The year 1968 was a seminal one in United States history. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. There were riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the Tet Offensive changed America’s mind about the war in Vietnam. It also was an extraordinary year for African American athletes. Bob Gibson won Major League Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Award, Arthur Ashe Jr. became the first African American to capture the U. S. Open Tennis Tournament, O. J. Simpson ran a football to the Heisman Trophy, and Sports Illustrated (SI) named pro basketball’s Bill Russell Sportsman of the...