Winners: Crispus Attucks High School, Basketball, and Social Change

In 1955, the Crispus Attucks High School basketball team won the Indiana state championship. They were the first all-Black team in the United States to win a championship in an integrated sport.The win came at a time when racial divisions in the team’s hometown of Indianapolis left Black citizens with little to celebrate. The historic accomplishment gave hope to the community and paved the way for positive change in the city.

This memoir offers a fascinating glimpse at Crispus Attucks’s success from the players’ perspective. John Gipson and Stan Patton recount what life looked like for young Black men in the Midwest in the 1950s and 1960s and how racism manifested itself on and off the court. They also pay tribute to Coach Ray Crowe, whose dedication to his players created a basketball dynasty.

Gipson’s and Patton’s story follows their teammates beyond graduation and into the successful lives they created for themselves. It also provides an inside view of competitive basketball during the era and the way former Attucks players, like the great Oscar Robertson, changed the sport forever.

The Crispus Attucks team-and the men who were a part of it-will inspire basketball fans and anyone who believes in the power of sport.