Outside the Paint

When Basketball Ruled at the Chinese Playground

Kathleen Yep

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781592139439, 9781592139422
• eBook ISBN: 9781592139446
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Social Sciences

Outside the Paint takes readers back to the Chinese Playground of San Francisco in the 1930s and 1940s, the only public outdoor space in Chinatown. It was a place where young Chinese American men and women developed a new approach to the game of basketbal—with fast breaks, intricate passing and aggressive defense—that was ahead of its time.

Drawing on interviews with players and coaches, Kathleen Yep recounts some surprising stories. From the success of the Hong Wah Kues, a professional barnstorming men's basketball team and the Mei Wahs, a championship women's amateur team, to Woo Wong, the first Chinese athlete to play in Madison Square Garden, and his extraordinarily talented sister Helen Wong, who is compared to Babe Didrikson.

Outside the Paint chronicles the efforts of these highly accomplished athletes who developed a unique playing style that capitalized on their physical attributes, challenged the prevailing racial hierarchy, and enabled them, for a time, to leave the confines of their segregated world. As they learned to dribble, shoot, and steal, they made basketball a source of individual achievement and Chinese American community pride.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 The Chinese Playground
• 2 The Hong Wah Kues Discover America
• 3 The Mei Wahs Knew How to Use Their Elbows and Push
• 4 “Mr. Chinese Cager” Plays Madison Square Garden
• 5 Helen Wong and the “Muscle Molls”
• Conclusion: The Chinese Playground and Yao Ming in the Era of Globalized Sports
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index