As a child growing up in Indianapolis, Oscar Robertson never attended the Indianapolis 500.

Even though Robertson could hear the roar of the engines from his neighborhood, and even though it took place not far from Crispus Attucks High School, which he led to consecutive Indiana state basketball championships in the mid-1950s, he did not attend the race until he was a college star at the University of Cincinnati.

“You’re aware of it, of course, but it just seemed like you were totally on the outside looking in,” Robertson, one of the greatest point guards to play the game, said in a recent phone interview.

“It was cultural. My dad never went. I felt that they didn’t want black people to come out there. I was just told blacks don’t go there.”

On Saturday, he will return. Robertson, who is 76, and eight other surviving members of the Crispus Attucks championship team, and the team’s cheerleaders, will serve as grand marshals in the Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade.