About The Documentary
During the 1950s and early ‘60s, the National Basketball Association (NBA) had ten or fewer teams. Roster spots were hard to get, especially for African Americans restricted by the NBA's unwritten quotas. Players who didn’t make the NBA played in the Eastern League for $50-100 a game on weekend nights in small, blue-collar towns like Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton. These were some of the best players of their generation who you've never heard about -- until now.
​
Boxed Out is receiving fiscal sponsorship from the International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and has been tentatively approved for broadcast on WVIA-TV, the PBS affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Northeastern Pa. For information on how to become an Underwriter for broadcasts on WVIA and other regional PBS stations, or to make a tax-deductible donation to the IDA, use the buttons below.
​
Boxed Out is
Who We Are
Syl Sobel (Executive Producer/Producer) is an attorney, author, journalist, and former federal
government executive. He has written several children's books on U.S. history and government,including titles on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and presidential elections, and is anaward-winning journalist and contributor to the op ed pages of various newspapers.
Jay Rosenstein (Executive Producer/Producer) was a financial writer and editor for more than 40 years.His accomplishments at the FDIC included creating, writing, and editing a financial
newsletter for consumers for 25 years. He retired in 2020 to pursue his interest in writing books for adults and children.
Sobel & Rosenstein’s book, Boxed Out of the NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League, is the basis for this film.
Ryan Polomski (Producer/Director/Editor) is a documentary and television director, producer,
editor, and film professor living in Los Angeles, CA. His second feature, Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend, was a Finalist for the prestigious 2022 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. Lewis landed a Special Jury Selection at its premiere at the Pan African Film Festival and won Best Documentary at the San Pedro International Film Festival.
Samuel Moskowitz (Cinematographer) has worked on shows including The Fosters, American Dream Builders, and Grown. His L.A-based production company BLL Films specializes in media and digital marketing for companies such as The Desire Company, Netflix, Harper’s Bazaar, the Skimm, Elle, and more.