SYNOPSIS

After many knee problems forced Ken Reeves to retire from his job as a forward on the Chicago Bulls basketball team, his college friend Jim Willis convinced him to take a shot at being the basketball coach of Carver High in Los Angeles.

Carver was in a tough inner-city, lower-middle-class neighborhood, with a racially mixed student body and team. It was a hard job, especially for someone unfamiliar with street-wise kids and coaching them in a game he knew best as only a player. His sister Katie was constantly reminding him that he could earn more money and do more with his life if he would only choose a different profession. Ken, however, found great satisfaction working with these teenagers. Ken's old friend Jim was Carver's Principal and Sybil Buchanan was the Vice Principal - she became Principal in the fall of 1980.

The White Shadow was more than just a basketball show. It was also the story of young people and their adjustments to life in an often hostile world. Within the framework of the high school basketball team were stories of drug problems, teenage crime, personal conflict and the dangers in a tough neighborhood. In fact, in the spring of 1980, one of Ken's players, Curtis Jackson, was shot to death while witnessing a liquor-store robbery. The show treated its subjects realistically and sympathetically, and was supported by numerous educational organizations.

Students came and went as in real-life. In the spring of 1980, after the team had won the Los Angeles City Basketball Championship, several players graduated from Carver High and were replaced by new players in the fall.