The apology NC State owes the Big O and Johnny Green from Dixie Classic

Reposted from my former website on Jan. 8, 2015. PHOTO: Oscar Robertson in a famous photo from his college career. By TOM SHANAHAN Oscar Robertson, Johnny Green and North Carolina State’s 1958 Dixie Classic ran through my mind as I watched the four-day high school basketball celebration that was the 43rd annual Holiday Invitational last week at Raleigh's storied Holliday Gym on Broughton High's campus. I wondered how many of the elite high school players -- a couple that…

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Johnny Green and the NCAA night he met Adolph Rupp

Michigan State’s Johnny Green brought out the best in just about everyone during the 1956-57 basketball season. Upon joining the Spartans' 4-7 lineup in January, he sparked a 10-game winning streak that captured the school's first Big Ten hoop title. And “just about everyone” included Kentucky head coach Adolph Rupp, a man history has painted as a racist while he ruled his segregated state and Southeastern Conference basketball. Michigan State and Kentucky met in the 1957 NCAA Mideast…

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