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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2255885, member: 289"] THE PLAYERS (Neil Johnston, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes, Paul Arizin, Larry Foust, Harry Gallatin and Ed Macauley have been covered in earlier articles.) Despite the heroics of Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston, the Warriors’ four year run of NBA scoring champions was ended by the St. Louis Hawks BOB PETTIT, a 6-9 210 power forward, who averaged 25.7 points and 16.2 rebounds a game. Despite playing for a losing team Bob was named the league’s MVP which clearly meant he was regarded as the very best player in the league. He went on to have one of the greatest careers in the game’s history. He was the star player of a team that went on to win five straight western titles and the 1957-58 NBA title, the only team to prevent the Celtics from having an incredible ten year championship run, thanks to the 50 points Bob scored in the final game. Pettit created the mold for the modern power forward. It was he who surpassed Dolph Schayes as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, even though Bob only played 11 seasons to 16 for Dolph. Bob won a second MVP in 1959, over Bill Russell and Elgin Baylor. His career highs were 31.1 points in 1961-62 and 20.3 rebounds the previous year. But really, a Bob Pettit year was a Bob Pettit year. For his career, he averaged 26.4 points for 16.2 rebounds. His lows were 20.4 as a rookie and 12.4 in his final season. He was so consistently productive he was basketball’s answer to Stan Musial in St. Louis. [URL="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/pettibo01.html"]Bob Pettit Stats | Basketball-Reference.com[/URL] Zander Hollander: “He was a pleasure to watch: a smooth shooter with and exceedingly accurate jump shot, a deceptive rebounder who used finesse to outwit and out-rebound stronger men…Off the court, Pettit was all class, the same as he was in uniform. He had an inordinate amount of pride.” Pettit: "Offensive rebounds were worth eight to 12 points a night to me. Then I'd get another eight to 10 at the free-throw line. All I had to do was make a few jump shots and I was on my way to a good night." “What it is with me, I guess is that as you go along in life and work hard, you reach new plateaus of accomplishment. With each plateau you reach, the demands upon you become greater. And your pride increases to meet the demands. You drive yourself harder than before. You can’t afford negative thinking, so you always believe you’ll win. You build an image of yourself that has nothing to do with ego – but it has to be satisfied . When I fall below what I know I can do, my belly growls and growls. Any time I’m not applying up to my very best I can count on a jolt of indigestion.” That explains why Bob Pettit excelled. It may also explain why he retired after 11 years when he was still one of the top players in the game. Bob Pettit: “A Will to Win” [MEDIA=youtube]EFTY-6sk3iA[/MEDIA] CLYDE LOVELETTE was the guy with the job of replacing George Mikan as the Lakers center and he did a pretty good job. At 6-9 235 he was nearly Mikan’s size. He had been the star of the 1952 Kansas team that won the NCAA title and which came back the next eyar to lose by a single point in the title game to Indiana. The Jayhawks came close to matching the feats of Bob Kurland’s Oklahoma State teams and the Fab Five of Kentucky in winning two straight titles. Lovelette joined Kurland on the 1952 Olympics champs. “He is still the only college player to lead the nation in scoring and win the NCAA title in the same year.” (Wikipedia) After Graduation he joined the Lakers for Mikan’s last championship, (he had excellent mentors). They traded him to the Hawks in time for their battles with the Celtics. He displaced Ed McCauley at center for the 1958-59 champs. Later he became Bill Russell’s back-up in Boston, so he saw a lot of winning. Mikan had averaged 18.1ppg and 14.3rpg in the 1953-54 season. Clyde averaged 18.7ppg and 13.5rpg in 1954-55. The problem was that the team around Lovellette was beginning to age. They’d gone 46-26 in 1953-54, then went 40-32 in Clyde’s first year as a starter to 33-39 in 1955-56 and then 34-38 and 19-53, which allowed them to get Elgin Baylor, which benefited Los Angeles more than it the Twin Cities. Clyde was gone prior to the 19-53 season. The decline of the Lakers was certainly not his fault. If they’d done a better job of rebuilding the rest of the team, Clyde would have been viewed as Mikan’s worthy successor, which he actually was. Clyde scored over 20ppg six times in his career and wound up averaging 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds for his career and that includes several years where he was not the starter: [URL="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lovelcl01.html"]Clyde Lovellette Stats | Basketball-Reference.com[/URL] Wikipedia: “Lovellette fostered