How Black basketball players changed the sport in the 1970s

Some basketball fans may think of the 1970s as the so-called dark ages of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

TV ratings were down. Attendance at games was low. And the league was seen as "in decline," according to historian Theresa Runstedtler.

But she says the decade is pivotal, and too often overlooked. 

Runstedtler is a historian of race and sport who teaches at American University in Washington, D.C. Her new book, Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation that Saved the Soul of the NBA, is . . .