The attitude toward pro basketball in the 1950s was ho-hum, The NBA had not even reached its infancy.
"I went to West Virginia State [an all-black college] and the segregation there was just taken to another level. From kindergarten to college graduation, I never had a white classmate. It makes you pause, for a long time. And it's not that long ago.
My folks had very little to look forward to, What really spurred them on and kept them going were the needs of their children. The only thing they had to root for was us.