DIPRIMIO: Bill Garrett, A Hoosier Man of Substance
2/10/2019 4:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Pete DiPrimio, IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In a world that so often values image and style, Bill Garrett was a man of substance.
That resonates today as strongly as it did 70 years ago, when Garrett broke the Big Ten basketball color barrier.
As a Hoosier, of course.
That was a point of emphasis on Sunday, when Indiana wore its "Harlem Renaissance Collection" uniform to honor Garrett as part of Black History Month in conjunction with the Ohio State game.
The uniform -- featuring a silhouette logo of Garrett -- reflected the early 20th Century's Harlem Renaissance Movement that so strongly influenced the African-American community and, ultimately, basketball.
"It's a special time of the year with being able to honor Black History Month with Bill Garrett, the first African-American to play in the Big Ten," IU coach Archie Miller said, "and how much he's meant to the university in general, being the pioneer, is a huge deal. Our players are very aware of that. Billy Garrett Jr. was behind our bench. We were glad to have him and to commemorate the uniforms that represented him. It was a really cool thing to be a part of, to have that staple."
The 6-3 Garrett played for Hall of Fame coach Branch McCracken from 1948-51. His first game came against DePauw on Dec. 4, 1948. When he left, he was the program's all-time leading scorer, with 792 points.
For comparison, Calbert Cheaney now has the record (for IU and the Big Ten) with 2,613 points.
For even more comparison, 52 Hoosiers have surpassed 1,000 career points, including senior forward Juwan Morgan.
Garrett, who earned All-America honors as a senior, was the Big Ten's only African American player during his college career. No other Big Ten program was willing to go where the Hoosiers had gone.
The year after he graduated, seven other African Americans played for conference teams.
Garrett was an ideal candidate to become a Hoosier, highlighted by the excellence of his play and quality of his character. Garrett won Indiana Mr. Basketball honors in 1947 while leading Shelbyville High School to the state championship. He set the two-game state finals scoring record with 91 points.
That led several prominent Indianapolis African American leaders, including Senate Avenue YMCA executive director Faburn DeFrantz, to visit IU President Herman B Wells and make a case for Garrett to join the Hoosiers program.
It all came just as Jackie Robinson was breaking the Major League Baseball color barrier.
The result -- Wells and McCracken said, in so many words, to heck with the Big Ten's "gentleman's agreement" that barred African Americans from playing basketball for conference teams.
Garrett became a Hoosier.
After college, Garrett was chosen in the second round (16th overall) by the NBA's Boston Celtics (just the third African American player ever selected by an NBA team), but was drafted into the U.S. Army. After his military service ended in 1953, he played three seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters before taking over as the coach at Indianapolis Crispus Attucks High School, and led the Tigers to the 1959 state championship to earn state coach of the year honors. He was the first Indiana Mr. Basketball to coach a state title team. Garrett later became the Crispus Attucks athletic director, before moving on to college ranks as an administrator. He died at age 45 in 1974.
Later that year, he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Through it all, Garrett endured brutal racial taunts and enormous pressure to perform.
You don't overcome that without toughness and poise. He had it. Jackie Robinson had it.
At some point, you have to believe, these Hoosiers (13-11 overall, 4-9 in the Big Ten) will find it, too.
At some point, they have to win the slugfest that became a 55-52 loss to Ohio State at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. They have to win, especially at home, with grit and determination.
Someday, it will happen, just as it did in victories over top-20 teams Marquette, Louisville and, eight days ago, Michigan State.
Just not on Sunday.
The Hoosier future was recognized in high school standouts Trayce Jackson-Davis and Armaan Franklin, who have signed to play for the Hoosiers next season. They sat behind the Indiana bench, watched another start to forget (IU fell behind 11-2) and rally that almost delivered a victory.
Almost.
At crunch time, IU morphed into a defensive beast -- reducing Ohio State's offense into a turnover-prone mess. Meanwhile, it found its three-point shot -- three straight with two by Romeo Langford and one by Devonte Green -- after opening 2-for-14 beyond the arc.
The Hoosiers forged ties of 49-49 and 52-52, missed a chance to take the lead, then gave up a layup with 20 seconds left. Langford's three-pointer just rimmed out with 12 seconds left. Ohio State (16-7, 6-6) grabbed the rebound, and the victory.
It was IU's second straight loss overall and fourth straight at home.
"We had two opportunities to play terrific teams, and we came up short," Miller said. "We clawed back. Being able to finish comes down to execution, get quality shots and find a way to rebound."
Long gone is the momentum from the upset win at Michigan State.
As Langford put it, "We can't focus on the last two losses. We have to focus on the next game, which is Minnesota."
Specifically, it's at Minnesota, and victory depends on many things, starting with substance.
