Spencer Haywood

"If you are a basketball fan, you should be aware of Spencer Haywood's immense historical importance. If you're not aware, you should be." —Bob Ryan, The Boston Globe Hall of Famer, Olympic gold medalist, MVP, and All-Star could all be used to describe the illustrious career of Spencer Haywood on the hardwood. From picking cotton in rural Mississippi to the historic 1968 Olympics to Winning ABA MVP to the battle with the NBA that would go all the way to the Supreme Court and change the league forever, Spencer Haywood's life has been a microcosm of 20th-century sports and culture. One of the most dominant big men of his era, Haywood burst onto the international scene as a teenager with a revelatory performance at the Mexico City Olympics. Yet, while his basketball career was just beginning back in that summer of '68, it was only one of many notable moments in the extraordinary and fateful life of the big man from Silver City, Mississippi. In The Spencer Haywood Rule, Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated and Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe worked with Spencer to tell the remarkable story of a man who was born into indentured servitude in rural Mississippi, and all of the unbelievable trials, tribulations, successes, failures, and redemptions that followed. Haywood would go on to be the ABA Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, but his triumphs on the court are only part of the?legend. His winding journey off the court saw him challenge the NBA's draft-entry rules and win at the Supreme Court level; run in New York City high-fashion circles in the mid-70s with his then-wife, supermodel Iman; and bottom out with alcohol and drug addiction during the infancy of the Showtime Lakers dynasty.? Spears and Washburn explore how Haywood's impact was felt throughout the NBA and in society at large—and still is to this day—culminating in Haywood's inspiring second act as an advocate for current and retired NBA players alike.

"Spencer Haywood was still a teenager when he drew worldwide attention and created controversy by not only joining the U.S. Olympic basketball team, but leading it to win a gold medal, when many of his fellow Black athletes had boycotted the Olympics and staged acts of protest." "He earned a reputation for his outstanding talent on the basketball court, and for his willingness to go against the grain, off of it. After one great season with the University of Detroit, he signed with the Denver Rockets, of the American Basketball Association. In the process, he broke a rule heretofore followed by basketball and football players - that they remain in school and on a college team for four years before signing with a professional-league team. Haywood took his case against the rule to court - the Supreme Court - won, and became professional basketball's first so-called hardship case. His victory in the courts made him a troublemaker in the eyes of team management, but opened the way for players like Isiah Thomas, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Michael Jordan to enter the pro draft when they thought they were ready, rather than after four years of college." "Haywood reached for the stars on the court and was the American Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year in 1970 with Denver. He led the league in scoring and rebounding and was the All-Star Game's MVP. He jumped from the ABA to the National Basketball Association, playing for the New York Knicks and then the L.A. Lakers. He played hard on the court and off, where he partied with the stars of fashion, society, and entertainment. He married one of the world's most glamorous, and fashion's most photographed, women - Iman. In public and private they shared the idealistic dream of linking Africa to African American through their own romantic union. But the idealism turned into a celebrity fast lane of self-indulgence and drug abuse that caused the dream to explode." "He nearly lost it all, but this is a story about success and recovery, not failure. It is a story of triumph, as Haywood reveals how he recovered from addiction through a 12-step program and his own willingness to struggle to heal himself."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Slick Watts arrived in Seattle with nothing but his name, shiny head, headband, and his personality. He remains there to this day--one of the most memorable and likable icons of Seattle sports history. Not only did he win over the his first coach--Bill Russell--he won over an entire city that seemed desperate to embrace a role model with whom it could relate. Watts's sense of style, his humble beginnings, his down-to-earth personality and his determined hustle on the court made him more than a sports hero; he became larger than life. Some say if Watts ran for governor of Washington in the '70s, he would have won. He achieved the impossible: he became bigger than Russell. Watts details how his relationship with Russell deteriorated at the same time that relationships blossomed with Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Frazier, Bill Walton, Bob Lanier, Reggie Jackson, Jessie Jackson, Pistol Pete Maravich, and many others. He also reveals how a promising career abruptly ended at the hands of Hall of Fame coach and player Lenny Wilkens. Watts gives an insider's view of how Seattle's first professional sports team evolved through growing pains and into a world champion. In his unique Mississippi dialect, Watts spins tales about teammates, coaches, opponents, and some of the most memorable games in which he participated. He also outlines his journey from an unknown entity to an overnight celebrity--forced to move twice because people were camping outside his house. Much like the way he played the game, Watts combines boundless energy and unexpected entertainment as he spins, jumps, and shoots his way through this collection of tales from Seattle's original hardwood.

