Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball

by Tom Graham

Bill Garrett was the Jackie Robinson of college basketball. In 1947, the same year Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball, Garrett integrated big-time college basketball. By joining the basketball program at Indiana University, he broke the gentleman's agreement that had barred black players from the Big Ten, college basketball's most important conference. While enduring taunts from opponents and pervasive segregation at home and on the road, Garrett became the best player Indiana had ever had, an all-American, and, in 1951, the third African American drafted in the NBA. In basketball, as Indiana went so went the country. Within a year of his graduation from IU, there were six African American basketball players on Big Ten teams. Soon tens, then hundreds, and finally thousands walked through the door Garrett opened to create modern college and professional basketball. Unlike Robinson, however, Garrett is unknown today. Getting Open is more than "just" a basketball book. In the years immediately following World War II, sports were at the heart of America's common culture. And in the fledgling civil rights efforts of African Americans across the country, which would coalesce two decades later into the Movement, the playing field was where progress occurred publicly and symbolically. Indiana was an unlikely place for a civil rights breakthrough. It was stone-cold isolationist, widely segregated, and hostile to change. But in the late 1940s, Indiana had a leader of the largest black YMCA in the world, who viewed sports as a wedge for broader integration; a visionary university president, who believed his institution belonged to all citizens of the state; a passion for high school and college basketball; and a teenager who was, as nearly as any civil rights pioneer has ever been, the perfect person for his time and role. This is the story of how they came together to move the country toward getting open. Father-daughter authors Tom Graham and Rachel Graham Cody spent seven years reconstructing a full portrait of how these elements came together; interviewing Garrett's family, friends, teammates, and coaches, and digging through archives and dusty closets to tell this compelling, long-forgotten story.

Genres: Sports, History, Basketball

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2006

About the author

Multiple authors with the same name, this author is entered with 7 spaces.

Tom Graham grew up in Bill Garrett's hometown. He played basketball there and on the freshman team at Indiana University, so he knew many of Garrett's coaches, teammates, and fans. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is an international trade lawyer in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Kayla Mickelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great, educational read. I don’t think the story of sports integration is told enough. IU has dedicated their old basketball gym as the “Bill Garrett Fieldhouse” but how many people actually understand WHY it’s dedicated to him? He was a phenomenal player but to carry the weight of being one of the first black college basketball players as a young adult is a lot of pressure and we do not honor him enough.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about basketball. If you liked Hoosiers you'll enjoy reading this book.

[Trent McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came across this book as it was cited in some more modern day stories about the state of Indiana.

Incredible. Any Hoosier, IU alum or just a person with the love of history should read it.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book about basketball, integration and society in the 40's and 50's. The little told story of integration of Big Ten basketball. An easy and interesting read.

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up last Monday (4/21) at a great bookshop in Shelbyville IN called Three Sisters---only a partial tribute to Chekov given that the store is indeed owned by three sisters. Getting Open won the Best Books of Indiana Nonfiction Award in 2007, and it's a well-deserved reward: the book recounts the story of late 40s/early 50s star basketballer Bill Garrett, who took Shelbyville to the state champs and then was one of the first black players for the U of Indiana. Garrett died in 1974, and his legacy has been lost to all but a handful of central Indiana folks like Tom Graham, who grew up just north of Shelbyville on a farm (probably only ten miles from the farm where my mother grew up) and who followed Garrett's career as a child in the 50s. As my good friend and uncle (a couple times removed) Dan Kendall, Chapter 2 offers one of the best overviews of a small Northern town divided by de facto segregation you're going to find. If the succeeding accounts of basketball games gets a little blurry, it's not fault of the story---books about sports seasons are notoriously hard to maintain drama within (even A Season on the Brink gets a little sluggish). Besides, the real interest here is Garrett: a man whose nobility lay in the quiet grace with which he practiced his craft.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story finally told! A must read for any fan of basketball, history and integration. Go Hoosiers.

[Ben Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're from Shelbyville you must read this book. Or just simply a gym rat, like myself, who needs a history lesson on integrity and mental toughness.

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Indiana basketball - mostly of the state. Most read for anyone tied to the history of the game in my home state. Full review coming.

[Lisa Schuttler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really good. I'm from the cornerstone of Hoosier Hysteria but today is nothing like it was then, almost the whole town traveling through a snowstorm to the game at the next town. But, the intensity is still there, how parents are pressured to send their kids to camps, AAU teams or basketball intensive gyms. As for the book, the discrimination was necessary to elucidate. It is really a book that young black athletes and white athletes should read as well, to let them realize what shoulders they stand on, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Bellamy. It's a great historical primer for IU as well. I started it and before I knew, I was finished. It goes fast, but for any basketball enthusiast, it is a must-read.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written account of Bill Garrett's experience with combating segregationist attitudes and practices during the late 1940's and 1950's; Mr. Garrett represented an untold and generally unknown story of successfully overcoming racism and he followed the "Jackie Robinson" model. A state champion, successful collegiate career at Indiana University with the scoring record, and a successful coaching career at the high school level resulting in a state championship- he being the first individual in Indiana state history to win a state championship as both a player and coach. A must read!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really engaging book about Bill Garrett and his rise. This book focuses mostly on Garrett’s early life, possibly due to the author coming from the same small town or due to Garrett’s banishment by the nba.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. This is the first time I've ever heard about this man and his circumstances. This was a quick and easy read with the events told in a comprehensible, flowing manner.

[Clarence Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging look at high school hoops, the early days of the NCAA tourney, race in organized sports, and post-War Indiana; A nice slice of Americana.

[Diener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of us know of Jackie Robinson. But how many of us know of Bill Garrett? Whether or not you like basketball, or even sports, Bill Garrett's story is one that you must know. It both confounds and inspires, dampens the spirits and raises them. I do not remember reading a better "sports" book that so profoundly embodies the mid-20th century American experience.

[Neil Sagebiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. My mom grew up in Shelbyville, Indiana, and went to the 1947 state championship game. My dad has told me Bill Garrett stories over the years. This book helped inspire me to write my first sports history book.

[Jpaflas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting book that shows Bill Garrett's arduous battle to be the first African American basketball player in the Big Ten well. It is also an interesting look at the old days of recruiting... they were probably sleazier than they are now.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about the integration of college basketball. A great gift for young basketball fans headed off to college.

[RA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story about the first black basketball player in the Big Ten, Bill Garrett at IU, and his unique experiences playing for Shelbyville HS.

[Tyler Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story but at times it can be boring. I like the story a lot, and want to read more having to do with this topic.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars