Legendary Knick guard Dick Barnett [has been nominated as a finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame.](https://twitter.com/Hoophall/status/1758622656708870563) If you’re like me, you may know Dick Barnett’s #12 jersey as “the 70s Knick that isn’t in the Hall of Fame”. And you look at his stats and see one time All Star on a team stacked with Hall of Famers and think, yeah that fits. What I didn’t know until this nomination was announced is that Barnett was an absolute legend in college, as was his team.
Coach John McLendon (now in the HOF as a contributor and coach) tried to petition to have the Tennessee A&I Tigers admitted into the NCAA. But as expected in the era of 1950s segregation, the NCAA denied Tennessee joining because they wouldn’t want coach McLendon’s little old school to be embarrassed on the big stage. This led to the Tigers competing in the NAIA instead. What followed was what could only be described as a dynasty. Facing jeers of racism from the crowd, the Tigers dominated and became the first HBCU to win a national championship with their 1957 title win. They then made sure to prove how good they were by winning the next two, securing the first national championship 3peat by ANY college team at the time. Dick Barnett took home the NAIA Tournament MVP in both 1958 and 1959 before going on to have his long NBA career. He would go on to be one of nine players from the team to play professional basketball.
What follows is a trying journey of having this legendary team recognized before time runs out. No national recognition, no White House invites, just a complete sweeping under the rug of their achievements. Followed by constant denials by the Basketball Hall of Fame due to their participation in the NAIA rather than the NCAA (which they were not accepted into solely because of racism). As the coach and players from the team began getting older and passing away, Barnett continued to fight to have his team recognized before it’s too late. Many familiar legendary faces like Clyde Frazier, Dr. J, and Phil Jackson make appearances throughout the documentary talking about Barnett’s journey to have his teammates and coach recognized and their respect for his perseverance through constantly being an outcast.
After years of denial, the Tennessee A&I teams were finally rightfully recognized by the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. Here is to hoping that Barnett’s legendary career will be recognized too and he gets to put on the orange jacket one more time while still alive to accept his flowers.
You can check out [The Dream Whisperer](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-dream-whisperer-aCN580/) on PBS. Highly recommended, especially for fellow Knick fans in need of a little history lesson of one of the franchise’s best.
Sources:
https://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tennessee-ai-teams-of-1957-1959/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/us/dick-barnett-tennessee-state-basketball-pbs.html
by HokageEzio
2 Comments
One thing Clyde brings up in the documentary is how Barnett was used to being the outcast and always being “the other guy” that didn’t get the kudos he deserves. Even his jersey retirement, Clyde said the other 70s guys really had to put pressure on the team to even give Barnett that. He was the last retired jersey of that group in a dual ceremony with Holzman in 1990, 16 years after he had retired.
Got a Barnett jersey a year or so ago because it was cheap. Went to do my own history lesson and I love the guy. Glad he’s finally getting a HoF nomination even though it may not be as prestigious as it is in baseball which is a sport i’m more familiar with.