The White Shadow is an American drama television series starring Ken Howard that ran on the CBS network from November 27, 1978 to March 16, 1981, about a white former professional basketball player who takes a job coaching basketball at an impoverished urban high school with a racially mixed basketball team. Although the lead actor Howard was a blonde Caucasian, the series broke new ground as the first television ensemble drama to feature a mostly African American cast, with African American actors playing the high school principal and vice-principal, the majority of the teenage basketball players, and other supporting roles. The White Shadow also presented a more realistic view of high school than previous TV shows, and dealt with controversial subject matter such as sexually transmitted