Across the Line: Profiles in Basketball Courage: Tales of the First Black Players in the ACC and SEC

By Barry Jacobs

Book Overview

In the 1960s, college sports required more than athletic prowess from its African American players. For many pioneering basketball players on 18 teams in the Atlantic and Southeastern conference, playing ball meant braving sometimes menacing crowds during the tumultuous era of civil rights. Perry Wallace feared he would be shot when he first stepped onto a court in his Vanderbilt uniform. During one road game, Georgia's Ronnie Hogue fended off a hostile crowd with a chair. Craig Mobley had to flee the Clemson campus, along with other black students. C.B. Claiborne couldn't attend the Duke team banquet when it was held at an all-white country club. Wendell Hudson's mother cried with heartache when her son decided to play at the University of Alabama, and Al Heartley locked himself in a campus dorm at North Carolina State for safety the night Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Grounded in the civil rights struggles on campuses throughout the south, the voices of players, coaches, opponents and fans reveal the long-neglected story of race, sports and social history.

Barry Jacobs has covered college basketball as well as news and other sports since 1976 for numerous publications, among them the New York Times, Washington Post, GQ, People, Oceans, the Saturday Evening Post and the Sporting News. He is the author of four books, including Coach K's Little Blue Book, The World According to Dean, and Three Paths to Glory. For 14 years he wrote the Fan's Guide to ACC Basketball. He also served as an elected county commissioner for 20 years and supervises Moorefields, an historic site near Hillsborough, NC.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599210428
• ISBN13: 9781599210421
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Important Stories Well Told

One of the most important "sports" books you'll ever read. The stories of the student-athletes who crossed the color line at southern universities are remarkable, particularly given that most of their experiences are only a generation or so old. The book is incredibly well-researched; unfortunately, the same can't be said for another review on this site. The Auburn player who committed suicide was Henry Harris, and the author explains that he did so two years after he left the school. He did not jump out of a dorm-room window. If you are going to accuse someone of getting the facts wrong on a public forum, be very sure you have at least read what they have written and can prove a factual error. If you care about civil rights, history, and/or the culture of American sports, this book tells invaluable and untold stories.