Crispus Attucks High School was created by the KKK in the 1920s to segregate Indianapolis’s Black students. The school was overcrowded and underfunded but attracted outstanding faculty. In 1950, Ray Crowe, a gifted math teacher and basketball coach, took over Attucks’ basketball program. Crowe nurtured his players on and off the court. One of these was Oscar Robertson, who had had natural talent as well as drive—he spent hours practicing. This account of the Attucks Tigers’ rise to basketball fame in 1950s Indiana moves back and forth among the stories of individuals, especially Crowe and Robertson, the team, and the social context of the times. Racism was alive and well in Indianapolis in the 1950s, but the city had never won the state basketball championship. Blacks and whites both rallied behind the Attucks Tigers, who became so dominant in high school basketball that it was the impetus for desegregation in the city. This fascinating history draws on a great deal of primary research, including original interviews. Black-and-white photographs appear throughout; sources and notes follow the narrative. (Age 11 and older)

An ALA Notable Book of 2019
NYPL Best Book for Teens of 2018
A 2018 Booklist Youth Editors' Choice
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book of 2018
A Kirkus Reviews Best YA Nonfiction Book of 2018
An ALSC Notable Children's Book of 2019
A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Nominee

The true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indiana, masterfully told by National Book Award winner Phil Hoose.

By winning the state high school basketball championship in 1955, ten teens from an Indianapolis school meant to be the centerpiece of racially segregated education in the state shattered the myth of their inferiority. Their brilliant coach had fashioned an unbeatable team from a group of boys born in the South and raised in poverty. Anchored by the astonishing Oscar Robertson, a future college and NBA star, the Crispus Attucks Tigers went down in history as the first state champions from Indianapolis and the first all-black team in U.S. history to win a racially open championship tournament—an integration they had forced with their on-court prowess.

From native Hoosier and award-winning author Phillip Hoose comes this true story of a team up against impossible odds, making a difference when it mattered most.

This title has Common Core connections.