If you've never seen The White Shadow, it aired on CBS from 1978 to 1981 and starred Ken Howard as Ken Reeves, a former NBA player who becomes the coach of a basketball team at a high school in the inner city.
Even as a young boy, I understood this was something different. There was a multi-racial, multi-generational cast that wasn't afraid to live in the real world warts and all and yet retained a sense of humor about itself. It also didn't hurt that Howard had a basketball background the cast could play. And yes, there was a character named Goldstein.
Most of the episodes hold up quite well, In fact, some of these episodes are fresher in 2016 than they were in the late '70's and early '80's. The one in particular which stands is the one where a police officer shoots one of the basketball players mistaken for a robbery suspect. Yet the episode is done in such a way which gives both the police their due as well as demonstrating that justice isn't always fairly applied.
Sadly, Ken Howard died earlier this year at the age of 71. But his work on The White Shadow will resonate for generations to come.
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