143: Bucky Lew - NBA

Sports' Forgotten Heroes

Before there was an NBA, before there was a BAA, professional basketball looked a lot different than it does today. Back in the early 1900s, professional basketball was largely made up of regional leagues spread out across the country. A particular hotbed for these regional leagues was the Northeast. One of the leagues, the NEBL (New England Basketball League), was also one of the more progressive leagues. In fact, it was the first to allow "colored" players and leading the way was Harry "Bucky" Lew. Now known as the first African-American professional basketball player, Lew was also one of the game's stars. On this episode of Sports' Forgotten Heroes, author Chris Boucher joins as we discuss the career of Bucky Lew, how these leagues were set up and what the game of basketball looked like back then. Chris, who wrote the book, "The Original Bucky Lew", and I discuss how different the ball was and how difficult it was to dribble the ball. How basketball courts were boxed in by chicken wire, so there was no out-of-bounds, there were no backboards, and fouling a player and the free-throws were no where near the same as they are in the game we watch today. But, the main focus is Lew. The racism he faced, how he played the game, how he continued to break down barriers such as becoming the first African-American to officiate a game, the first to coach a team and the first to own a team. Bucky Lew was certainly a pioneer and we dive into it all on this episode of Sports' Forgotten Heroes.