Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years - Softcover

Peterson, Robert W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195072618 ISBN 13: 9780195072617

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

In Cages to Jump Shots, Robert Peterson--one of America's foremost writers on sports history--paints a vibrant portrait of how this sport gained its place in American life. He traces it from the day in 1891 when the father of the game, James Naismith, drew up the first rules, through the early barnstorming professional teams playing in gaslit social halls, to the advent of NBA games in Madison Square Garden. His richly detailed account brings to life every aspect of the changing game and the society that grew to love it: the players, the fans, the owners, the officials, the rules, techniques, and equipment. Peterson draws on interviews with old playes to recreate the experience of this dramatically evolving sport, as it went from a brutal, slow-moving game (with a sewn leather ball, underhand set shots, center jumps after every score, and a wire or rope cage around the court) to the high-scoring contests that emerged in the 1950s, with the start of the team foul limit and the 24-second shot clock. Along the way, he illuminates the impact of a changing society, such as the YMCA's early hopes that basketball would foster Christian values, the indignities suffered by black teams in a segregated society, and the influx of Jewish players during the Depression. Peterson brings the story up through the founding of the NBA and its final success in overtaking the popularity of college basketball.
Lending a lively and perceptive voice to the story of America's most popular sport, Peterson offers a unique and vivid look at a fascinating side of American life.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author
Robert W. Peterson is the author of Only the Ball Was White and The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure, and has written for Sports Illustrated, The New York Times Magazine, Sport, Boys' Life, and many other magazines.

From Library Journal

Before Bird (Larry), before Magic (Johnson), before Michael (Jordan), yes even before Kareem (Abdul Jabbar) or Dr. J. (Julius Erving), there were basketball stars like Ed and Lew Wachter, Johnny Beckman, Maurice Tome, and Joe Lapchick. Along with literally hundreds of others, they helped to lay the framework for the popularity of today's professional basketball. Peterson, author of Only the Ball Was White (LJ 5/1/70), traces the evolution of basketball from its early days in cages to the modern game, viewed annually by millions. For its first 50 years the professional game was marked by small crowds in armories, assorted leagues in the Northeast and Midwest, and players jumping from one team to another--often playing on two or more at one time. The sports' growth to maturity culminated in the formation of the National Basketball Association in 1949. Essential reading for sports fans, this entertaining volume is recommended for most libraries.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0195072618
• ISBN 13: 9780195072617
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240