The Capital of Basketball: A History of DC Area High School Hoops

by John McNamara, Gary Williams (Foreword by), Andrea Chamblee (Afterword), Andrea Chamblee (With), David Elfin (With)

Overview

John McNamara, staff writer and award-winning journalist for the Annapolis Capital newspaper, spent over 30 years covering local, college, and professional sports. He reported on everything from state high school basketball championships to the Final Four. John McNamara was one of five employees of the Annapolis Capital who were gunned down in a mass shooting at the newspaper on June 28, 2018.Among many other honors, he was one of Time Magazine's Persons of the Year for 2018.

Andrea Chamblee, John McNamara's widow, covered high school basketball for her community paper and atteneded over 500 college and high school games in the DC Metro Area with the best play-by-play man she ever met.

David Elfin has covered local sports for most of the last four decades while writing seven books on Washington sports and serving on the DC Sports Hall of Fame selection committee.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647121471
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2021
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	633,092
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John McNamara (@CapitalofBBall) was a staff writer for the Annapolis Capital newspaper. He earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland and spent over 30 years covering local, college, and professional sports. He won several awards from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association for his writing. McNamara was one of five employees of the Annapolis Capital who were gunned down in a mass shooting at the newspaper on June 28, 2018. He was 56 years old. The University's Philip Merrill College of Journalism established an Award and a Scholarship in his name for sports journalism. He was inducted into the Maryland High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame; the Press Area at the City of Bowie is named in his honor; his name is included on the Newseum's Journalists Wall; and he was among Time Magazine's Persons of the Year for 2018.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Gary Williams

Preface

One: The Pioneers: 1900-1950

Two: The Fifties

Three: The Sixties

Four: The Seventies

Five: The Eighties

Six: The Nineties

Afterword by Andrea Chamblee

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Map

Appendix B: All-High, All-Catholic, All-Met, and All-Prep Compilation

Photo Credits

Index

About the Author

What People are Saying About This

Williams

The Capital of Basketball is a must read. What a great history lesson on the greatness of the DMV and it’s impact on basketball. Len Bias was everything to us! But it’s not just about the unbelievable players from the DMV but also the extraordinary coaches who helped lead us to greatness. John Mac, what a pleasure being a part of your book and a part of the great history in Prince George’s County basketball.

Morgan Wootten

In The Capital of Basketball, John McNamara has crafted fascinating and revealing insights into a pivotal time in the history of basketball and the city of Washington. John’s reporting was always first-rate. No one saw the game like he did...this is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the game of basketball.

Gary Williams

The Capital of Basketball is a must read. What a great history lesson on the greatness of the DMV and it’s impact on basketball. Len Bias was everything to us! But it’s not just about the unbelievable players from the DMV but also the extraordinary coaches who helped lead us to greatness. John Mac, what a pleasure being a part of your book and a part of the great history in Prince George’s County basketball.

Mike Krzyzewski

The Capital of Basketball provides important details on players and coaches that made Washington DC famous...those of us at Duke and around the country know a trip to DC during basketball season is a chance to see some of the country’s best talent on the court.

Jeff Barker

When it came to basketball, John blended the knowledge of a veteran coach with the passion of a loyal fan. He knew the game but he never forget what it is to be a fan, and it shows in The Capital of Basketball, which tells the story of this hotbed of high school hoops. He imparted his basketball stories with insider information and wit. He was a basketball writer’s basketball writer.

John Feinstein

One of the things I genuinely looked forward to whenever I attended a Maryland basketball game was having a pre-game sit-down with John. We'd catch up on things and then start talking hoops. I always walked away from the conversation feeling smarter–or at least more knowledgeable than before. John knew everything and everyone on the subject of local hoops–high school, college and, probably schoolyard. What always came through was how much he loved it. Going to games at Maryland will never be the same for me without John. This book will let me carry some of those happy memories with me forever.

Walt "the Wizard" Williams

The Capital of Basketball is a must read. What a great history lesson on the greatness of the DMV [DC Metro Area] and its impact on basketball.

