Young Black men on drugs! Starting fights! Looking to get paid! This was the collective NBA boogeyman of the 1970s and early ’80s, a transitional period in professional basketball and in society.

the first Black student-athlete in Ole Miss history, has died, the university announced on Tuesday. He was 71. Ball, a native of Indianola, Mississippi, played basketball for the Rebels from 1971-74.

Ball, a native of Indianola, Miss., received a plethora of offers from around the country, but he signed with the Ole Miss men's basketball program in August of 1970, becoming the first black ...

(This is largely the subject of another fine basketball book, Pete Croatto’s “From Hang Time to Prime Time”). “Black Ball” is a timely read at a moment when professional athletes are ...