WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY TRAILER

Boxed Out tells the story of the rich and largely untold history of the Eastern Professional Basketball League (EBL), which provided an important opportunity for African American basketball players who were limited by the unwritten racial quotas of the National Basketball Association (NBA) during its first two decades. During the 1950s and early ‘60s, the NBA had ten or fewer teams. Roster spots were hard to get, especially for African Americans restricted by the NBA's 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.

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The film features interviews with Eastern League legends like Waite Bellamy, Tom Hoover, Cleveland "Swish" McKinney, Maurice "Toothpick" McHartley, Ray Scott, Stan Pawlak, coach Bob Raskin, and sports journalist Bob Ryan to name just a few. Also features never-before-seen archival footage, photographs of the long-lost league, as well as priceless radio broadcasts that will bring you right into the action of this exciting, beloved -- and almost forgotten --  era of hoops!