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

The first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school basketball players, teams, and coaches in the DC metropolitan area

The celebration of Washington, DC, basketball is long overdue. The DC metro area stands second to none in its contributions to the game. Countless figures who have had a significant impact on the sport over the years have roots in the region, including E.B. Henderson, the first African American certified to teach public school physical education, and Earl Lloyd, the first African American to take the court in an NBA game. The city's Spingarn High School produced two players–Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing–recognized among the NBA's fifty greatest at the League's fiftieth anniversary celebration. No other high school in the country can make that claim. These figures and many others are chronicled in this book, the first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school players, teams, and coaches in the DC metropolitan area.

Based on more than 150 interviews, The Capital of Basketball is first and foremost a book about basketball. But in discussing the trends and evolution of the game, McNamara also uncovers the turmoil in the lives of the players and area residents as they dealt with prejudice, educational inequities, politics, and the ways the area has changed through the years.

In The Capital of Basketball, John McNamara offers the first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school players, teams, and coaches that make the DC metropolitan area second to none in its contributions to the game. This fascinating, highly-illustrated history is perfect for basketball fans or anyone interested in Washington, DC history.

The celebration of Washington D.C. basketball is long overdue. The D.C. metro area stands second to none in its contributions to the game. Countless figures who have had a significant impact on the sport over the years have roots in the region, including E.B. Henderson, the first African-American certified to teach public school physical education, and Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to take the court in an actual NBA game. The city's Spingarn High School produced two players – Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing – recognized among the NBA’s 50 greatest at the League’s 50th anniversary celebration. No other high school in the country can make that claim.These figures and many others are chronicled in this book, the first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school players, teams and coaches in the D.C. metropolitan area. Based on more than 150 interviews, The Capital of Basketball is first and foremost a book about basketball. But in discussing the trends and evolution of the game, McNamara also uncovers the turmoil in the lives of the players and area residents as they dealt with prejudice, educational inequities, politics, and the ways the area has changed through the years.

Andrea Chamblee (@AndreaChamblee), John McNamara's widow, covered high school basketball for her community paper and attended over 500 college and high school games in the DC Metro Area with the best play-by-play man she ever met. She has barked from the stands for a switch from zone-to-back to man-to-man, much to his dismay.

David Elfin (@DavidElfin), who has called DC home since 1965, 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.

Gary Williams (Naismith Hall of Fame inductee 2014) began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Terrapins in the fall of 1968, after playing at the University of Maryland. The young coach moved up the coaching ranks taking positions at American University, Boston College, and Ohio State before returning to Maryland to start the decade of the nineties where the Terrapins captured the program’s first ever NCAA national championship in basketball. Williams won more than 600 games in his career at four different universities, but for the coach who played at Maryland and returned to his alma mater more than 20 years later, victory never tasted so sweet as that 2002 championship.

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.