Robertson, Oscar 1938–

Oscar Robertson 1938–

Former basketball player, businessman

At a Glance…

Sources

Considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Oscar Robertson has triumphed off the court as well. He oversees three successful businesses in Ohio and is often asked to provide commentary on issues ranging from civil rights to the current state of basketball. His 1999 book, The Art of Basketball, showcases the basic fundamentals that Robertson believes a good basketball player must possess. It was these fundamentals that allowed Robertson to achieve the unsurpassed feat of averaging a “tripledouble” during the entire 1961-62 season. The tripledouble is achieved by reaching double digits in points, rebounds and assists during a game. Many players have accomplished a tripledouble during a game, but nobody has maintained the average for a whole season except Robertson.

Born Oscar Palmer Robertson in Charlotte, Tennessee, the Robertson family moved to Indianapolis when Oscar was four, where his father worked for the city sanitation department. Near his home in the city’s African American ghetto was a rundown basketball court known as the “dust bowl.” It was here that the young Robertson shot tin cans and then old tennis balls through the hoops because the family couldn’t afford a real basketball. At the age of 11, he received his first basketball, which was going to be thrown away by a family for whom his mother worked as a maid. The basketball and Robertson became inseparable.

Robertson’s love for basketball grew when he entered Crispus Attucks High School, an all-African American school that had no gym. Coach Ray Crowe instilled the basics of the game into his team, and when Robertson combined those qualities with his years of incessant street practice, the Attucks Tigers had found a new leader. During his junior and senior years, Robertson led the team to a 45-game winning streak and two state championships. In 1956, Robertson was named Indiana’s “Mr. Basketball.” As the first African American school to win the Indiana state title, Robertson and his Attucks teammates received national attention and Robertson was heavily recruited by more than 30 colleges.

Robertson decided to attend the University of Cincinnati because it was fairly close to his family in Indianapolis and because of the tough schedule that the Bearcats played. He again emerged as a team leader, and took his team to new heights. The Bearcats reached the Final Four during his last two years, but

At a Glance…

Born Oscar Palmer Robertson on November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, TN; son of Henry Bailey Robertson and Mazell Bell Robertson; married Yvonne Crittenden, June 25, 1960. children: Shana, Tia, Mari. Education: University of Cincinnati, BBA, 1960.

Career: Co-captain, U.S. Olympic basketball team, 1960; professional basketball player for the Cincinnati Royals, 1960-70, Milwaukee Bucks 1970-74; president of the National Basketball Player’s Association, 1964-74; president and CEO, Oscar Robertson Construction, 1975-; president and CEO Orchem, Inc., 1981-; president and CEO, Orpack-Stone Corp., 1990-; president, NBA Retired Players Association, 1993-99; author, The Art of Basketball, 1999.

Awards: Sporting News College Player of the Year, 1958, 1959, 1960;Sporting News All-Star First Team, 1958, 1959, 1960; Gold medal, U.S. Olympicbasket-ball team, 1960; NBA Rookie of the Year, 1961; All-NBA First Team, 1961-69; NBAAll-Star Game MVP, 1961, 1964, 1969; NBA Most Valuable Player, 1964; Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 1979; NBA 35th Anniversary All-Star Team, 1980; Olympic Hall of Fame, 1984; Oscar Robertson statue on the campus of the University of Cincinnati, 1994;College Player of the Year Award renamed the Oscar Robertson Trophy, 1998; named one of the Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century, Sport illustrated, 1999; named Indiana Living Legend, 1999; named one of the 50 Greatest Athletes of the Century, ESPN, 1999; OhioGover-nor’s Award, 1999.

Addresses: Office— Orchem, Inc., 4923 Mulhauser Rd., Fairfield, OH45014.

were defeated both times by the University of California. As an individual player, Robertson set 14 NCAA records and averaged close to 34 points per game. He won the national scoring title three times, and was named an All-American in each of his three varsity seasons. Additionally, Robertson was named College Player of the Year three years in a row—the first person to win that award three times—and in 1998 the award was named the Oscar Robertson Trophy. It was also during his years at Cincinnati where he earned the nickname, “the Big O.”

While Robertson excelled on the court and in the classroom, he had no control over the racial tensions which existed in the Midwest and the South during the 1950s. As the first African American to play for Cincinnati, Robertson was subjected to the humiliation of racism on numerous occasions. Often, while on the road with his team, Robertson was not permitted to stay at the same hotel with his teammates and would stay by himself in a college dorm. Even in Cincinnati, where he was a star on the University of Cincinnati campus, there were many theaters and restaurants that refused to serve him. This rampant racism bothered Robertson so much that during his junior and senior years, he considered an offer to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. He stayed in school, however, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1960.

In the summer of 1960 Robertson co-captained the U.S. Olympic basketball team, a team that is considered by some to be the greatest amateur team ever put together for the Olympics. The United States finished the competition with an undefeated record, and won the gold medal. Upon returning from the Olympics, Robertson signed a three-year contract worth $100,000 to play professionally for the Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings). As with his previous teams, Robertson was an immediate stand-out.

