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For decades an Indiana Hoosier basketball player named Bill Garrett has been claimed to be the first Black player in the Big Ten...and now Indiana is celebrating that fact...
In 2009 they were even going to rename their gym after Garrett but the proposal quietly was withdrawn - supposedly because Garrett's family had some objections.
Now - Indiana is forging ahead and has thus honored Garrett as..
"the first African American to play basketball in the Big 10" ..even though it isn't true.
If anything - Indiana taking pride in this or acting like they helped break some Jackie Robinson-like barrier is also dishonest - since Indiana - along with other Big Ten schools actually had negotiated and held a "GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT" that BANNED Black players - in other words they had spent years keeping black athletes out of the Big Ten...
Meanwhile John Wooden over at Indiana State had black players on his roster years earlier - and never gets credit!
(see Clarence Walker)
But - regardless - Indiana is making a false claim since Garrett was not the first Black to play in the Big Ten -
that honor goes to Iowa's Richard "Dick" Culberson - who has never gotten much if any "honor" despite playing for Iowa in 1944 - several years earlier than Garrett.
In 2009 they were even going to rename their gym after Garrett but the proposal quietly was withdrawn - supposedly because Garrett's family had some objections.
Now - Indiana is forging ahead and has thus honored Garrett as..
"the first African American to play basketball in the Big 10" ..even though it isn't true.
If anything - Indiana taking pride in this or acting like they helped break some Jackie Robinson-like barrier is also dishonest - since Indiana - along with other Big Ten schools actually had negotiated and held a "GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT" that BANNED Black players - in other words they had spent years keeping black athletes out of the Big Ten...
Meanwhile John Wooden over at Indiana State had black players on his roster years earlier - and never gets credit!
(see Clarence Walker)
But - regardless - Indiana is making a false claim since Garrett was not the first Black to play in the Big Ten -
that honor goes to Iowa's Richard "Dick" Culberson - who has never gotten much if any "honor" despite playing for Iowa in 1944 - several years earlier than Garrett.
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