The White Shadow (1978)

The third season begins with Coach Reeves visiting the town where he grew up and reuniting with old friends, including an old high school teammate, an old girlfriend, and his father, whose health is failing.

Coach Reeves heals his strained relationship with his dying father, breaks things off once and for all with Paula, and returns to Carver for the new school year, where some new players have joined the team: Wardell Stone, Mitchell, Rutherford, Paddy Falahey, and Eddie Franklin

getting fed up with high school coolidge tries out for the harlem globetrotters

Salami faces possible jail time after breaking an opposing team's player's jaw during an on court brawl.

Stone saves an elderly woman's life by rescuing her from a burning car, and the experience goes to his head after he appears on the TV news and sensationalizes the story.

Coolidge starts having problems stemming from his abnormal height and size, such as normal clothes not fitting. He gets self-conscious and defensive until Coach Reeves, who has dealt with the same problems, takes him under his wing and tries to let him know he's not alone. NBA Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell guest stars.

Coach Reeves threatens to kick Falahey off the team when he suspects that he is missing practices and faking injuries. However, the coach himself looks like a hypocrite when he is summoned for jury duty and he tries to lie his way out of it.

Salami and Vitaglia take on a part-time job reposessing cars, but the ungodly work hours and the harassments from the car owners affect both their performances in school and on the basketball court.

A female teacher with a past history of mental illness and nervous breakdowns is tormented by a psychotic student.

An elderly woman is mugged on the street at night by two big, tall black men, and the description she gives the police matches both Coolidge and Franklin, who happen to be out on the town that night. The police apprehend the two with Thorpe looking on. Thorpe observes what appears to be police brutality, reaches into his pocket to get a pen to write the cops' car number, and is shot by one of them.

Carver's baseball coach, who also teaches English, begins to experience teacher burnout. He begins handing out free grades, which hurts Rutherford, who works hard in his class. Vitaglia, too, is disappointed in his attitude because he wants to try out for the baseball team.

Goldstein, Gomez, Hayward, and Reese all return for an ""alumni"" exhibition game, amid all the troubles the four have encountered in ""real life"" since graduating. Hayward is in college and wants to go to law school, but doesn't believe he'll be given the chance because of his skin color. Goldstein, after a year in the Marines, now believes he has the confidence to ask out a girl he admired while at Carver. Gomez is struggling to make ends meet as a car mechanic with a pregnant wife. And, finally, Reese is bouncing from job to job until he finally finds his niche as a phone counselor at a suicide prevention center.