the trend of tall, physical and high-scoring centers. At the pro level, Clyde became one of the first big men to move outside and utilize the one-handed set shot that extended his shooting range and offensive repertoire. This tactic enabled him to play either the small forward, power forward or center positions, forcing the opposition's big man to play out of position” Clyde shot 44.3% from the field in his career while Mikan had shot only 40.4%. Clyde credited his success to his mother. “I’ll bet I set some sort of a rope-skipping record. Mother had me skipping rope as soon as I got up in the morning. I was ashamed to have the other boys see me. And when other kids my age were going to picture shows at night I was out the back of the house skipping rope. But I soon lost my awkwardness. Mother had other exercises. She even boxed with to develop my footwork. I took dancing lessons. By the time I entered high school I could dance and wasn’t embarrassed about my height. I feel that my mother is one of the best physical trainers in the country.” [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Lovellette"]Clyde Lovellette - Wikipedia[/URL] A brief You-Tube tribute to Clyde: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvEA75LOpXI"]Remembering Clyde Lovellette[/URL] A radio interview with Clyde: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAzLEZ-3UVM"]Clyde Lovellette.wmv[/URL] Before Bill Russell there was MAURICE STOKES. He wasn’t the same body type at 6-7 240. He was one of the early black stars of the NBA. Statistically, he put up Russell-like numbers. He was ferocious rebounders, grabbing as many as 38 in one game. Like Bill, he wasn’t a great scorer. He averaged 16.4 points and 17.3 rebounds a game for his abbreviated there year career. He played with a great scorer in Jack Twyman, (and with Lovellette for a year between Minneapolis and St. Louis). But he never got to play with Oscar Robertson or Jerry Lucas. Of course, we don’t know if the Royals, who were still in Rochester when Maurice was the 1955-56 rookie of the year), would have bene in a positon to get Robertson or Lucas if they still had Stokes. So it’s hard to tell how great the teams he would have played on could have been. But it’s very possible to tell that Maurice was himself a great player whose accomplishments were just beginning when his playing career suddenly ended and his was totally altered by a tragic injury. [URL="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/stokema01.html"]Maurice Stokes Stats | Basketball-Reference.com[/URL] Zander Hollander: “Maurice Stokes was a coach’s dream. He had the speed and agility of a small man coupled with the size and strength of a huge center. Maurice the Magnificent, as the newspapers called him, could shoot, drive and pass off. He could do so much on the basketball court that many who saw him play consider him the greatest all-around player of his time…The scouts saw Stokes as a natural pro. They were awed by his shooting touch and tremendous strength off the boards.” [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Stokes"]Maurice Stokes - Wikipedia[/URL] The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Basketball, about the end of the 1957-58 season for the Royals: “The Royals lost more than the series, however: they lost star forward Maurice Stokes. Although he struck his head on the floor during the last game of the regular season. Stokes was able to play in the first game of the playoffs. However, he went into a coma the next day. At first the diagnosis was encephalitis but alter it was found that his coma and subsequent paralysis were caused by his head injury. Stokes never recovered and the Royals would search in vain for a replacement in the years to come.” Hollander: He fought his illness with the same tenacity that he used to fight for rebounds under the boards. Jack Twyman, his teammate on the Royals, became Stokes’ guardian and with his help Maurice began a long and painful period of rehabilitation. Though Stokes was making progress with his physical rehabilitation, the effort placed too much of a strain on his system and he died following a heart attack in 1970 at the age of 36.” ESPN’s Sports Century on Big Mo: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-dB6aB_vnM"]Maurice Stokes[/URL] Jack Twyman’s Hall of Fame speech on Maurice’s behalf: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K1fg5xWc9s&t=36s#t=4.897396"]Maurice Stokes' Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech[/URL] The 1973 film based on Maurice’s life, alternately titled “Maurie” or “Big Mo”: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UeQEnzNzZo"]Maurie [a.k.a. Big Mo'] (1973)[/URL] The theme “Here’s to the Winners” became a memorable hit for Frank Sinatra: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GsvmXLebGw"]Frank Sinatra- Winners (Theme From Maurie)[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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