When Vice President Kamala Harris greeted Dick Barnett on Friday, he responded simply.
“finally.”
Finally, the six surviving members of the all-black Tennessee Agricultural and Technical State University in Nashville visited the White House, culminating decades of efforts led by Mr. Burnett to have their work recognized.
The Tennessee A&I Tigers were the first team from a historically black college to win a national championship, and the first to win it three years in a row in 1957, 1958, and 1959. Former teammates — including Mr. Burnett, George Finley, Ernest Jones, Henry Carleton, Robert Clark and Ron Hamilton — joined Mr. Harris in a private ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House and a roundtable discussion. I paid tribute to the team.
“There's so much we've accomplished as a nation because of heroes like the ones I'm looking at right now,” Harris added.one of you”
Although nine players from the Tennessee A&I championship team went on to play professional basketball, their accomplishments quickly faded in the Jim Crow South.
Barnett, a former range guard, has been trying to fix the problem for the past 10 years. He spent years teaching the next generation of basketball players about the team that broke barriers at what is now known as Tennessee State University, while campaigning for the team to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
When Harris asked Barnett, 87, about his time in the sport, he replied, “It was a constant struggle.”
“But you didn't give up,” Harris said.
“There's no question about that,” he answered.
His work paid off in 2019, when the 1957-1959 Tennessee A&I teams were inducted into the Hall of Fame. This journey was also the subject of his recent PBS documentary, “The Dream Whisperer.”
But the final piece of the puzzle was a celebration at the White House. This is a long-standing American tradition that Barnett felt was long overdue. And time was of the essence. Only eight players from the winning team and one assistant his coach still survive.
More than 50 members of Congress signed a letter in January on behalf of the team asking for an invitation to the White House “for long-overdue recognition and appropriate celebration.”
After the ceremony, the team presented Harris with a customized jersey and toured the White House.
In a subsequent interview, Burnett said of the visit, “I'm glad I felt like the time had finally come.”
Former team center George Finley, 85, who traveled from Los Angeles to Washington with his grandson, said he never expected a visit to the White House. He told Harris that Friday was “one of the best days of my life.” He also showed a photo of Harris and President Biden that he carries in his wallet.
“I think of this as an advertisement for HBCU schools and the recognition that this school brings to all of those universities. That's a really big deal,” he said in an interview before Friday's ceremony. “It’s been so many years and I’m still going strong.”
Their coach, strict technician John McClendon, “will be furious about this,” Finley added. “To me, he was one of the greatest coaches that ever existed.”
McClendon, who died in 1999, tried to move Tennessee A&I to the NCAA but was denied. Instead, the team played in the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Ernest Johnson, 85, and his wife boarded a train from Chicago to Washington. He was sidelined with an injury during the 1959 championship run, but continued to play for the Harlem Globetrotters and other semi-pro teams. Johnson said his White House visit was well worth it because discrimination kept college teams out of the national spotlight for a long time.
“No one knew it was such a great accomplishment until someone really took it seriously and made them realize it,” he said in an interview before the ceremony.
Johnson, who grew up playing on the dirt courts at Mississippi State, doesn't remember much about his time at Tennessee A&I, but he does remember McClendon's infamous conditioning routine: 3 miles a day before the season, 21 days early. The plan was to run three miles every day. before the tournament. McClendon called it the “Championship Mile.”
If McClendon were alive to see the team visit the White House, he would have said “Hallelujah,” Johnson said. “I would tell him, 'Well done, coach.'
Friday may not be Barnett's last celebration. Barnett played for just two teams in the 1970s, the New York Knicks, and dazzled fans with his signature question mark-shaped jump shot. He is a finalist in this year's Basketball Hall of Fame class, which will be announced Saturday during the Men's Final Four Tournament in Phoenix.
Barnett's former Knicks teammate Walt Frazier appeared to preempt the official announcement during a Knicks game broadcast this week, and Barnett's appointment was officially announced by another Knicks legend, Earl Monroe. He said he had heard that it was a thing.
“I'm glad they're finally listening,” Barnett said in an interview Friday, adding: “They've indicated they've been trying to keep it a secret for a while.”
Michael A. McCoy and Erica L. Green Contributed to the report.