The Winston-Salem State team (photo. ESPN)

A couple of months ago, I was one of a select group of media to catch and early screening of Black Magic, a documentary about the influence of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) on the game of basketball, that debuts on ESPN this Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. The film is co-produced by Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, and its narrators include Chris Paul, Samuel L. Jackson and Wynton Marsalis.

After the two-hour media screening (the film itself is 4 hours and will air in two parts), I went up to director Dan Klores to tell him I enjoyed the film. Looking a little surprised, Klores said, “I’m glad to hear that from someone your age.”

That comment stuck with me, because I can see where Klores was coming from. Black Magic is a film that will naturally appeal more to an older crowd; I did notice that I was one of the youngest people in the room at the screening, and the portions we were shown seemed like a story that the mid-20s and under set might not have patience for. Most of the interviews conducted by Klores for the documentary are with older ladies and gentlemen — those who played college ball in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s and their coaches. About the only direct connection to today’s NBA came toward the end, when Avery Johnson and Ben Wallace were profiled, along with the late Bobby Phills.

It’s unfortunate that some of the younger crowd will miss out, because my generation and those after it need to watch movies like Black Magic. I remember how on the same day I went to the screening, I was reading about Stephon Marbury — with his $20 million salary — leaving the Knicks in a huff in the middle of a road trip reportedly because he was about to lose his starting spot. Consider the contrast of going from that, to learning about pioneering ballplayers who went through so much worse, ballplayers who endured those insults and discrimination for free simply in order to get a college education and play the game that White America was trying to keep away from them.

Hoop fans of all ages know about Earl the Pearl and Pee Wee Kirkland, two HBCU alums who are covered in the film, but would do themselves right by learning the story of Ben Jobe, whose life in the game goes full-circle in regards to HBCU basketball; Jobe played for trailblazing Hall of Fame coach John McClendon when he was in school, then ended up coaching Avery and Bobby Phills at Southern University, a run that included a monumental NCAA Tournament upset over Travis Best’s Georgia Tech squad. Or the story of Cleo Hill, by all accounts one of the greatest players of his era who was blackballed from the NBA after St. Louis Hawks teammates like Bob Pettit and Cliff Hagan couldn’t deal with his shoot-first, headline-grabbing style. Or Perry Wallace, the first Black ballplayer in the SEC. Or Dick Barnett, who dropped 30 points a night at Tennessee A&I and went on to a successful pro career despite being functionally illiterate.

Be sure to check out Black Magic this Sunday (Part II airs Monday), and look out for the DVD, which will be released in October 2008.