Mannie Jackson: From Boxcar to Boardrooms

This new documentary provides the backstory to a name that many know from the basketball court and the boardroom. Growing up in southern Illinois in the 1940s and 50s, Mannie Jackson dreamed of being more than a star athlete, he wanted to be a star in business. He was not willing to accept the limitations placed on him by a society steeped in prejudice. Jackson rose from humble beginnings in a rain-soaked boxcar to become the first African-American captain of the University of Illinois basketball team, a member of the Harlem Globetrotters and later Chairman of the Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame. He left basketball to break through the color barrier of the business world. As a senior executive at Honeywell, he was one of the first African-Americans to serve on multiple Fortune 500 boards of directors. When he purchased the Harlem Globetrotters in 1992, he rescued them from bankruptcy and insured their role in African-American history would not be forgotten. Narrated by sportscaster and former NFL player Ahmad Rashad.