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For Connie Hawkins.
Before there was LeBron.
Before there was Michael.
Before there was Dr. J.
There was Connie Hawkins
Falsely accused of participating in the 1961 College Point Shaving Scandal, he was expelled from Iowa and banned by the NBA (despite the fact he was a freshman and couldn't even play varsity games). He was grilled by NYC cops and not allowed representation. Moreover, it's likely he suffered from then undiagnosed learning disabilities. He was completely illiterate and didn't understand what was going on.
American Basketball League MVP.
Globetrotter (which he despised).
American Basketball Association champion, MVP of championship series, MVP regular season.
Won a $1.3 million judgment against the NBA and allowed into the league.
Played for the Suns, Lakers, and Hawks - Four time All-Star.
His co-written autobiography, Foul, was a NYT best seller
Greatest player ever out of the New York school yards.
Before there was LeBron.
Before there was Michael.
Before there was Dr. J.
There was Connie Hawkins
Falsely accused of participating in the 1961 College Point Shaving Scandal, he was expelled from Iowa and banned by the NBA (despite the fact he was a freshman and couldn't even play varsity games). He was grilled by NYC cops and not allowed representation. Moreover, it's likely he suffered from then undiagnosed learning disabilities. He was completely illiterate and didn't understand what was going on.
American Basketball League MVP.
Globetrotter (which he despised).
American Basketball Association champion, MVP of championship series, MVP regular season.
Won a $1.3 million judgment against the NBA and allowed into the league.
Played for the Suns, Lakers, and Hawks - Four time All-Star.
His co-written autobiography, Foul, was a NYT best seller
Greatest player ever out of the New York school yards.
Replies
But, and this is aimed not at him but at "college sports" - how does someone who is completely illiterate get into a university in the first place?
Mike
Because he was such a good player. He could dunk by the time he was 11. He was the #1 high school player in America. He was just moved along from jr. high to high to college. Nobody gave a ****.
He grew up in Bed-Stuy (my mother's neighborhood) and played for Boys High in Williamsburg (both my father - junior varsity- and my grandfather -varsity- played for Boys). At the time my father played for Boys, to be varsity, you had to be able to dunk - no exceptions.
OK, that should get him into the NBA, but how does an illiterate person get into a university if there is even a sliver of truth in the idea of "college sports"? Or are all college sports nothing more than shams, minor leagues in all but name for the pro sports that do not have their own minor leagues?
p.s. My favorite sweatshirt is from my son's grad school - "Emory Football - Still Undefeated".
It' still common today and not surprising at all.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/ncaa-athletes-reading-scores/index.html
Jim
At Trump U. it was for Artistes.
p.s. I felt a great disturbance in the Force this evening. Turns out the Donald was an hour away in Harrisburg.
Hah. That was the late Chuck Muncie - HOF running back for the Chargers. The story, when I was at Cal, was that it took him six quarters to pass English 10 (remedial English) which he needed to pass just to take English 1.
Jason Kidd - likely Hall of Famer and Milwaukee Buck head coach - supposedly never passed English 10. He took it four semesters (Cal switched to semesters in the early 80s), failed, and went pro after his sophomore year.
Yeah, sorry, was a little spacey on the name. When I was there (64-65) they were running juco transfers and special admissions through the football program like a revolving door--maybe twenty per cent stuck and the rest left as the door swung around again. I sometimes think they kept me around as long as they did because of my GPA, certainly not my athletic ability.
Jim