by William Cook
The Cooz had been an NBA All-Star in Boston when The Big O was still in junior high school in Indianapolis. When William Leggett of Sports Illustrated asked Cousy if facing Robertson for the first time was about pride, he responded that he had thought about their meeting all week long and talked to himself, “Of course it’s pride,” said Cousy. “Better get yourself up, Bob. Better be at your best, Bob. Oscar’s coming to town to play in your arena before your crowd for the first time.”5
On the evening of November 5, 1960, fans were lined up outside Boston Garden hours before the game for tickets. The Garden had a seating capacity of 13,909; at game time, 13,258 of them would be occupied.
Bob Cousy arrived at Boston Garden from his home in the suburbs in a gray 1960 Cadillac. Then, he entered Boston Garden through a secure entrance that led to a tunnel to keep him safe from the throngs of admirers who wanted to shake his hand.
Oscar Robertson, still a little dewy-eyed by the NBA experience, grabbed his gym bag and walked unostentatiously to Boston Garden from his hotel.
When the game began, Cousy scored the first bucket to give the Celtics a 2–0 lead. Bill Sharman was assigned the job of guarding Oscar and fouled him almost immediately. After six minutes the score was 6–6. While Cousy and Bill Russell did their usual jobs, overall, the Celtics seemed taken by surprise by the Royals’ tenacity. After Cincinnati took a commanding lead in the second quarter, the outcome of the game was never in doubt. At the buzzer, the Royals had defeated the Celtics 113–104.
In regard to “The Cooz vs. The Big O” hoopla: statistically, Bob Cousy played 45 minutes and scored 27 points, while Oscar Robertson played 46 minutes and scored 25 points. All that Cousy had at stake in the game was to save face, if he had only scored 16 or 17 points and had a handful of assists in the game, he would have been off the hook. Bob Cousy really did not have to prove anything that night—he had three NBA championship rings and that fact alone said everything there was to say about his ability to play the game.
On the other hand, the challenge for Oscar Robertson was much larger; he had to legitimize himself as a pro on the NBA’s largest stage. He needed to demonstrate that he was a lot more than a college hot-shot and perhaps had the potential to be the next Cousy. He came through that evening on the court in Boston with flying colors.
Off the court, well that’s another matter. In the Sports Illustrated account of the contest, it was stated that after the game Bob Cousy sat on a bench in the Celtics locker room, “physically exhausted and near tears.” As for Oscar Robertson, he was tired and bothered by a sprained ankle he had incurred a week earlier. Also, The Big O, never one to be fan-friendly, was annoyed with “the teenagers clamoring outside the locker-room door.”6
When Robertson left the Garden that evening to go back to the hotel, he plowed his way through a group of star-struck teenagers while Cousy stood outside Boston Garden under a light drizzle and signed autographs for his admiring Beantown fans.
The next stop for “The Cooz vs. The Big O” roadshow took place three days later on November 8 at Cincinnati Gardens. A near-capacity crowd witnessed the Celtics defeat the Royals 136–120. While Robertson scored 31 points and Cousy scored 30 points, neither player was the leading scorer for his team that night. Jack Twyman led the Royals with 32 points, while Tom Heinsohn led the Celtics with 33 points.
The three-game Royals-Celtics series was concluded on November 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York with an amazing 18,499 fans present. Once again, Boston prevailed, defeating Cincinnati 128–110. Neither Bob Cousy or Oscar Roberson was at the top of his game that evening in “The Big Apple” as Cousy scored only 6 points and Robertson was held to 17. Once again, Tom Heinsohn led the Celtics with 30 points, while Jack Twyman again led the Royals with 29.
The Boston Celtics vs. Cincinnati Royals, or Cousy vs. Robertson series, had been a huge box office success. The total attendance for the three games played in Boston, Cincinnati, and New York had been 40,959 (13,653 per game). The two teams would continue to be a considerable draw when facing each other throughout the 1960–1961 season and two other games were scheduled on neutral courts in Philadelphia and New York again. In the nine games between the Celtics and Royals, Boston would win six and Cincinnati three while attracting a total attendance of 85,715 fans or an average of 9,524 per game.
Oscar Robertson, without a doubt, had been one of the greatest college players of all time. Now he would show that he was one of the greatest professional basketball players of all time. Robertson was considered the complete player, one that could shoot, dribble, pass, rebound, and play defense.
Ever since Draft Day 1960, every player in the NBA had been wondering just how good Oscar Robertson was. They finally got their answer on January 19, 1961, at the NBA All-Star Game. The game, played at Syracuse before a sparse crowd of 8,016, was the perfect opportunity for The Big O to showcase his talents while playing with and against the best players in the NBA, and he didn’t disappoint.
