“Let’s have the fellows who want to play basketball on one side,” said Bill Russell, “and the fellows who want to fight in another place.”
Tag Archives: 1960s NBA
Joe Strawder: No Guarantees, 1968
I came to Pittsburgh, and Mr. Rubin was very fair. But I asked for a guarantee. Detroit could have sued me, and then I’d have been out of everything.”
Tommy “Gun” Heinsohn, 1960s
Cousy agreed. “Heinsohn can do everything Baylor can do,” he said one day. “On top of that, he’s the best offensive rebounder in the business.”
Tom Meschery: Bard of the Backboards, 1969
What follows are 13 poems penned by the NBA great Tom Meschery.
Ode to a Rookie Referee in Two Takes, 1967
Moser, about to hand the ball to the Celts’ John Havlicek, looked at the agonized Holzman—the Knicks were 16 points behind—and said firmly, “That’s enough,” without exclamation point.
Cliff Hagan: In the Twilight, 1970
“I’m not mean,” Hagan said. “I think ‘intensely competitive’ would be more accurate.
Red Auerbach: An Old Friend’s Telling You to Hang ‘Em Up, 1979
Heed those words, Red. Sit back, light up a cigar and relax. You don’t need the aggravation anymore.
Bill Sharman: The Shooter, 1965
What made Sharman’s shooting so remarkable was its purity. He shot with almost robot-like precision, his style so polished and precise that it seemed like an illustration for a book on how to play basketball.
Player Bill Russell Takes a Look at Coach Bill Russell, 1968
“I’ll repeat what I said before about this job,” says Russell. “The best player I’ve got is me.”
Bill Russell’s Biggest Challenge, 1967
The success or failure achieved by Russell, his team, and the NBA in picking their precarious way along that path will, justifiably or not, affect the future ambitions and lifetime careers of Black athletes in baseball, football—indeed, in all sports.
From Way Downtown 