Seventy Years Ago, Garrett, IU Changed Course of Big Ten Basketball
12/4/2018 8:00:00 AM | General, Men's Basketball
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A monumental event in the history of Big Ten basketball occurred Dec. 4, 1948, in front of 9,500 at the Men's Gymnasium on IU's campus.
It was on that night that a newcomer from Shelbyville, Ind., scored eight points on 3-of-14 shooting to help Coach Branch McCracken's Hoosiers to a 61-48 victory over DePauw in the season opener.
That newcomer was sophomore Bill Garrett.
Garrett was many things for a team coming off a disappointing 8-12 season in 1947-48. A lean, athletic player from Shelbyville (Ind.) H.S., he was the 1947 Indiana Mr. Basketball after leading his prep team to the state championship as a senior. As a member of IU's 1947-48 freshman team, he impressed Freshman Coach Jay McCreary enough to not only make the 22-member team from an original pool of 120 players, but also be earmarked as an expected contributor for varsity immediately as a sophomore.
Known for a one-handed push shot that connected with great accuracy and his cat-like quickness, Garrett was just the player McCracken's Hoosiers needed to re-establish themselves as a Big Ten contender in 1948-49.
As critical as Garrett was to the Hoosiers, he was also the player the Big Ten Conference desperately needed.
In addition to all of the attributes that ultimately helped him become IU's all-time leading scorer, Garrett was also something that had been an unspoken disqualifier when it came to playing basketball in the Big Ten Conference.
He was black.
Before his Dec. 4, 1948 Big-Ten-color-barrier-shattering varsity debut, that alone was reason enough to keep him from playing college basketball in the conference.
Garrett was not the first African-American prep star from the state of Indiana – far from it. The state's first high school Mr. Basketball was Franklin High's George Crowe, a multi-sport star who would go on to play professional baseball – first in in the Negro Leagues, then for nine years in the major leagues after Jackie Robinson broke that sport's color barrier in 1947.
But when it came to college basketball, Crowe didn't receive any Big Ten scholarship offers after his Mr. Basketball senior season in 1939, and instead attended and graduated from Indiana Central College.
In 1946, another Hoosier high school great emerged at Anderson High School. Johnny Wilson capped a stellar senior season by scoring 30 points in his team's 67-53 win over Ft. Wayne Central and won the state's Mr. Basketball award. Like Crowe, "Jumpin' Johnny" didn't receive a single Big Ten scholarship offer, and ultimately starred at nearby Anderson College before later embarking on a five-year professional career with the Harlem Globetrotters.
One year removed from Wilson's Big Ten snub, Garrett also seemed poised to head elsewhere. While he expressed the desire to play at either IU or Purdue, he told the Indianapolis Recorder in June of 1947 at the Indiana high school track and field championship meet that he expected to enroll at either UCLA or USC since he had no Big Ten scholarship offers. He also told the newspaper that if IU did in fact decide to break the league's color barrier, he wasn't entirely sure he would want that pressure on his shoulders.
"Too much in the spotlight – suppose I didn't make good?" Garrett told the Recorder, less than two months after Robinson had started playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Evansville Lincoln H.S. track coach Edward Niles interrupted the interview and reminded Garrett of what Robinson was in the midst of doing in professional baseball, the future Hoosier backpedaled.
"That's right – Jackie is preparing a way for others, and I guess I could try that, too," Garrett told the newspaper.
Garrett was ultimately able to "try that," and he "made good" once given the opportunity. It was a chance that ultimately came his way thanks in large part to the work of two individuals – Faburn DeFrantz and Herman B Wells.
DeFrantz was the Executive Director of the Senate Avenue YMCA in Indianapolis, and a leading voice in the Hoosier state in the effort to address racial discrimination and segregation. When he learned of Garrett's situation and desire to play at IU, DeFrantz arranged a meeting with IU President Wells and encouraged him to use his influence to urge McCracken to welcome Garrett to the Hoosier team and break the "Gentleman's Agreement" among Big Ten coaches that kept African-Americans from competing in basketball.