Robertson earned Rookie of the Year honors for the 1960-61 season and was named Most Valuable Player at the first of his 12 consecutive trips to the NBA All-Star game. The following year Robertson scored a feat which has yet to be matched when he averaged a tripledouble for the entire season (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists). As Ken Shouler pointed out in his book The Experts Pick Basketball’s Best 50 Players in the Last 50 Years, Robertson just missed averaging a tripledouble the other four of his first five years in the NBA. Robertson credited his high school coach Ray Crowe and his insistence on fundamentals for his success in professional basketball. “Even the so-called ’natural’ has to work on things,” he explained to Shouler. “I did have the fundamentals down when I entered pro ball. Once you get into pro ball, you don’t have time to think, ’If a guy does this, I do that.’ You do things instinctively.”

In 1964, Robertson was named league MVP while winning MVP honors for the second time at the All-Star game and leading the Royals to their best season ever with a 55-25 record. Still, the Royals could never advance beyond the second round of the playoffs despite Robinson’s efforts. “Oscar always made the big play, the right play,” former Los Angeles Laker Elgin Baylor explained to Shouler. “When you played against Oscar you not only faced an opponent with a tremendous amount of talent and physical skills, but you were also up against a finely tuned pro basketball mind. Oscar was smarter than any pro player I have ever faced.” Also in 1964, Robertson became president of the NBA player’s union, a position he held until his retirement from playing in 1974.

Although Robertson and the Royals continued to post winning records during the late 1960s, they were not a championship caliber team. During the 1969-70 season, new Royals coach Bob Cousy wanted to trade Robertson to the Baltimore Bullets, a trade Robertson vetoed by staging a two-week hold out. In April of 1970, Robertson approved a trade that sent him to the Milwaukee Bucks, a fiery, young team that included Lew Alcindor—who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. With Robertson on the roster, the Bucks advanced to the NBA Finals in 1971. The Bucks went on to sweep the Bullets in four games, and Robinson had won his first NBA championship. In 1974 the Bucks again charged to the NBA Finals, but lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games. Robertson retired from basketball shortly after the defeat.

Although his playing days were over, Robertson was still involved with professional basketball for the next two years as the result of a 1970 lawsuit against the NBA that he filed as president of the player’s union. The anti-trust suit challenged the merger of the NBA and American Basketball Association (ABA), the college draft and the NBA’s reserve clause that prohibited free agency. In 1976, the suit was settled. The NBA and ABA were allowed to merge, while the college draft remained intact. Drafted players were given the option of refusing to join the team that drafted them and reentering the draft one year later. Teams were no longer required to provide compensation when signing a free agent, which encouraged the signing of more free agents and led to higher salaries for players. The issue became known as “the Oscar Robertson Rule.”

Following his retirement from basketball, Robertson returned to the Cincinnati area where he became a prominent businessman and participant in a number of charitable and community activities. He made headlines in 1997 when he donated a kidney to his daughter Tia, who had been suffering from lupus, a disease in which the body’s immune system becomes overactive and attacks tissues and organs, particularly the kidneys. His daughter’s illness prompted Robertson to become involved with the National Lupus Foundation and the National Kidney Foundation, for whom he acts as an advocate for organ donation.

As the 20th century drew to a close, Robertson began to appear on “Greatest Athletes of the Century” lists, including those presented by Sports Illustrated and ESPN. He maintained a vigorous pace in both his business and charitable activities. Robinson also authored The Art of Basketball, a book designed to teach the fundamentals of basketball to youngsters. Like his old high school coach Ray Crowe, Robertson stresses the fundamentals not only in basketball, but in daily life. As he wrote in The Art of Basketball: “Listen to people in authority—parents, teachers, coaches. They can offer you insights and information. Strive to become as good an athlete as you can, but remember, that education is equally important…. Take pride in being a well-educated athlete instead of the alternative. It makes for a more balanced and successful life.”

Sources

Books

Bayne, Bijan C, Sky Kings: Black Pioneers of Professional Basketball, Grolier Publishing, 1988.

Robertson, Oscar, The Art of Basketball, Oscar Robertson Media Ventures, 1999.

Shouler, Kenneth A., The Experts Pick Basketball’s Best 50 Players in the Last 50 Years, AllSport Books, 1996.

Periodicals

Cincinnati Post, April 5, 1999.

Indianapolis Star, March 20, 1955.

Jet, August 2, 1993, p.36.

New York Daily News, July 31, 1997.

New York Times, September 17, 1989, p. S-1; November 7, 1998, p. A-15.

People, May 26, 1997, p.52; December 29, 1997, p.148.

Other

Additional information for this profile was obtained from www.ESPN.com www.NBA.com/history/robertson_bio.html; and www.thebigO.com

—Brian Escamilla