The outcome of the game was actually settled in the first quarter as the West squad romped their way to 47–19 lead and at the final buzzer had defeated the East 153–131.
While playing just 34 minutes, The Big O had barely missed a triple-double with 23 points, 14 assists, and 9 rebounds and was named the game’s MVP.
The old pro, Bob Cousy, played 33 minutes in the game, had 4 points, 8 assists, and 3 rebounds.
Oscar Robertson would be named the NBA Rookie of Year in 1961 coming close to averaging a triple-double for the season, finishing with 30.5 points per game, 10.1 rebounds, and 9.7 assists per game. Also, Jack Twyman would finish the season with a scoring average of 25.3 points per game. Despite the one-two scoring punch of Robertson and Twyman, the Cincinnati Royals would finish with a dismal record of 33–46, last in the Western Division, and come up short by one game of making the playoffs.
On the other hand, for Bob Cousy and the Boston Celtics, in 1960–61 it was the same old same old; they defeated the St. Louis Hawks four games to one in the finals to win their third consecutive NBA championship and fourth title in the past five years. Fans were starting to ask the question; can anyone beat these guys?
In being selected as the MVP, Oscar Robertson led the NBA in assists (690) and assists per game (9.7). Prior to 1960–61, Bob Cousy had been the league’s assists leader for eight consecutive years. In 1960–61, Cousy, with 587 assists, 7.7 per game, finished third behind Robertson and Guy Rodgers (677 assists, 8.7 per game).
In scoring, Wilt Chamberlain became the first professional to score 3,000 points in a season as he led the league by a mile with 3,033 points/38.4 points per game. Elgin Baylor finished second with 2,538 points/34.8 per game, while Oscar Robertson finished third with 2,165 points/30.5 per game.
Bob Cousy had finished seventeenth in the league with 1,387 points/18.1 points per game just behind Jerry West in sixteenth place with 1,389 points/17.6 per game.
The fact was that Oscar Robertson was coming and Bob Cousy was going. The Big O, who would be just 24 years old in the coming season, had played 3,032 minutes in 1960–61, third most in the league. Bob Cousy, who would be 34 years old in the coming season, had played just 2,588 minutes in 1960–61 and didn’t finish in the top twenty for minutes played. Still, Cousy had played for more minutes in 1960–61 than any other season since 1955–56 when he played 2,756 minutes. So, the Cooz still had some gas in his tank and was no pushover for opposing teams.
The NBA would expand to nine teams in 1961–62 by adding the Chicago Packers to the Western Division along with Cincinnati, Detroit, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.
After eleven years, professional basketball had returned to the Windy City but continued to be a failure. During the summer, the Cubs and White Sox ruled the Chicago sports scene. In the fall, the Bears and Cardinals took over, and the winter belonged to the Black Hawks. The Windy City was just not ready yet for professional basketball.
In their inaugural season playing in the International Amphitheatre
, the Chicago Packers, despite the fact they had the 1962 Rookie of Year in 6′11″ center Walt Bellamy out of Indiana University, had a hard time drawing 3,000 fans a game and would have one of the worst seasons in NBA history, finishing in last place with a record of 18–62. Bellamy, who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career, actually had the best year of his career for the hapless Packers, finishing with an average of 31.6 points per game and 19 rebounds.
But the 1961–62 NBA season would feature two of the most incredible individual players’ performances in the still somewhat young, wild, and wooly history of the league.
On December 2, 1961, in a game played in Philly, Wilt Chamberlain scored 78 points and grabbed 43 rebounds in a three-overtime loss, 147–151, to the Los Angeles Lakers. For the Lakers, Elgin Baylor scored 63 points and Jerry West, 32.
Then on March 2, 1962, Chamberlain would score 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks played in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Chamberlain would finish the season with an astronomical average of 50.4 points per game and 25.7 rebounds.
Also, Oscar Robertson would finish the season averaging a triple-double. It was a feat that had never been accomplished before in the history of the NBA. The Big O averaged 30.1 points per game, along with 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists.
Nonetheless, neither Chamberlain nor Robertson was chosen as the league’s MVP; the award went for a second straight year to Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics.
The 1961–62 Cincinnati Royals would be a greatly improved team. All five starting players, including Oscar Robertson (30.8), Jack Twyman (22.9), Wayne Embry (19.8), Arlen Bockhorn (15.8), and Bob Boozer (13.7), finished with points per game averages in double digits.
