I mean it's like having, it was like having, you know, to be able to go and play in Butler Fieldhouse at that particular time.
And it seemed so big and massive.
Had, I know it's 13 to 14,000 people screaming, and wow, you first go out there, said where all these people come from, - [Narrator] Even though they drew the largest crowds in the state, Attucks always felt the icy undercurrents of prejudice flowing through the stands nearly every game.
- It's hard to describe really, but the atmosphere, you know, in the field house at that time was not all in our favor.
There were those who didn't wanna see us win, and there were those who let it be known by their boos and throwing stuff, you know, trash out on the floor and that type thing.
- The times, I guess, and the people who wrote the articles and the people who broadcast the games on the radios and TVs, you know, I guess they just, they just were not ready for this group of little black kids to achieve.
- [Narrator] In 1955, Attucks had the opportunity to become the first African American school to win an Indiana State Championship, as well as the first team from Indianapolis to capture a title.
- [Commentator] Right from the jump ball, six seconds.
There's Ford firing.
And it's over.
(dramatic music) - [Narrator] In the final contest, Robertson was sensational, pouring in 30 points as Attucks defeated Gary Roosevelt, 97 to 74.
The next year, Robertson again led his squad to the state title, defeating Lafayette Jefferson 79 to 57.
Despite the pressures of a segregated society, Robertson and the Tigers earned the respect of Hoosier sports fans, both black and white.
- Those teams did everything to forward integration, forward race relations, and it fit right into Indiana because it allowed basketball to do in Indiana what Jackie Robinson and baseball had done for the rest of the country, not quite 10 years earlier.
I mean, this is a, this is a pivotal period of history and basketball fit into it.
- Can you imagine the fans and the excitement and emotional eyes?
I mean, it was just, it was just wonderful, really.
(gentle music) - [Announcer] For more Across Indiana stories, go to wfyi.org/AcrossIndiana.
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Across Indiana is a local public television program presented by WFYI