WHITE SHADOW, THE: WANNA BET? (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas about Ken Reeves, a former professional basketball player who begins a new life as the basketball coach of Carver High, an inner-city high school in Los Angeles.
Coach Reeves discovers a teenager named Bobby Maggam hustling kids on a playground in a basketball game. He is impressed by Bobby's talent and upon discovering that he doesn't go to school, offers him a chance to attend Carver High. Bobby is uninterested, seemingly confident that he will one day become a professional basketball player. Reeves wants to recruit Bobby but Sybil and Jim are resistant to the idea. He convinces them to register Bobby, but only if they are able to obtain his records from his previous school. Coach Reeves confronts Bobby again and points out that many talented basketball players from the streets were unable to achieve their dreams due to their lack of education. He challenges Bobby to a one-on-one basketball game on the condition that if he loses, he has to register with Carver High. Bobby agrees and after an exhausting game Coach Reeves manages to win.
The next morning, Bobby reports to Jim's office, where Jim, Sybil, and Coach Reeves are waiting for him. Problems arise due to Bobby's lack of official documentation and criminal record, but Coach Reeves convinces them to make exceptions for Bobby. Coach Reeves brings Bobby to practice with him and introduces him to the team. During their practice game, Bobby knocks over Hayward to get a shot, inadvertently hurting him. Coach Reeves is forced to break up a fight between him and Coolidge, and Bobby storms out of the gym. Later, Sybil calls Coach Reeves into her office to review Bobby's file from his previous school in Oakland; he was found engaging in a bookmaking scheme amongst the student body and was suspended twice before he decided to leave. Sybil doesn't want Bobby in Carver High, but Coach Reeves convinces her to give him a second chance.
Coach Reeves talks to Bobby about the incident with Hayward, saying that he needs to learn how to play on a team and that some of the players still want to play with him. He convinces him to return to the next practice, where he apologizes to the team; they accept his apology. Soon enough, Bobby performs exceptionally well at practice. During one of their drills, a pair of unknown men arrive looking for Bobby, refusing to say why. Coach Reeves gets them to leave; they warn Bobby that they are there on behalf of someone named "Little Moses." Bobby insists that he doesn't know who Little Moses or either of the men looking for them are. The other players start to suspect that Bobby is in trouble with the law. Coach Reeves is awakened in the middle of the night by a call from the school custodian, who finds Bobby sleeping in the school nurse's office. Coach Reeves drives down to pick him up and learns the truth from Bobby: Little Moses is a bookmaker who he stole nearly nine hundred dollars from, and now he owes him.
He decides to hide Bobby in his apartment until he can get the matter with Little Moses sorted out. The next morning, Coach Reeves visits an old bookie friend of his and convinces him to help Bobby deal with Little Moses, saying that Bobby could pay back the money in installments. Coach Reeves returns home to find Bobby and his television set gone. Bobby attempts to pawn Coach Reeves's television, but the pawnbroker realizes it is stolen and phones the police, who throw Bobby in jail. There he is visited by Coach Reeves, who identifies the stolen television set. He insists that Bobby is on his own from now on. The police inform Coach Reeves that Little Moses's body was found in an alleyway earlier that day, and they suspect Bobby of being the killer. Bobby swears that he had nothing to do with it, and Coach Reeves corroborates his story, since he was picking Bobby up from school at the apparent time of death. Coach Reeves also decides to drop charges against Bobby for stealing the television set.
The next day, Coach Reeves visits Sybil and tells her about what happened with Bobby. He believes the experience will be helpful to Bobby. Bobby decides he is leaving Carver High to attend school in his hometown of Oakland, but promises Coach Reeves that he will stay out of trouble and try to become a better person. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: January 8, 1979 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:48:33
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:16797
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; African-American Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1978-1981
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bruce Paltrow … Executive Producer, Created by
- Mark Tinker … Producer
- Scott Brazil … Associate Producer
- Jackie Cooper … Director
- Michael Kane … Writer
- Mike Post … Music by
- Peter Carpenter (See also: Pete Carpenter) … Music by
- Ken Howard … Cast, Ken Reeves
- Joan Pringle … Cast, Sybil Buchanan
- Ed Bernard … Cast, Jim Willis
- Thomas Carter … Cast, James Hayward
- Kevin Hooks … Cast, Morris Thorpe
- Eric Kilpatrick … Cast, Curtis Jackson
- Byron Stewart … Cast, Warren Coolidge
- Nathan Cook … Cast, Milton Reese
- Timothy Van Patten … Cast, Mario "Salami" Pettrino
- Ken Michelman … Cast, Abner Goldstein
- Ira Angustain … Cast, Ricky Gomez
- Michael Warren … Cast, Bobby Maggam
- Booth Coleman … Cast, Pawnbroker
- Leone James … Cast, Helen
- Lionel Decker … Cast, Detective #2
- David Himes … Cast, Detective #1
- Richard Marcus … Cast, Benny
- Simmy Bow … Cast, Pete
- Richard Reicheg … Cast, Carmine
- Justin LeRosa … Cast, Larry
- Dennis Haysbert … Cast, Basketball Player
- Mark Woods … Cast, Basketball Player
- Mary Moon … Cast, Secretary
- Len Ross … Cast, Cop