ESPN FILMS: THE SECRET GAME (TV)
Summary
A docudrama film about an illegal college basketball game held in 1944 between teams from Duke University and North Carolina College for Negroes.
In Durham, North Carolina in 1944, at the Carolina Times sports desk, one reporter types up a story about the Eagles, the all African-American basketball team of the North Carolina College for Negroes, notable for their undefeated record. He interviews John McClendon, head coach of the Eagles, who was instructed in basketball by Dr. James Naismith, inventor of the game. He and his players attest that his coaching methods are unconventional but highly effective. Meanwhile, a group of white intramural military medical students at the nearby Duke University form a basketball team of their own. They are also undefeated and look to find “a worthy opponent.” McClendon discusses his family and his relationship with them. He was the first African-American student to enroll in the physical education program at the University of Kansas, facing all manner of discrimination in the process. His resistance convinces the university to make small concessions towards integration, and stories of this prove to be inspiring for the Eagles. His move to North Carolina, with its much more visible discrimination laws, proves to be difficult for the McClendon family.
One member of the Duke University basketball team, who grew up in Montana, expresses his distaste for racial segregation but is scolded by the rest of the team, most of whom were born and raised in the South. He believes that they simply “don’t know any better.” Over the course of several surreptitious meetings between students from Duke and the North Caroline College for Negroes, arguments over their respective basketball teams erupt and the idea arises for the two teams to challenge each other to a game. McClendon is intrigued by the idea and wishes to go forward with it, but advises them to keep it secret due to its inherent danger and illegality, and despite warnings from his wife that he might jeopardize his job by doing so. He hopes to prove wrong the assumption that African-Americans are inherently ill-suited to basketball and can beat all-white teams.
On March 12th, 1944, a Sunday morning, the Duke team drives across town in two cars, hoping to avoid notice while the rest of the town is in church. Both teams are unaware of the identity of their opponents, puzzling both of them. The Duke team arrives and, after some initial apprehension, goes in to meet the Eagles, making sure to do so quickly and without attracting any attention. They arrive at the gym during the Eagles’ warm-up routine, and they all stop in their tracks. As the Duke team warms up, McClendon gives his team a speech in their locker room, commending the other team’s “courage” and encouraging his players to play their hardest. Both sides go in to the game scared, believing that they will be found out and arrested, or that violence might erupt between the two teams. The game begins and it is awkward at first, with both sides exercising great caution and giving each other much space. However, as the game progresses, both teams redouble their efforts and the Duke team takes an early lead. McClendon realizes that his team is scared since they have been taught to avoid contact or confrontation with white people.
Halfway through the game, McClendon gives his players a pep-talk, telling them that the other team is “not better than us.” Reinvigorated, the team mounts a tremendous comeback in the second half of the game and the Eagles win the game 88-44. However, the teams immediately hold a second game, this one featuring racially mixed teams made up of players from both sides playing against each other. The story is framed as the reporter, in the year 2000, recounts writing an article about these events, although he did not submit the story to the paper or share it with anyone else at McClendon’s request. In the years following that game, professional sports slowly become more open to African-Americans, and the long struggle for civil rights plays out in the ensuing decades. The story of the game remains secret until it is finally revealed in 1996, and those players from the game still living gather in the gym for a reunion. McClendon goes on to set records as a college basketball coach over a long and fruitful career before passing away in 1999. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ESPN
- DATE: 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:06
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 121936
- GENRE: Docudrama; Sports
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Sports; TV - Docudrama; TV - Sports
- SERIES RUN: ESPN - TV, 2012
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jay Ward … Cast, Coach John McClendon
- Max Huc … Cast, Young Reporter
- Gary Lewis … Cast, Old Reporter
- Gordon Timothy … Cast, NCCN Manager
- Nedra McClyde … Cast, Alice McClendon
- Walter Simpson … Cast, #21 NCCN
- Ryan Lowery … Cast, #23 NCCN
- Terrin Hill … Cast, #26 NCCN
- Amir Singleton … Cast, #22 NCCN
- Barthelemy Astin … Cast, #20 NCCN
- Mark Jarrell … Cast, #24 NCCN
- Quentin Jordan … Cast, #29 NCCN
- Nico Evers-Swindel … Cast, #6 Duke Medical
- Phil Hauspurg … Cast, #2 Duke Medical
- J.J. Huckin … Cast, #7 Duke Medical
- Steve Morgan … Cast, #5 Duke Medical
- Chris Smith … Cast, #3 Duke Medical
- Matt Worley … Cast, #4 Duke Medical
- Rosemary Pace … Cast, Duke Player's Mom
- Steve Lewis … Cast, Referee
- Glenn Friedman … Cast, Pool Attendant
- Chloe Mason … Cast, Querida McClendon
- Marcus Stevenson … Cast, John McClendon Jr.
- Ted McGuinness … Cast, Instructional Coach
- BJ Acaley … Cast, Swimmer
- Sam Whitten … Cast, Swimmer
- Richard Marson … Cast, Swimmer
- Mike Thurber … Cast, Swimmer
- James Naismith