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Today we celebrate basketball pioneer John McLendon. McLendon is credited with inventing the full-court press and popularizing the fast break.
As the head coach of Tennessee A&I, McLendon became the first coach to win three straight national championships.
#BlackHistoryAlways
As the head coach of Tennessee A&I, McLendon became the first coach to win three straight national championships.
#BlackHistoryAlways
In 1936, John McLendon was the first African-American to earn a physical education degree at the University of Kansas, where his mentor was none other than Dr. James Naismith – the inventor of the game of basketball.
John McLendon won the CIAA championship as the head coach of North Carolina College eight times in 11 years during the 1940s and early 1950s while revolutionizing the sport with the expanded use of a fast-break style of offense.
In 1944, John McLendon arranged the legendary ‘secret game’ between his North Carolina College team and an all-white Duke Medical School team on the North Carolina College campus – the first intercollegiate basketball game where Black and white players competed on the same court.
John McLendon became the first Black coach in pro basketball with the ABL’s Cleveland Pipers in 1959. He became the first Black coach at a predominantly white college as coach of Cleveland State in 1961. He was also the first Black coach to serve on the U.S. Olympic team staff.
John McLendon was the first member of the @Hoophall to be inducted as both a contributor (1979) and a coach (2016).