Lix Clarke

It’s sadly rare to come across sportswriters who are both expert in their field and generous with their knowledge. It’s equally rare, amid the sporting world’s current fixation on point spreads and fantasy leagues, to find sportswriters who invest the time and care to understand and portray athletes as people rather than assets. John was that rare gem—an expert in DC-area sports, a generous colleague, and a caring human being. It was my privilege to have shared press boxes with John from 2011 on. Now, his expertise and insight are shared with all inThe Capital of Basketball.

Barker

When it came to basketball, John blended the knowledge of a veteran coach with the passion of a loyal fan. He knew the game but he never forget what it is to be a fan, and it shows in The Capital of Basketball, which tells the story of this hotbed of high school hoops. He imparted his basketball stories with insider information and wit. He was a basketball writer’s basketball writer.

James Brown

The Capital of Basketball highlights [the DC area's] impact on the area and many other key moments, players, games, and coaches in Washington, DC’s storied high school basketball history.

Liz Clarke

It’s sadly rare to come across sportswriters who are both expert in their field and generous with their knowledge. It’s equally rare, amid the sporting world’s current fixation on point spreads and fantasy leagues, to find sportswriters who invest the time and care to understand and portray athletes as people rather than assets. John was that rare gem–an expert in DC-area sports, a generous colleague, and a caring human being. It was my privilege to have shared press boxes with John from 2011 on. Now, his expertise and insight are shared with all in The Capital of Basketball.

Editorial Reviews

I just finished reading The Capital of Basketball and thoroughly enjoyed it. It brought back such great memories.  It is a fine social history as well as an account of basketball in the DC area. I appreciate [it].

Father Edward "Monk" Malloy

McNamara gives light to well-known high school coaches such as Morgan Wootten (DeMatha), Joe Gallagher (St. John’s) and Bob Dwyer (Carroll), but also highlights coaches such as Cardozo High’s Frank Bolden, whose teams won back-to-back city titles in 1957 and 1958...There are dozens of other players and coaches and teams, some known, many not, who get their moment in the sun because McNamara was such an encyclopedic student of the game he loved.

The Athletic - David Aldridge

From the introduction of basketball in the city by lesser-known figures like E.B. Henderson to Morgan Wootten’s DeMatha dynasty to Montrose Christian’s Kevin Durant, this book has everything you need to know to consider yourself well-informed on DC-area high school basketball.

Wizards Xtra - Matt Modderno

The book hits all the boldface names that define hoops in Washington DC at every level—from Red Auerbach to ... Kevin Durant—but its passion is reserved for the hidden figures. The world beyond the district may not know ... how basketball played a crucial role in integrating DC thanks to E.B. Henderson, a trailblazer player and coach who wasn't allowed to coach white students at the turn of the century, yet his activism ultimately proved instrumental in the founding of the NAACP.

USA Today - Gabe Lacques

John’s book is wonderfully reported and researched, as thorough a history of DC boys’ basketball as you’ll ever read.

Washington Independent Review of Books - Christine Brennan

History is survival. And survival is politics—inequality persists in whose stories get told, get recorded, and get preserved. John McNamara did not survive a violent shooting in an all-too-often-violent country, but thanks to his work, a century’s worth of stories—of players and coaches, dynasties and underdogs, defeats and triumphs on and off the court—live on.

Washington Monthly

…a great basketball book, filled with details of big games, powerful high school basketball programs and insightful stories about the top players and coaches who, at least at one time, called Washington home.

The New York Times Book Review - Juliet Macur

The finished product is a great basketball book, filled with details of big games, powerful high school basketball programs and insightful stories about the top players and coaches who, at least at one time, called Washington home. The chronicle begins in 1900, when a local newspaper first mentioned a high school basketball game, and continues through the 1990s, when DeMatha High School was dominant.

