Oscar Robertson was a force of nature in college at Cincinnati — the team lost nine games total in his three seasons. He averaged 33.8 points per game in college and won the national scoring title each of his three years, led Cincy to two Final Fours, and his senior year was named College Player of the Year.
In 1958, all that earned Cincinnati an invite to one of the biggest in-season tournaments of the time — the Dixie Classic in North Carolina. However, that tournament featured all-white teams from North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest, and NC State (plus other teams from around the nation) in the still segregated South. Robertson recounted some of the racism he faced before that tournament — including a death threat from the Klu Klux Klan — in an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast.
Oscar Robertson defied death threats & discrimination throughout his career ⁰⁰“I get a telegram. It says, ‘If you go out and play we’re gonna shoot you.’… I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”⁰
ALL THE SMOKE with The Big O is LIVE: https://t.co/AkZGYGoZww#NBA pic.twitter.com/mx4EERLnXj— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) September 19, 2024
“We were gonna play in the Dixie Classic. I knew nothing about the Dixie Classic. So I get a telegram that says, if you go out and play, they go to shoot me. So I gave it to the coach. Later on that day, I get a knock on my door. Here’s a white kid from Alabama, some Alabama fraternity, who had to come and get an autograph from me. What do you think I did? I autographed it for him. I never forget that as long as I live. I mean to be honest, I was born in Tennessee. I never really thought that much about the Klan to begin with… I never thought that much about guys that threatened me. I mean, it wasn’t the only time I was threatened, by the way I must tell you, but they didn’t bother me. I mean, I just didn’t think about being shot, I just I just didn’t think that it was gonna do it.”
Robertson faced plenty of racism during that tournament, according to those who researched the topic, including having coins and hot dogs thrown at him, being called the “n-word,” and much more. Robertson was not alone in this, that 1958 Dixie Classic (Matt Barnes had it off by a year on the pod) also featured Michigan State star and future four-time NBA All-Star Johnny Green, who got much of the same treatment.
Robertson and Green handled the situation with nothing but class.
It would be another half a decade before those schools along the Tobacco Road would integrate their basketball teams.