Wells, who was already going to great efforts to address similar issues around campus and in the Bloomington community, welcomed the chance to play a role in integrating Big Ten basketball. He assured McCracken that he would handle any fallout from the league's coaches or athletic administrators for making the landmark decision.
With those assurances from Wells in place, McCracken brought the Shelbyville H.S. star to Bloomington in the fall of 1947. Rules at the time prevented freshmen from playing on the varsity, but it was clearly just a matter of time before Garrett would have the opportunity to play for McCracken and change the course of Big Ten basketball.
Local newspaper accounts of the Hoosiers' preseason preparation highlighted Garrett's readiness to contribute, but didn't necessarily focus on the significance of his arrival. A Nov. 11, 1948, story in the Indiana Daily Student, noted that Garrett was "looking good" according to McCracken, but didn't assign any greater importance to his arrival relative to fellow sophomores Bill Tosheff, Gene Ring, Phil Buck and Bob Lukemeyer.
The same holds true for the Dec. 4 season-opener against DePauw. A starter, Garrett broke the league's color barrier at the opening tip and went on to score eight points while also doing a "man's share of the rebounding work," according to the Indianapolis Star's account of the season opener. But the story didn't highlight – or even mention, in fact – the monumental moment, instead zeroing in on the promise that Garrett and the team showed in the contest.
Ten days later, an Indiana Daily Student feature on Garrett suggested the former Indiana High School Mr. Basketball "might well become the Mr. Indiana College Basketball in the next three years," a nod to the 34 points he had scored while helping the Hoosiers to a 4-0 start to the season. But like the Star's DePauw game recap, it didn't highlight the change that would be ushered in as a result.
Two years after Garrett played in his first varsity game, Michigan State integrated its team with the signing of Rickey Ayala. In 1952, Michigan did the same with the arrival of John Codwell, Jr., and Donald Eaddy. By 1960, the rest of the Big Ten teams had followed suit.
While the news accounts of the day might not have recognized the significance of Garrett's arrival, ultimately, that was what he was working toward – players being judged and evaluated by the coaches and the media based on their play and not the color of their skin.
But it's impossible to downplay the magnitude of the moment on Dec. 4, 1948, and the impact that Bill Garrett and Indiana University made in changing the course of Big Ten Basketball for the better.
It was on that night that a newcomer from Shelbyville, Ind., scored eight points on 3-of-14 shooting to help Coach Branch McCracken's Hoosiers to a 61-48 victory over DePauw in the season opener.
That newcomer was sophomore Bill Garrett.
Garrett was many things for a team coming off a disappointing 8-12 season in 1947-48. A lean, athletic player from Shelbyville (Ind.) H.S., he was the 1947 Indiana Mr. Basketball after leading his prep team to the state championship as a senior. As a member of IU's 1947-48 freshman team, he impressed Freshman Coach Jay McCreary enough to not only make the 22-member team from an original pool of 120 players, but also be earmarked as an expected contributor for varsity immediately as a sophomore.
Known for a one-handed push shot that connected with great accuracy and his cat-like quickness, Garrett was just the player McCracken's Hoosiers needed to re-establish themselves as a Big Ten contender in 1948-49.
As critical as Garrett was to the Hoosiers, he was also the player the Big Ten Conference desperately needed.
In addition to all of the attributes that ultimately helped him become IU's all-time leading scorer, Garrett was also something that had been an unspoken disqualifier when it came to playing basketball in the Big Ten Conference.
He was black.
Before his Dec. 4, 1948 Big-Ten-color-barrier-shattering varsity debut, that alone was reason enough to keep him from playing college basketball in the conference.
Garrett was not the first African-American prep star from the state of Indiana – far from it. The state's first high school Mr. Basketball was Franklin High's George Crowe, a multi-sport star who would go on to play professional baseball – first in in the Negro Leagues, then for nine years in the major leagues after Jackie Robinson broke that sport's color barrier in 1947.
But when it came to college basketball, Crowe didn't receive any Big Ten scholarship offers after his Mr. Basketball senior season in 1939, and instead attended and graduated from Indiana Central College.
