Stark - Wartime basketball: the emergence of a national sport during World War II

While I was writing my first book, The SPHAS : The Life and Times of Basketballs Greatest Jewish Team, I devoted a chapter to basketball and war. The chapter focused on how World War II impacted basketball: leagues were forced to contract, players had to split their time between military service and basketball, and service basketball emerged on bases across the country. It was a short chapter, brief in its content, and only hinting at a larger story waiting to be told. It did not even mention the integration of professional basketball, which occurred during the war years. As I came to learn, nothing substantial had been written about this period of basketball history during World War II. It was largely undocumented.

In contrast, much has been written about baseball and football during World War II. Recent books have captured this period in baseball and football history, showing the sacrifices these sports made to support the war effort and how the war impacted those sports. Movie reels contain footage of baseball stars Hank Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio enlisting in the military. But basketball was a much different sport. Although a distinctly American game founded in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, basketball was still regional on the eve of World War II, its popularity confined to certain parts of the country. Its coverage in newspapers was not nearly as comprehensive or extensive as those other sports. Sometimes away games for professional teams were not covered in the newspapers at all. Sometimes only a box score survived. In some instances, only a score made its way into the sports pages.

Basketball did not have the same advocates as baseball. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote his famous Green Light letter saying baseball should be played during the war, but he did not advocate for basketball. Baseball writers Wendell Smith and Sam Lacy used their positions as influential African American writers to urge Major League Baseball to integrate, something the sport finally did in 1947 with Jackie Robinson. Basketball had no journalistblack or whitechampioning for the games integration. Basketball was on its own.

Yet World War II greatly impacted basketball. The style of play changed. It became more up-tempo, which increased scoring. It also acquired a more national character. In the 1930s with college basketball doubleheaders, teams from different parts of the country faced each other in highly anticipated match-ups in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, but military basketball forced players from different parts of the country to play with each other. As this happened, a more national game emerged, eliminating the regional differences in the game and creating a game everyone could recognize. Finally, professional basketball integrated five years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. Unlike baseball, basketball integrated with less fanfare and problems. It just happened. The success of basketball during World War II also led to the formation of the Basketball Association of America ( BAA ) and the ensuing success of basketball in the postWorld War II era.

Basketball today is a global sport, played in all countries by people of all abilities. Its success today can be traced to World War II and how the game changed for the better during that time. This is a story that deserves to be told alongside the chronicles of other professional sports.