There's no better example than Bill Garrett.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In a world that so often values image and style, Bill Garrett was a man of substance.
That resonates today as strongly as it did 70 years ago, when Garrett broke the Big Ten basketball color barrier.
As a Hoosier, of course.
That was a point of emphasis on Sunday, when Indiana wore its "Harlem Renaissance Collection" uniform to honor Garrett as part of Black History Month in conjunction with the Ohio State game.
The uniform -- featuring a silhouette logo of Garrett -- reflected the early 20th Century's Harlem Renaissance Movement that so strongly influenced the African-American community and, ultimately, basketball.
"It's a special time of the year with being able to honor Black History Month with Bill Garrett, the first African-American to play in the Big Ten," IU coach Archie Miller said, "and how much he's meant to the university in general, being the pioneer, is a huge deal. Our players are very aware of that. Billy Garrett Jr. was behind our bench. We were glad to have him and to commemorate the uniforms that represented him. It was a really cool thing to be a part of, to have that staple."
The 6-3 Garrett played for Hall of Fame coach Branch McCracken from 1948-51. His first game came against DePauw on Dec. 4, 1948. When he left, he was the program's all-time leading scorer, with 792 points.
For comparison, Calbert Cheaney now has the record (for IU and the Big Ten) with 2,613 points.
For even more comparison, 52 Hoosiers have surpassed 1,000 career points, including senior forward Juwan Morgan.
Garrett, who earned All-America honors as a senior, was the Big Ten's only African American player during his college career. No other Big Ten program was willing to go where the Hoosiers had gone.
The year after he graduated, seven other African Americans played for conference teams.
Garrett was an ideal candidate to become a Hoosier, highlighted by the excellence of his play and quality of his character. Garrett won Indiana Mr. Basketball honors in 1947 while leading Shelbyville High School to the state championship. He set the two-game state finals scoring record with 91 points.
That led several prominent Indianapolis African American leaders, including Senate Avenue YMCA executive director Faburn DeFrantz, to visit IU President Herman B Wells and make a case for Garrett to join the Hoosiers program.
It all came just as Jackie Robinson was breaking the Major League Baseball color barrier.
The result -- Wells and McCracken said, in so many words, to heck with the Big Ten's "gentleman's agreement" that barred African Americans from playing basketball for conference teams.
Garrett became a Hoosier.
After college, Garrett was chosen in the second round (16th overall) by the NBA's Boston Celtics (just the third African American player ever selected by an NBA team), but was drafted into the U.S. Army. After his military service ended in 1953, he played three seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters before taking over as the coach at Indianapolis Crispus Attucks High School, and led the Tigers to the 1959 state championship to earn state coach of the year honors. He was the first Indiana Mr. Basketball to coach a state title team. Garrett later became the Crispus Attucks athletic director, before moving on to college ranks as an administrator. He died at age 45 in 1974.
Later that year, he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
Through it all, Garrett endured brutal racial taunts and enormous pressure to perform.
You don't overcome that without toughness and poise. He had it. Jackie Robinson had it.
At some point, you have to believe, these Hoosiers (13-11 overall, 4-9 in the Big Ten) will find it, too.
At some point, they have to win the slugfest that became a 55-52 loss to Ohio State at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. They have to win, especially at home, with grit and determination.
Someday, it will happen, just as it did in victories over top-20 teams Marquette, Louisville and, eight days ago, Michigan State.
Just not on Sunday.
The Hoosier future was recognized in high school standouts Trayce Jackson-Davis and Armaan Franklin, who have signed to play for the Hoosiers next season. They sat behind the Indiana bench, watched another start to forget (IU fell behind 11-2) and rally that almost delivered a victory.
Almost.
At crunch time, IU morphed into a defensive beast -- reducing Ohio State's offense into a turnover-prone mess. Meanwhile, it found its three-point shot -- three straight with two by Romeo Langford and one by Devonte Green -- after opening 2-for-14 beyond the arc.
The Hoosiers forged ties of 49-49 and 52-52, missed a chance to take the lead, then gave up a layup with 20 seconds left. Langford's three-pointer just rimmed out with 12 seconds left. Ohio State (16-7, 6-6) grabbed the rebound, and the victory.
It was IU's second straight loss overall and fourth straight at home.
"We had two opportunities to play terrific teams, and we came up short," Miller said. "We clawed back. Being able to finish comes down to execution, get quality shots and find a way to rebound."
Long gone is the momentum from the upset win at Michigan State.
As Langford put it, "We can't focus on the last two losses. We have to focus on the next game, which is Minnesota."
Specifically, it's at Minnesota, and victory depends on many things, starting with substance.
There's no better example than Bill Garrett.
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