"Portions of this book first appeared in a short chapter about Crispus Attucks High School in Hoosiers: The Fabulous Basketball Life of Indiana by Phillip Hoose, first published in 1986 by Random House, Inc., reissued in a third edition by Indiana University Press in 2016." -- Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"By winning the state high school basketball championship in 1955, ten black teens from an Indianapolis school meant to be the centerpiece of racially segregated education in Indiana 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."--Jacket flap.