In 1946, another Hoosier high school great emerged at Anderson High School. Johnny Wilson capped a stellar senior season by scoring 30 points in his team's 67-53 win over Ft. Wayne Central and won the state's Mr. Basketball award. Like Crowe, "Jumpin' Johnny" didn't receive a single Big Ten scholarship offer, and ultimately starred at nearby Anderson College before later embarking on a five-year professional career with the Harlem Globetrotters.
One year removed from Wilson's Big Ten snub, Garrett also seemed poised to head elsewhere. While he expressed the desire to play at either IU or Purdue, he told the Indianapolis Recorder in June of 1947 at the Indiana high school track and field championship meet that he expected to enroll at either UCLA or USC since he had no Big Ten scholarship offers. He also told the newspaper that if IU did in fact decide to break the league's color barrier, he wasn't entirely sure he would want that pressure on his shoulders.
"Too much in the spotlight – suppose I didn't make good?" Garrett told the Recorder, less than two months after Robinson had started playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Evansville Lincoln H.S. track coach Edward Niles interrupted the interview and reminded Garrett of what Robinson was in the midst of doing in professional baseball, the future Hoosier backpedaled.
"That's right – Jackie is preparing a way for others, and I guess I could try that, too," Garrett told the newspaper.
Garrett was ultimately able to "try that," and he "made good" once given the opportunity. It was a chance that ultimately came his way thanks in large part to the work of two individuals – Faburn DeFrantz and Herman B Wells.
DeFrantz was the Executive Director of the Senate Avenue YMCA in Indianapolis, and a leading voice in the Hoosier state in the effort to address racial discrimination and segregation. When he learned of Garrett's situation and desire to play at IU, DeFrantz arranged a meeting with IU President Wells and encouraged him to use his influence to urge McCracken to welcome Garrett to the Hoosier team and break the "Gentleman's Agreement" among Big Ten coaches that kept African-Americans from competing in basketball.
Wells, who was already going to great efforts to address similar issues around campus and in the Bloomington community, welcomed the chance to play a role in integrating Big Ten basketball. He assured McCracken that he would handle any fallout from the league's coaches or athletic administrators for making the landmark decision.
With those assurances from Wells in place, McCracken brought the Shelbyville H.S. star to Bloomington in the fall of 1947. Rules at the time prevented freshmen from playing on the varsity, but it was clearly just a matter of time before Garrett would have the opportunity to play for McCracken and change the course of Big Ten basketball.
Local newspaper accounts of the Hoosiers' preseason preparation highlighted Garrett's readiness to contribute, but didn't necessarily focus on the significance of his arrival. A Nov. 11, 1948, story in the Indiana Daily Student, noted that Garrett was "looking good" according to McCracken, but didn't assign any greater importance to his arrival relative to fellow sophomores Bill Tosheff, Gene Ring, Phil Buck and Bob Lukemeyer.
The same holds true for the Dec. 4 season-opener against DePauw. A starter, Garrett broke the league's color barrier at the opening tip and went on to score eight points while also doing a "man's share of the rebounding work," according to the Indianapolis Star's account of the season opener. But the story didn't highlight – or even mention, in fact – the monumental moment, instead zeroing in on the promise that Garrett and the team showed in the contest.
Ten days later, an Indiana Daily Student feature on Garrett suggested the former Indiana High School Mr. Basketball "might well become the Mr. Indiana College Basketball in the next three years," a nod to the 34 points he had scored while helping the Hoosiers to a 4-0 start to the season. But like the Star's DePauw game recap, it didn't highlight the change that would be ushered in as a result.
Two years after Garrett played in his first varsity game, Michigan State integrated its team with the signing of Rickey Ayala. In 1952, Michigan did the same with the arrival of John Codwell, Jr., and Donald Eaddy. By 1960, the rest of the Big Ten teams had followed suit.
While the news accounts of the day might not have recognized the significance of Garrett's arrival, ultimately, that was what he was working toward – players being judged and evaluated by the coaches and the media based on their play and not the color of their skin.
But it's impossible to downplay the magnitude of the moment on Dec. 4, 1948, and the impact that Bill Garrett and Indiana University made in changing the course of Big Ten Basketball for the better.
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