Screening of Rare Basketball Films Fits March Madness

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2014/03/13/screening-of-rare-hoops-clips-fits-season-of-march-madness.html



In a 1965 NBA championship game, the Lakers’ Jerry West, going for a layup, is closely guarded by the Celtics’ Bill Russell.
By Terry Mikesell
The Columbus Dispatch  •  Thursday March 13, 2014 9:02 AM



Watch the Top 10 segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter: How many clips capture rim-rattling dunks?

Plenty.

But during the developmental years of basketball, the focus was on dribbling and passing, and moving without the ball.

The Wexner Center for the Arts revisits the days of narrow lanes and set shots with its program of rare basketball footage on Wednesday.

With clips of college and professional games from the 1930s through the 1970s, basketball fans can follow the growth of the sport.

“The one thing I really notice is how much less physical the game was,” said David Filipi, film/video curator for the Wexner Center for the Arts. “You see so much more passing and dribbling and teams moving to set up these open set shots. It almost has a kind of choreographed, ballet aspect to it.

“You just wouldn’t be able to do these kinds of plays now. The players are so much more physical.”

The first compilation of basketball footage follows in the footsteps of two other programs at the Wex: the annual screening of baseball clips, which began in 2004, and the 2-year-old football-footage program.

Fans can watch players such as Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, former OSU star Jerry Lucas, David Thompson and Jerry West run the court again.

And it gives viewers a chance to see the sport as it was played in the days of black-and-white film clips, a Buckeye great said.

“(People might) appreciate it and how the game has changed,” said former OSU forward Bill Hosket Jr. “(Now) it’s more athletic, the players are faster and stronger — but that’s in every sport."

Hosket, who played for the Buckeyes from 1965 to 1968 and led the team in scoring and rebounding for three seasons, will appear at the screening. After a chat with Filipi about his career, he will field questions from the audience.

Hosket finds that people can be passionate about basketball history.

“It’s amazing when you get around a group that is — they’re really intense about it,” said Hosket, a principal in the Hosket Ulen Insurance Agency. “When you find fans that like a particular era, they remember a lot about it.”

Because of the popularity of baseball and football in the first half of the 20th century, vintage basketball films are, indeed, rare. Filipi drew from the archives of the Hearst Metrotone News Collection and the UCLA Film & Television Art for his program.

“There’s way more baseball footage than football footage, and there’s more football footage than basketball footage,” Filipi said.

Timed to coincide with the start of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the event will include game footage from college and professional teams (both NBA and ABA), with segments on two dynasties of the 1960s — the UCLA Bruins and the Boston Celtics.

Some clips, however, do more than simply document shots and steals.

For example, Filipi said, an interview with basketball great Bill Russell tells of the discrimination he faced during a road trip to the South while playing for the University of San Francisco in the mid-1950s.

Also to be shown are clips of the 1966 NCAA Tournament finals, when Texas Western defeated No. 1 Kentucky 72-65. Texas Western started five black players; Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp refused to recruit blacks.

“I’m a huge sports fan,” Filipi said, “But what makes it more than watching sports are those clips that transcend sports.”




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