Martha's Vineyard Basketball

How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class

Bijan C. Bayne

Year round on Martha’s Vineyard Island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, residents and vacationers have played basketball—almost since the game was invented. The Oak Bluffs summer league on the Island was innovative, ethnically diverse, welcomed female players, and fostered thousands of friendships. President Obama, NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving, and Family Matters sitcom star Jaleel White have all played basketball on Martha’s Vineyard, as did future college stars, authors, war heroes, and entrepreneurs. Their stories touch current events from World War I through the Civil Rights Movement—and even include the filming of the blockbuster Jaws.

Martha’s Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class follows the rich history of basketball on the Island and tells the stories of the players and coaches themselves. During the heyday of Martha’s Vineyard basketball in the 1970s and ‘80s, the courts provided a place for friendships that looked past social class and race—a unique situation given that nearby cities such as Boston were sites of violent demonstrations against integration. Original interviews with those who were there not only reveal the racial dynamics on Martha’s Vineyard, but also relate amusing anecdotes of encounters with celebrities that include Charles Lindbergh, James Cagney, Frank Sinatra, and future star James Taylor.

Martha’s Vineyard Basketball reveals little-known aspects of the Island, shares the realities and triumphs of residents and vacationers alike, and demonstrates the unifying power of basketball. New Englanders, basketball fans, and those interested in race and class relations will all find this book a noteworthy account of a singular place.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 240 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4422-3896-1 • Paperback • March 2015 • $59.00 • (£45.00)

978-1-4422-3897-8 • eBook • March 2015 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Basketball, History / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT), Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations

Martha's Vineyard Basketball

How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Year round on Martha’s Vineyard Island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, residents and vacationers have played basketball—almost since the game was invented. The Oak Bluffs summer league on the Island was innovative, ethnically diverse, welcomed female players, and fostered thousands of friendships. President Obama, NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving, and Family Matters sitcom star Jaleel White have all played basketball on Martha’s Vineyard, as did future college stars, authors, war heroes, and entrepreneurs. Their stories touch current events from World War I through the Civil Rights Movement—and even include the filming of the blockbuster Jaws.

Martha’s Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class follows the rich history of basketball on the Island and tells the stories of the players and coaches themselves. During the heyday of Martha’s Vineyard basketball in the 1970s and ‘80s, the courts provided a place for friendships that looked past social class and race—a unique situation given that nearby cities such as Boston were sites of violent demonstrations against integration. Original interviews with those who were there not only reveal the racial dynamics on Martha’s Vineyard, but also relate amusing anecdotes of encounters with celebrities that include Charles Lindbergh, James Cagney, Frank Sinatra, and future star James Taylor.

Martha’s Vineyard Basketball reveals little-known aspects of the Island, shares the realities and triumphs of residents and vacationers alike, and demonstrates the unifying power of basketball. New Englanders, basketball fans, and those interested in race and class relations will all find this book a noteworthy account of a singular place.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 240 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4422-3896-1 • Paperback • March 2015 • $59.00 • (£45.00)

978-1-4422-3897-8 • eBook • March 2015 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Basketball, History / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT), Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations

Author

Bijan C. Bayne is an award-winning Washington-based freelance columnist and critic and a founding member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Herald, and SLAM, among others. Bayne is the author of Sky Kings: Black Pioneers of Professional Basketball, which was named to the Suggested Reading List of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Wil Haygood
Preface: The Courts: A Summer Love Affair
Chapter 1 The Poorest County in Massachusetts
Chapter 2 A Love of the Game
Chapter 3 They Are Your Basic Schoolyard Ballplayers
Chapter 4 “Those Kids Can Play!”
Chapter 5 The Jaws Years
Chapter 6 The Black Vacation Haven
Chapter 7 Friendships Before Facebook
Chapter 8 The Hog Call and “No Form Norm”
Chapter 9 “That’s All There Was to Do in the Winter”
Chapter 10 Coming of Age
Chapter 11 Seasons of Change
Afterword: A Look Forward and Backward
Commonly Used Terms: A Vineyard Basketball Glossary
References
Index
About the Author

Reviews

Why not prepare for the end of winter and the beginning of spring with a good book? Bijan C. Bayne's Martha's Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class . . . will inspire, motivate and entertain you.
— BET (Black Entertainment Television)

Martha’s Vineyard may not be commonly regarded as a basketball mecca. But Bijan Bayne’s new book Martha’s Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied the Notions of Race and Class puts it on the map. . . .The award winning author incorporates recollections of his family with anecdotes and eyewitness impressions from other longtime residents. Martha’s Vineyard Basketball is a homespun narrative of the storied lore of Massachusetts roundball that reinforces the notion that no man is an island.
— SLAM Magazine

We have long known about tolerant race relations here. Now we have the chance to understand basketball’s contribution to Vineyard culture, and also its long history here. . . .Everyone involved in Vineyard basketball should read the book. You just might find your name in it.
— Martha's Vineyard Gazette

The narrative weaves connections between politicians, NBA stars Ray Allen and Julius Erving, TV stars, and local athletes and coaches, in a manner that blurs degrees of separation. . . .Martha’s Vineyard Basketball is a folksy read. The reader can hear the story being told. If you are one of the hundred-plus people named in this book, you’re in for a great trip down Memory Lane. If you like an authentic retelling of American life in the 1960s and 1970s, you’ll enjoy this one as well.
— Martha's Vineyard Times

[The book is] a reminder of how rare it was (and is) for a playground to be full of people from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. Rare, and vital.
— Martha's Vineyard Magazine

Martha's Vineyard Basketball is more than a just history of basketball on the hard court and pavement of a small slice of Massachusetts. It captures a place and past time with a depth of detail and feeling that can be summed up in one simple word: love.
— Karyn Parsons, actor, writer, and producer

In an era of extreme racial segregation in the 1950s, and racial rage and uprisings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, African Americans and whites came together not by race, but by basketball skill. This is an absolutely fascinating read about a little-known chapter in both the history of Martha’s Vineyard and an unusual example of racial harmony. Martha’s Vineyard has always been a special place for vacationers. Who knew that it was also a special place for basketball players!
— Julianne Malveaux, economist and author

Bijan Bayne's book about Martha's Vineyard is fascinating and captures the essence of the Vineyard. My wife and I were told about the Vineyard many years ago and have moved from visiting the Vineyard to owning a home in Oak Bluffs. When I think of the Vineyard, I recall meeting and representing Dorothy West there and hearing great stories about Black life on the Vineyard.
Bijan's book captures the heart and soul of a great place to vacation, relax, read and raise a family. This book is not only a summer delight while relaxing on the beach, but a great read near your fireplace in the winter.
— Charles J. Ogletree, Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

[In this] passionately-written history. . . .Bayne demonstrates an impressive memory, vividly recalling the minutest details about the games and players that inspired his love for Martha’s Vineyard basketball. . . .Bayne’s authenticity in retelling the story of Martha’s Vineyard basketball as well as his fervor for 'The Courts' transform . . . [a] history into somewhat of love note that basketball enthusiasts, New Englanders, non-academics, and nostalgic visitors to the island will enjoy. . . .Bayne’s chronicling of the summer resort league in Oak Bluffs . . . make for a remarkable account that evinces both the allure of Martha’s Vineyard and the unifying power of basketball.
— Sport in American History

Martha's Vineyard Basketball

How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class

Bijan C. Bayne

Martha's Vineyard Basketball

How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class

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