Kentomania: A Black Basketball Virtuoso in Communist Poland
by Kent Washington
In 1979 Kent Washington became the first Black American to play professional basketball behind the “Iron Curtain” when he joined a Polish team. His recent book focuses on that period of his life, and proves to be a very enlightening and sometimes surprising memoir.
One of the surprises in the book was just how welcome he was in Poland. “I will be forever grateful for the Polish people accepting me and allowing me to be a pioneer for others to follow,” he wrote.
Washington was born in New Rochelle NY, just north of New York City. His father was a cop, and became New Rochelle’s first Black detective. Kent had an obsessive dedication to basketball, taking a methodical, disciplined approach to improving his skills and physical conditioning. Despite his small size he earned a scholarship to Southampton College in Long Island.
That area had a significant Polish American population, which led to the college scheduling a 20-day tour of Poland in 1976. Kent, a 5’8” junior point guard, went on the trip and was named tournament MVP. He so impressed the Poles with his quickness and imagination that officials from the KS Start Lublin team told Kent they’d welcome him back.
After finishing his college education Washington was a 10th round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers. Attending tryouts, he soon realized what a long shot he’d be in the NBA. He decided, instead, to go where he knew he’d really be wanted: Poland. In 1979, he returned to then-communist Poland to play professionally, not realizing that he was making history.
During his first game, opposing fans started chanting “Kunta Kinte.” After a while, he realized that Polish TV had broadcast the American “Roots” series. More amused than insulted, when he was mobbed by autograph seekers after the contest he sometimes signed, “Kunte Kinte.”
Kent became an instant celebrity; at first it was because of his race, as many Poles had never seen a Black person before. It soon became more about his exciting brand of basketball, with deft ball-handling and behind-the-back passes.
During his time in Poland he averaged over 20 points a game playing for two teams, without a three-point shot, and was league MVP once and MVP runner-up twice. He helped lead one of his teams, Zaglebia, to the Polish Cup. The Polish press called his popularity “Kentomania,” as enthusiastic crowds overflowed venues that usually sat about 3,000.
It wasn’t difficult for Kent to be a Black American on a Polish team. “All of my teammates and coaches, unconditionally, accepted me not only as a teammate, but as a man.” Off the court, Kent didn’t have any problems with the Poles either. He lived with a Polish girlfriend for two years and “we walked in town together and were never confronted with racial problems.” He found the Poles “curious, not racist,” and added: “The only mobs I was confronted with were fans who wanted my autograph!”
Adding to his popularity was a short movie appearance dribbling a basketball as a supposed Harlem Globetrotter in the Polish cult comedy film “Mis” (called “Teddy Bear” elsewhere). He also inspired a 1988 comedy called “Czarodziej z Harlemy” (“Wizard in Harlem”) about an African American basketball player in Poland.
Kent adapted to a new lifestyle as well as a new style of basketball. Just as Washington immersed himself in basketball as a young man, he immersed himself in Polish culture when he moved to Poland. He studied the history, ate the food, learned the language, and lived like a Pole.
He told a story about the time he and his team were dining in a Warsaw restaurant, when an American couple started complaining loudly. Washington went to their table and told the pair to stop being arrogant. “You’re in Poland, not the USA,” he admonished them. His teammates smiled as he returned to their table, and Kent thought, “Maybe I was Polish after all!”
Washington was playing in Poland during the declaration of martial law in 1981, which gave him a new perspective. “I couldn’t help but wonder, was the treatment of the Polish people by the communist government any different than the treatment by the American government of Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement in the south?” During that time of turmoil some of Kent’s teammates left Poland, and eventually so did he.
The 1982-83 season was very successful but also Kent’s last in Poland. He decided to accept a much more lucrative offer to play in Sweden. He played there for ten years, and earned league MVP honors. After 14 years playing professionally in Europe he retired from playing at 38, coached women’s basketball in Sweden for a couple of years. He and his Swedish wife returned to New Rochelle in 1997. Just last year, the 66-year-old was inducted into the Westchester Sports Hall of Fame.
Most of the book recounts his four-and-a-half seasons in Poland, which he called “the single most important time of my life.” But he didn’t fully realize, until lately, that he also had a tremendous impact on Poles, and is still regarded as a legendary figure there in Poland.
It’s a fascinating personal story that Washington tells with great insight and clarity. The result is a first-rate sports memoir that not only tells the tale of an undersized basketball player who willed himself to becoming a star, but also of a Black American who found acceptance and brotherhood in a foreign land.
Just as impressive as his hard-earned hardwood skills is his ability to immerse himself in Polish culture and “become a Pole.” We often hear about sports building bridges and bringing people together, but all too often sports divides us along racial, gender, national, or other lines. The story of Kent Washington, however, clearly illustrates that sports can bring people together, if only they open their hearts and minds and allow it to do so.
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