Don Barksdale, the first African American to win gold with Team USA

Pioneer, forerunner. Two qualifiers that fit Don Barksdale perfectly between his university debut and his career in AAU with the Oakland Bittners, but also his business outside the courts. But while the doors of the NBA are still closed to him – like all African-American players, it is in another prestigious competition that he will continue his business of demolishing racial barriers in 1948.

Don Barksdale – Part 1: a multiple precursor who became the first African-American named All-American

Don Barksdale – Part 3: the first African-American in the NBA All-Star Game leaves an immense legacy

Inevitably, his qualities do not go unnoticed, especially within a team that runs quite well by standing up to the leaders of the Phillips 66ers (six consecutive AAU titles between 1943 and 1948). As the Olympic Games loom, the Bittners are invited to participate in the selection tournament. At the time, Team USA was made up of players from the amateur world, between AAU members and college students. Above all, having refused the offer of the Globetrotters a few years earlier, Don Barksdale never lost his amateur status which allows him to claim a place.

Don Barksdale, first African American with Team USA

The appointment is therefore made for these tests which take the form of a tournament at Madison Square Garden. A first pool sees three AAU teams compete plus one from a YMCA. The second the best universities in the country. The 66ers coach Bud Browning, strong in their domination, emerged victorious from the competition by beating the Kentucky Wildcats driven by the legendary Adolph Rupp in the final. Therefore, five players from each of these two teams validate their ticket to London. Just like the two coaches, Rupp being assigned the role of Browning’s assistant, honor to the winner.

There are still a few wildcards to complete the roster. Fred Maggiora, member of the Olympic Committee and politician from Oakland then enters the dance: for him, there is no question of depriving himself of Don Barksdale. He pushes as best he can against the other members of the committee who are reluctant to join the team. Despite the reluctance, he finally convinced Browning:

This son of a bitch is the best basketball player in the country behind Bob Kurland, so I don’t know how we can ignore him.

The first step is over, it remains to successfully integrate into the roster. Not easy, especially when Adolph Rupp, not very open on racial issues, is around. Luckily, the selection is separated into two groups: one part with Rupp, the other with Browning. Including Barksdale. Except the guys from Browning train in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. A charming little town unwelcoming towards African-Americans.

Welcome, or not

But Don Barksdale is a regular in these heavy atmospheres. Between his experience at Camp Lee in the army and a first contact with Bartlesville a few months earlier, he knows what to expect. Housing and meals apart, far from his teammates. Who themselves do not show enormous enthusiasm to play alongside him. As always, Don Barksdale answers on the ground, without opening his mouth. If not to apologize after letting the elbow drag against a too virulent player. He imposes himself. Gets accepted.

So when it’s time to join the other group in Lexington, Kentucky, they step up for him. While African Americans are not welcome, Adolph Rupp is clear: no Don Barksdale on the field for the exhibition game. The answer is clear: the tickets can be returned to the public, Big Don’s teammates won’t show up without him. Finally a compromise is found: Barksdale can play, but as usualthe rest of the time he will be away from the group.

Despite this support, racism hits Don Barksdale hard. While squatting with an African-American family, he receives a phone call. The message is clear: if he plays the next day, he will be shot. When in doubt, Barksdale only warns her foster family, but decides to disregard the threat, not knowing how serious it is.

The Bottle Incident

Nervous, he heads to the game to be the first player of color to play against the Wildcats in Lexington. He finds comfort in the small portion of the platform reserved for African-Americans who have come to see him. And witness a moment charged with tension. If Don surely no longer has in mind the threats of the day before, caught in the meeting, an incident will remind him that he is not considered as his teammates. During a timeout, a simple bottle of water will become the center of attention for the whole crowd.

This water canister is given to players, with a jump to spit. The water passes into the hands of the first guy. Then the second. From the third. Arrives in those of Don Barksdale. At the time, it was inconceivable that an African American could drink from the same vessel as a white man. Fountains are reserved by skin color. Barksdale knows it, his teammates know it. The public too. What to do ? Pass your turn and validate this operation? It crosses his mind and he pulls away. Then fuck off, it makes no sense. He seized the bottle in cathedral silence. Wood. The pass to teammate Shorty Carpenter, a redneck from Arkansas. Who drinks in turn. The lead screed falls, the match can resume.

What would have happened if Carpenter had refused to share the water with Don Barksdale? Nobody knows. At the end of the match, an African-American present in the stands asks Big Don how he could dare to do this. Within the team, not a word on the subject. But seeing his teammates give him a lot of balls to allow the group from the 66ers to beat that of Adolph Rupp on his land, the integration is validated. It was during the stay in London that RC Pitts, another member of the team, returned with Barksdale on the incident

Don, what you did was dangerous, but I’m proud of you.

For his part, it is of Carpenter that the former resident of UCLA is proud. He will also have the opportunity to express his gratitude to him during the Olympic adventure by thanking him for not having refused the bottle.

Gold medalist, first too

In London, therefore, the Americans are putting their title back into play in this first Olympics after the Second World War. This is only the second time that basketball has been present in official competition, after the 1936 Games in Berlin. The orange ball slowly begins to be taken seriously and twenty-three teams show up on the starting line. For the first time, the tournament extends over the entire fortnight and is played indoors. With a floor please, just to be in line with FIBA ​​recommendations. It must be said that the bad weather that had ruined the 1936 edition inevitably leads to better organization.

Arriving in England, Don Barksdale validates a new level. He becomes the first African-American to be part of the American Olympic selection for basketball. Twelve years after the last Olympiad bearing the seal of Nazism, the symbol is strong. The notion of a superior race had already been undermined under the very eyes of Adolf Hitler in 1936 behind the domination of Jesse Owens. Now that the führer and his third reich are no more, it is time to show the world that the fight against any ideology leading to the exclusion of part of the population for reasons as trivial as skin color, religion or any other difference advance. Vast program still quite utopian in the United States, as recalled by the preparation of Don Barksdale.

In the meantime, alongside a white back named Jackie Robinson – sacred wink – from Baylor, Donald will seek the gold medal by sweeping the tournament. Eight games, eight wins, including the last in the final against France, 65-21. Inevitably, as the first African-American member of a team participating in the Games, he also became the first African-American gold medalist in a team sport. But his greatest victory is elsewhere.

When I first joined the team, I would say Adolph Rupp was a racist. But when we finished the Olympics, I would say that he had overcome a lot of his racism, and he had put in his head that everything was not as he thought before. – Don Barksdale.

The coach will even recognize with his player that the situation is not the right one

Son, I wish things weren’t the way they are. But there’s nothing you or I can do. – Adolph Rupp.

We would have slipped to Rupp that aligning his team with African-American players would be a good start. But it will take twenty years before he accepts it. In 1969. After getting his ass kicked by the Texas Miners and their 100% African-American major five. For his part, Don Barksdale takes things philosophically as always, agreeing with the coach’s words. Realize that this kind of situation will happen again.

This medal does not mean that the NBA will roll out the red carpet for him and that Don Barksdale will be able to continue – for the moment – ​​on his momentum as a precursor by adding a new honorary title of “first African American” to achieve a success. breakthrough. There are still no crowds to welcome a black person to the League, a line that has yet to be crossed a year after Jackie Robinson arrived in MLB. To illustrate this ever-present segregation, the owner of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Ben Kerner, sends a small personal letter to the young medalist to congratulate him but also to apologize for this unwritten “no black” rule. nevertheless well applied. The pro world will wait a little longer.

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