New York Times

[The book] is a meticulous history of the players and coaches that defined DC area basketball, broken down by the decade. Anecdotes and line scores are preserved for posterity, chronicled in painstaking detail, thanks to more than 150 interviews and countless hours of research. While the writing showcases the kind of granular attention to detail that would appeal to any sports fan, it’s also an impressive historical text that demonstrates how basketball’s influence stretched beyond the simple happenings on the hardwood, helping the city contextualize the broader societal changes taking place.

WTOP.com - Noah Frank

[The Capital of Basketball] offers a welcome look at the shifting sands of race in Washington, and the social legacies that great local players and coaches have left behind.

Washington History

It’s a story of civil rights heroes and NBA legends. It’s [more than 300] pages of history few others could have accomplished, but John, who was born in Washington and never left the area, dedicated his life to it.

Washington Post

The Capital of Basketball provides important details on players and coaches that made Washington D.C. famous...those of us at Duke and around the country know a trip to D.C. during basketball season is a chance to see some of the country’s best talent on the court.

Mike Krzyzewski

It’s a story of civil rights heroes and NBA legends. It’s [more than 300] pages of history few others could have accomplished, but John, who was born in Washington and never left the area, dedicated his life to it.

Washington Post

The Capital of Basketball highlights [the DC area's] impact on the area and many other key moments, players, games, and coaches in Washington, DC’s storied high school basketball history.

James Brown

One of the things I genuinely looked forward to whenever I attended a Maryland basketball game was having a pre-game sit-down with John. We'd catch up on things and then start talking hoops. I always walked away from the conversation feeling smarter—or at least more knowledgeable than before. John knew everything and everyone on the subject of local hoops—high school, college and, probably schoolyard. What always came through was how much he loved it. Going to games at Maryland will never be the same for me without John. This book will let me carry some of those happy memories with me forever.

John Feinstein

In The Capital of Basketball, John McNamara has crafted fascinating and revealing insights into a pivotal time in the history of basketball and the city of Washington. John’s reporting was always first-rate. No one saw the game like he did...this is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the game of basketball.

Morgan Wootten

It’s sadly rare to come across sportswriters who are both expert in their field and generous with their knowledge. It’s equally rare, amid the sporting world’s current fixation on point spreads and fantasy leagues, to find sportswriters who invest the time and care to understand and portray athletes as people rather than assets. John was that rare gem—an expert in DC-area sports, a generous colleague, and a caring human being. It was my privilege to have shared press boxes with John from 2011 on. Now, his expertise and insight are shared with all in The Capital of Basketball.

Liz Clarke

The Capital of Basketball is a must read. What a great history lesson on the greatness of the DMV [DC Metro Area] and its impact on basketball.

Walt "the Wizard" Williams

When it came to basketball, John blended the knowledge of a veteran coach with the passion of a loyal fan. He knew the game but he never forget what it is to be a fan, and it shows in The Capital of Basketball, which tells the story of this hotbed of high school hoops. He imparted his basketball stories with insider information and wit. He was a basketball writer’s basketball writer.

Jeff Barker

It’s sadly rare to come across sportswriters who are both expert in their field and generous with their knowledge. It’s equally rare, amid the sporting world’s current fixation on point spreads and fantasy leagues, to find sportswriters who invest the time and care to understand and portray athletes as people rather than assets. John was that rare gem—an expert in DC-area sports, a generous colleague, and a caring human being. It was my privilege to have shared press boxes with John from 2011 on. Now, his expertise and insight are shared with all inThe Capital of Basketball.

Lix Clarke

When it came to basketball, John blended the knowledge of a veteran coach with the passion of a loyal fan. He knew the game but he never forget what it is to be a fan, and it shows in The Capital of Basketball, which tells the story of this hotbed of high school hoops. He imparted his basketball stories with insider information and wit. He was a basketball writer’s basketball writer.

Barker

The Capital of Basketball is a must read. What a great history lesson on the greatness of the DMV and it’s impact on basketball. Len Bias was everything to us! But it’s not just about the unbelievable players from the DMV but also the extraordinary coaches who helped lead us to greatness. John Mac, what a pleasure being a part of your book and a part of the great history in Prince George’s County basketball.

Williams