In honor of our second Hardwood Classics night of the year celebrating Knicks basketball from 1953-61, we asked four-time All-Star and former Knicks Captain Willie Naulls to recount his memories of playing in NYC during that time and becoming the first African-American captain of any major professional sports team. Enjoy his thoughtful responses in the interview below.
How would you define the style of basketball when you played?
To answer this question, I have had to do some retrospective pondering.
From the segregated South, living in a ghetto in Dallas, my parents, Daily and Bettie Naulls, moved with their children –- Billy, William, Jerry and Judy -– to an integrating San Pedro, California, a port town in the Los Angeles Harbor.