By Claude Johnson

The team and its players on this vintage photograph of an African American basketball team from 1931 remain unidentified in history, other than speculation about what “N.C.T.S.” stand for — perhaps “North Carolina Training School.”

My new favorite photo is of this unidentified all-black basketball team standing next to their team automobile.

But I still appreciate the many stories this photo tells — the antique cars parked on dirt, the bricks holding up the house, the old sneakers, the raggedy uniforms, the reflection of the sun in the rickety belt buckle, the floppy socks.

And above all, the swagger. The purposefulness.

These pieces when put together reinforces how great the sport of basketball really is, and always has been.

That’s what makes this photograph one of my new all-time favorites.