The names read like basketball royalty. Hall of Fame coach Ray Crowe. Hallie Bryant. Willie Merriweather. Bill Garrett. Willie Gardner. And, of course, the greatest all-around player the game has ever seen — the legendary Oscar Robertson. Along with superb supporting casts, this group rewrote the book on team basketball and provided a highly underrated academic institution with three state championships in the racially charged era of the 1950s, and in the process, forever changed the social landscape in both the state of Indiana and the city of Indianapolis.
Now, some 58 years since the last of those titles, the optimism is back at Crispus Attucks High School, where a new generation of student-athletes are poised to take hold of another title and complete the total resuscitation of the basketball program, which, sadly, has remained dormant for many years.
As they head to Bankers Life Fieldhouse this Saturday, the 2017 Tigers are both talented and hungry, and they appear to be focused on the task at hand as they attempt to win the Indiana Class 3A High School Basketball Championship.
Head coach Chris Hawkins has the luxury of upperclassmen leadership with four of his key contributors heading down the commencement aisle later this year. The Tigers will pin their title hopes on the shoulders of the talented Nike Sibande — who averaged 22 points per game this season — along with the superb trio of Teyon Scanlan, Zac Owens and Alex Cooley, who’ve provided Attucks with excellent scoring balance this season, combining for an additional 34 points per game. Junior Jamal Harris had a monster game against Evansville Bosse in the semifinals, where he dropped 30 points on the Bulldogs while grabbing six rebounds, as well. Without question, this is a talented group.
However, the task at hand this weekend is an enormous one as they face a worthy opponent in the Twin Lakes Indians, who are equally interested in hoisting the title trophy and bring a very talented roster down Interstate 65 from Monticello.
But regardless of outcome, this Crispus Attucks team will undoubtedly carry its own identity with them onto the court as they prepare to battle for the crown, and there’s a good chance they’ll be cutting the nets down, too. Hopefully they’ll pay tribute in some fashion to the gifted individuals who came before them and made it possible for them to compete today. I also hope Indianapolis as a community will pay the proper homage to the Tigers if they prevail, and somehow make an apology to those remarkable teams in the 1950s who never received the proper recognition they deserved due to the unconscionable level of racial divide that existed in Indianapolis at the time.
By taking hold of the opportunity, this version of the Crispus Attucks Tigers can make its own history and set the bar even higher for those who will come after them. That would make a lot of people happy, especially the late, great Ray Crowe.
Notes: Tickets for the game remain on sale at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse box office. You can also watch the Tigers in action on television this Saturday on Fox Sports Indiana. The game tips off at 6 p.m. The action can also be heard on radio at 1070 AM and 107.5 FM.
Danny Bridges, who thinks the Crispus Attucks Tigers of the 1950s are the greatest story in the history of Indiana sports, can be reached at (317) 370-8447 or at Bridgeshd@aol.com.