Bill Russell was not the first African American to play professional basketball, but he was its first black superstar. From the moment he stepped onto the court of the Boston Garden in 1956, Russell began to transform the sport in a fundamental way, making him, more than any of his contemporaries, the Jackie Robinson of basketball. In King of the Court, Aram Goudsouzian provides a vivid and engrossing chronicle of the life and career of this brilliant champion and courageous racial pioneer. Russell’s leaping, wide-ranging defense altered the game’s texture. His teams provided models of racial integration in the 1950s and 1960s, and, in 1966, he became the first black coach of any major professional team sport. Yet, like no athlete before him, Russell challenged the politics of sport. Instead of displaying appreciative deference, he decried racist institutions, embraced his African roots, and challenged the nonviolent tenets of the civil rights movement. This beautifully written book—sophisticated, nuanced, and insightful—reveals a singular individual who expressed the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. while echoing the warnings of Malcolm X.

Not distributed; available at Arkansas State Library.

Paul Westhead was teaching high school in his native Philadelphia when he was named La Salle University's men's basketball coach in 1970. By 1980 he was a Los Angeles Lakers assistant, soon to be hired as head coach, winning an NBA title with Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and rookie guard Magic Johnson. After compiling a 112-50 record, he was fired in November 1981. After a short stay as coach of the Chicago Bulls, Westhead reemerged in the mideighties as a coach at Loyola Marymount in California, where he designed his highly unusual signature run-and-gun offense that came to be known as "The system." The Speed Game offers a vibrant account of how Westhead helped develop a style of basketball that not only won at the highest levels but went on to influence basketball as it's played today. Known for implementing an up-tempo, quick-possession, high-octane offense, Westhead is the only coach to have won championships in both the NBA and WNBA. But his long career can be defined by one simple question he's heard from journalists, fellow coaches, his wife, and, well, himself: Why? Why did he insist on playing such a controversial style of basketball that could vary from brilliant to busted? Westhead speaks candidly here about the feathers he ruffled and about his own shortcomings as he takes readers from Philadelphia's West Catholic High, where he couldn't make varsity, to the birth of the Showtime Lakers and to the powerhouse he built nearly ten years later at Loyola, where his team set records likely never to be approached. Westhead says he always found himself telling prospective bosses, "My speed game is gonna knock your socks off!" So will his story and what it could do to bring back a popular style of play.

In basketball, just as in American culture, the 1970s were imperfect. But it was a vitally important time in the development of the nation and of the National Basketball Association. During this decade Americans suffered through the war in Vietnam and Nixon’s Watergate cover-up (not to mention disco music and leisure suits) while the NBA weathered the arrival of free agency and charges that its players were “too black.” Despite this turmoil, or perhaps because of it, the NBA evolved into a cultural phenomenon. Tall Tales and Short Shorts: Dr. J, Pistol Pete, and the Birth of the Modern NBA traces the evolution of the NBA from the retirement of Bill Russell in 1969 to the arrival of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson ten years later. Sandwiched between the youthful league of the sixties and its mature successor in the eighties, this book reveals the awkward teenage years of the NBA in the seventies. It examines the many controversies that plagued the league during this time, including illicit drug use, on-court violence, and escalating player salaries. Yet even as attendance dwindled and networks relegated playoff games to tape-delayed, late-night broadcasts, fans still pulled on floppy gray socks like “Pistol Pete” Maravich, emulated Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sweeping skyhook, and grew out mushrooming afros à la “Dr. J” Julius Erving. The first book-length treatment of pro basketball in the 1970s, Tall Tales and Short Shorts brings to life the players, teams, and the league as a whole as they dealt with expansion, a merger with the ABA, and transitioning into a new era. Sport historians and basketball fans will enjoy this entertaining and enlightening survey of an often-overlooked time in the development of the NBA.

An invaluable and inspiring compilation that shines a light on unsung athletes of color. Sports have long been used as a vehicle for change, as a way to break down barriers and foster greater understanding. But while we know the stories of trailblazers like Jackie Robinson, just as important are the journeys of lesser-known athletes who used sports as a platform to fight injustice, racism, and discrimination. In Remember Their Sacrifice: Stories of Unheralded Athletes of Color, Arif Khatib and Pete Elman share the extraordinary stories of a special group of athletes, of their struggles, achievements, and incredible impact on the world of sports and beyond. It includes Pumpsie Green, the first Black player for the Red Sox; Alice Coachman, the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal; Sammy Lee, the great Asian American diver who won Olympic gold; Toni Stone and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, two women who played in baseball’s Negro Leagues; Billy Mills, a Native American icon who won Olympic gold in the 10,000 meters; and many more. Featuring an array of sports such as boxing, track and field, golf, auto racing, basketball, football, soccer, and baseball, as well as exclusive interviews with the authors, Remember Their Sacrifice elevates these pioneering athletes to their deserved position in the pantheon of sports.