In AP poll's earliest days, some Black schools weren't on the radar and many teams missed out
Associated Press
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FILE - Earl Monroe of Winston-Salem College, poses May 3, 1967, at the school in Winston-Salem, N.C. Willis Reed played at Grambling, Sam Jones at North Carolina Central, Earl Monroe at Winston-Salem, and they're just a handful of players who took the path from HBCUs to the Hall of Fame. Their NBA exploits are the stuff of legend. Their college exploits, not so much, in large part because their schools didn't get the attention that others did. (AP Photo/AC, File)FILE - Cleveland Pipers coach John McLendon, right, greets Dick Barnett in Cleveland, Dec. 22, 1961. It could be easily argued that McLendons college teams, especially his championship teams in the late 1950s, were among the most talented in the country. Where they would be ranked, though, will never be known since they were never ranked. (AP Photo/File)FILE - Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021 inductee Bob Dandridge speaks at a news conference at Mohegan Sun, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, in Uncasville, Conn. The AP poll has had a simple mandate over its 75 years of existence: pick the best teams in the country each week. Those teams now all come from the NCAAs Division I membership. But in the polls earliest days especially before most historically Black institutions were considered NCAA members the lines were a bit more blurred. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)FILE - Clarence "Big House" Gaines, center, gives Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, left, a copy of his book "They Call Me Big House" after Fletcher and the University of Kentucky honored the Paducah, Ky. native as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division II during halftime ceremonies at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005. Gaines had 828 victories in 47 years at Winston-Salem State University. Looking on at right is Clara Gaines, his wife of 50 years, and Glenna Fletcher, far right. (AP Photo/Garry Jones, File)FILE - Milwaukee Bucks Bob Dandridge (10) juggles a pass under the basket in front of San Francisco Warriors' Jerry Lucas in second half of an NBA basketball game in Oakland, Calif., Dec. 8, 1971. (AP Photo/Sal Veder, File)FILE - Inductee Dick Barnett, left, shakes hands with host Ahmad Rashad at the Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Mass., Friday, Sept. 6, 2019. The AP poll has had a simple mandate over its 75 years of existence: pick the best teams in the country each week. Those teams now all come from the NCAAs Division I membership. But in the polls earliest days especially before most historically Black institutions were considered NCAA members the lines were a bit more blurred. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)FILE - Clarence "Big House" Gaines is shown in Winston-Salem, N.C., in Nov. 2004. The teams at Tennessee State in a three-season span from 1956 through 1959 were legendary. And they never spent a day in The Associated Press mens basketball poll. Also never ranked: the Winston-Salem teams coached by Hall of Famer, Clarence Big House Gaines. (The Winston-Salem Journal via AP, File)FILE - New York Knickerbockers' Dick Barnett (12), left, grabs a rebound in front of Boston Celtics' Tom Sanders during an NBA basketball game at Boston Garden in Boston, Mass., Wednesday, March 6, 1968. The teams at Tennessee State in a three-season span from 1956 through 1959 were legendary. And they never spent a day in The Associated Press mens basketball poll. We only needed the chance, Dick Barnett, the player who became an NBA All-Star and two-time NBA champion out of Tennessee State, said when he entered the Small College Hall of Fame in 2016. (AP Photo/File)
1967 AP
FILE - Earl Monroe of Winston-Salem College, poses May 3, 1967, at the school in Winston-Salem, N.C. Willis Reed played at Grambling, Sam Jones at North Carolina Central, Earl Monroe at Winston-Salem, and they're just a handful of players who took the path from HBCUs to the Hall of Fame. Their NBA exploits are the stuff of legend. Their college exploits, not so much, in large part because their schools didn't get the attention that others did. (AP Photo/AC, File)