Breaking Through

John B. McLendon, Basketball Legend and Civil Rights Pioneer

De: Milton S. Katz

Narrado por: Marlin May

John B. McLendon was the last living protégé of basketball’s inventor Dr. James Naismith and one of the “top ten basketball coaches of the century” in Billy Packer’s opinion. McLendon’s amazing records in college and pro basketball earned him a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame (the first Black coach to be inducted), and his coaching philosophy has had a huge influence on basketball coaches. Breaking Through is also a powerful and inspirational story about segregation and a champion’s struggle for equality in 1940s and 50s America.

Black Magic, ESPN’s Peabody Award-winning documentary about players and coaches who attended historically Black colleges and universities, covers many of the events in McLendon’s life that Katz writes about in his book. John McLendon was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

The book is published by University of Arkansas.

"The Father of Black Basketball, [McLendon] was the godfather to the young Black athlete. I saw him as a true caretaker of the sport." (Julius Irving, NBA Hall of Famer)

"Will teach readers something about adversity and how to prevail, about what it means to earn respect at the highest level." (Earl Lloyd, NBA Hall of Famer and the first African American to play in the NBA)

"The research Katz has done for Breaking Through is outstanding...dramatic and exciting." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

©2007 The University of Arkansas Press (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks

Fantastic story; amazing human

Coach McLendon is one of my favorite humans of all time. This tells so much of his story, even more than I already knew. The narrator was okay; he didn’t ruin it for me, but he committed one of the worst errors a narrator can do: he mispronounced the name of someone famous in the field. I hear this happen a lot, and it always takes me out of the story. Other than that, he’s just fairly bland. But the story is so much more important than the narrator. Even a poor narration (which this is not) is worth it in this case.

If you find yourself wanting more after this book, go watch the Dan Klores documentary “Black Magic” about the rise of basketball through the lens of historically black colleges and universities. It should be on ESPN. Coach Mac’s story features heavily in it.