Why They Banned Dunking (1968) w/ Mike Sielski

It's February 19th. This day in 1967, the NCAA has decided to ban dunking in the college game -- a move largely seen as a response to Lew Alcindor (soon known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and other Black players using the move.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer to talk about the larger political and racial context of the dunk ban, and what the dunk has meant to the game of basketball over the years.

Mike's new book is "Magic In The Air: The Myth, the Mystery and the Soul of the Slam Dunk"

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

You can also find our newsletter, merch store, transcripts, and lot more on our site.

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia