The ugly virus of hate is something that our country has yet to eradicate. So, it’s always good to hear positive examples of people stepping up to the plate in sports to counter racism.
In 1934, Tony King was the captain of his American Legion Post 21 baseball team from Springfield, Mass., when the team traveled to Gastonia, N.C., to play in the Eastern Sectionals of the Legion World Series. Officials told his team that their African American friend and teammate, Ernest “Bunny” Taliaferro, could not play. King told the officials his teammates would unanimously back him if Taliaferro didn’t play. That didn’t move the officials, so instead of playing the next day, the team got on the train and returned to Springfield, where they received a hero’s welcome.
The story is being retold now because King, who was 102, died of COVID-19 on June 22, 2020. King’s niece, Ann Haskell, told WSOC in Charlotte, N.C., that he never mentioned what he did back in 1934. When asked why King never talked about it, she responded, “He said ‘cause it was just the right thing to do.’”
The story didn’t come to light until 1994 when Springfield constructed a monument to honor King’s team. Ten years ago, Gastonia reconciled for forcing the Springfield team to leave. The city’s American Legion squad traveled to Springfield for a game, and King threw out the first pitch.
Two books written by Richard Andersen and a documentary film produced by Rich McGrath tell the team’s story. The documentary is archived in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a book in 2017 titled Coach Wooden and Me, chronicling his lifelong relationship with the legendary UCLA basketball coach. In the book, Abdul-Jabbar discusses times when he and Wooden encountered racism during the years Abdul-Jabbar played for him in college. Wooden remained Abdul-Jabbar’s teacher and emotional guide until the former coach’s death at 99 in 2010.
Abdul-Jabbar enrolled at UCLA during intense racial strife in the United States. Malcolm X had just been assassinated, the Watts riots in Southern California erupted, and police had attacked and beaten civil rights marchers in Selma, Ala. Abdul-Jabbar was often the subject of racial epithets from crowds while at UCLA and writes of several incidents in which he and Wooden faced racism. On at least a couple of occasions, Wooden was there when autograph seekers and others who approached Abdul-Jabbar used a racial epithet to his face.
Abdul-Jabbar’s book quotes an interview with Wooden in which the coach questioned his philosophy of the goodness of his fellow men. “I had no idea how tough it was for him at times,” Wooden said. “I learned more from Kareem about man’s inhumanity to man than I ever learned anywhere else. … I had never imagined that people could feel or talk like that.” Abdul-Jabbar was greatly affected when he saw that statement. “I felt a deep sadness after reading that,” he writes, “knowing my presence had caused him to doubt his fundamental beliefs.”
Abdul-Jabbar decided not to play on the 1968 Olympic basketball team because of racial inequality in America. He received much backlash for that decision, and one woman criticized him in a letter to Wooden. It was not until after Wooden’s death that Abdul-Jabbar saw a copy of the letter Wooden had written in response defending his player’s position. The coach had never mentioned the letter.
Wooden told Abdul-Jabbar about his first coaching job at what is now Indiana State University. The team was invited to the NAIA national tournament but told Wooden that the team’s one African American player, Clarence Walker, was not welcome. Wooden rejected the invitation. The NAIA changed its policy the following year and allowed Walker to play. He became the first African American to play in a postseason college basketball tournament. Wooden also said the team went elsewhere when restaurants refused to serve Walker.
“I couldn’t have been more surprised,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “Coach had been an early civil rights pioneer, risking his career, and he’d never told me about it. Any other coach would have used that to gain my loyalty and respect. … What made Coach’s stance all the more admirable, I found out later, was that Clarence Walker wasn’t even a starter.”
If you have seen the movie 42, you are familiar with how Jackie Robinson’s white teammates, Pee Wee Reese and Eddie Stanky, stood up for him during Robinson’s inaugural year in the big leagues, when he faced an unbelievable amount of racist venom from players and fans alike, including some from his teammates.
Tony King, Wooden, Reese, and Stanky are just a few examples of what should be the norm in how we treat our fellow man. Let there be many more as we move forward.
Matt Sieger, now retired sports reporter/columnist who worked for New York State and California newspapers, did his undergraduate work at Cornell University and received a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978. This article first appeared in The Vacaville Reporter on July 2, 2020.