Black Ball

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation that Saved the Soul of the NBA

By: Theresa Runstedtler

Narrated by: Xenia Willacey

A vital narrative history of 1970s pro basketball, and the Black players who shaped the NBA

Against a backdrop of ongoing resistance to racial desegregation and strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation’s imagined descent into disorder. A new generation of Black players entered the league, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Spencer Haywood, and the press and public were quick to blame this cohort for the supposed decline of pro-basketball, citing drugs, violence, and greed. Basketball became a symbol for post–civil rights America: the rules had changed, allowing more Black people onto the playing field, and now they were ruining everything.

Enter Black Ball, a gripping corrective in which scholar Theresa Runstedtler expertly rewrites basketball’s “Dark Ages.” Weaving together a deep knowledge of the game with incisive social analysis, Runstedtler argues that this much-maligned period was pivotal to the rise of the modern-day NBA.

Critic reviews

“Runstedtler’s superior storytelling, buoyed by expert research, casts a new light on the league’s complex history. This savvy reappraisal of the NBA’s tumultuous evolution soars.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Important book

This is an important book, offering a critical and engaging analysis of race and the NBA in the 1970s. Highly recommended to those interested in either or both of those subjects.

Almost too emotionless

Kudos to the author for the obviously exhaustive research that she did. Especially in the first three or four chapters (and the epilogue, which gave some very salient points), the issues that were brought up were mostly very thorough, and had some glaring facts that helped make her point. The crimes of the owners of both the NBA and ABA were well-presented, and probably could’ve even vilified them more – but I think she did a good job of restraint.
The problem with the text is that it’s almost too encyclopedic for its own good. It also sometimes relies on facts that turn more into opinions in the last two or three chapters. The narrator is almost formulaic in her delivery, which completely drains any emotion the author sought for the reader/listener. By the end, that detracted from the enjoyment of the book.
Still would recommend for those that are NBA fans who don’t understand - or are aware of - the history of the 70s malaise and 80s growth of pro basketball.