Ken Howard, ‘White Shadow’ Star, SAG-AFTRA President, Dies at 71 “The White Shadow,” created by Bruce Paltrow, was a progressive drama ahead of its time in exploring the sometimes awkward, sometimes tense and sometimes funny aspects of race relations in the context of a high school basketball team with mostly African American players and a white coach, a former NBA player named Ken Reeves, played by Howard. The series, which ran from 1978-81 on CBS, represented television’s first ensemble drama with a predominantly African American cast (though admittedly Howard, the star of the show, was white). While no saint, Howard’s Reeves was always sticking his nose into situations where the high school vice principal (played by African American actress Joan Pringle), didn’t think it belonged, but almost always because he was trying to do the right thing. While Reeves did his best for his players both on the court and in their private lives, the team ribbed Reeves in a manner not terribly unlike the dynamic on “Welcome Back, Kotter.”