Peabody award winner Dan Klores lobbies for HBCU players to enter Basketball Hall of Fame

This coming Saturday’s New York Times op-ed page will feature a column by Bob Herbert about the need for the Basketball Hall of Fame to admit players and coaches who starred at historical black colleges and universities (HBCUs) before all mainstream schools integrated their programs.

It took the Baseball Hall of Fame 35 years to admit Negro League players; the Basketball Hall is now 50 years old.  And it has for the most part, failed to recognize these great players.  Filmmaker Dan Klores produced Black Magic, an ESPN documentary about these colleges.  On Monday, May 18, the film will receive the prestigious  Peabody Award at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.  In accepting the honor, Klores will take the opportunity to highlight this injustice and bring much needed attention to the cause of black players whose careers preceded NCAA integration.  He has, in fact, been on a campaign to do this – enlisting the support of the Black Coaches and Administrators Assn, the Black Journalists Sports Task Force, the Retired NBA Players – including NBA legend Earl “The Pearl” Monroe -- and even Shaquille O’Neal.