The Cincinnati Royals finished in second place in the NBA Western Division with a record of 43–37, eleven games behind the division champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, 54–26, and five games ahead of third-place Detroit with a record of 37–43. While they made the playoffs for the first time in four years, they were quickly dispatched by Detroit 3 games to 1.
But something didn’t add up in Cincy. In 1961–62, the Royals made the playoffs, yet attendance was down by 25% compared to 1960–61 when the Royals finished last in the Western Division. In 1960–61, the Royals had drawn a season total at Cincinnati Gardens of 194,017 or an average of 6,258 per game. But a year later, with an improved team, season attendance had fallen off to 146,468 or 4,724 per game.
In the Eastern Division, despite the phenomenal scoring and rebounding of Wilt Chamberlain, the Boston Celtics would finish in first place with a record of 60–20, eleven games ahead of the Philadelphia Warriors with a 49–31 record.
Boston reached the finals and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 3 to win their fourth consecutive NBA championship and fifth title in six years. However, the Lakers gave the Celtics a battle with their one-two scoring punch of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.
Los Angeles took the lead in the series 3 games to 2 after defeating Boston 126–121 in game five. Elgin Baylor burned the Celtics by scoring 61 points while Jerry West added 21. In game two, won by LA, West had scored 40 and Baylor, 36, in defeating the Celtics 129–122.
But the Celtics lineup was just too deep for the Lakers and they lost games six and seven. While Bob Cousy and Bill Russell played consistently in each game, others were stepping up their game night after night: Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones, Frank Ramsey, and Satch Sanders. Boston won game seven 110–107 with Bill Russel scoring 30 points, Sam Jones, 27, and Frank Ramsey, 23. Bob Cousy had played in all 14 playoff games and for the seventh consecutive year had been the playoffs leader in assists with 123, an average of 8.8 per game.
It should be noted, that in 1961–62, the NBA had some competition from a rival league, the American Basketball League. The league had been formed by Abe Saperstein who felt the NBA failed to honor a promise to him for obtaining a franchise in Los Angeles. Saperstein alleged that, in return for his years of supporting the NBA with doubleheader games featuring his Harlem Globetrotters, the league promised him a franchise in Los Angeles. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Saperstein was blindsided when the NBA approved the transfer of Bob Short’s Minneapolis Lakers to LA. Angry and feeling cheated, Saperstein approached National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL) team owner Paul Cohen (Tuck Tapers) and the Armature Athletic Union (AAU) Champion, the Cleveland Pipers’ owner and ship-builder George Steinbrenner, to take the top NABL and AAU teams and players and form a rival league. Saperstein, along with Cohen, then solicited various local promoters in the other cities to finance what would become an eight-team league with franchises in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Hawaii, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, San Francisco, Washington, and Chicago. Saperstein would operate the Los Angeles Jets to be in competition with the transplanted Lakers. Then, he hired former Boston Celtics star Bill Sharman as coach and signed former NBA players Larry Friend and George Yardley.
While no major stars from the NBA jumped ship to play for the ABL, there were a couple of established players who signed on, including the Syracuse Nationals’ Dick Barnett, who joined the Cleveland Pipers, and the New York Knicks’ Kenny Sears, who joined the San Francisco Saints. Some marginal former NBA players, such as Larry Staverman of the Cincinnati Royals, also joined the league, signing with Kansas City. Also, former Globetrotter and New York Knicks player Sweetwater Clifton returned to professional basketball to play for Chicago and former Syracuse and Ft. Wayne star George Yardley signed with the Los Angeles Jets.
The only notable draft choice who ignored the NBA to sign with an ABL team was Larry Siegfried of Ohio State who joined the Cleveland team.
But the ABL took a bold imitative when it permitted a lot of talented players who had been blacklisted by the NBA for transgressions while in college to come into the league. The group included Connie Hawkins of Iowa who went to Pittsburgh, Tony Jackson of St. John’s who joined the Chicago team, and Bill Spivey of Kentucky who signed with the Hawaii team.
The ABL, trying to get its feet on the ground, had a rocky season. Before it was over, the Washington team had relocated to New York, and on January 10, 1962, Abe Saperstein’s Los Angeles Jets folded due to financial problems.
When the LA Jets folded, Bill Sharman, at the request of George Steinbrenner, moved to Cleveland and replaced John McLendon as coach. According to Sharman, “The day after the team folded, I got a call from George offering me the Pipers job. He said he’d promoted John [McLendon] to the front office without giving a reason.”7 Later, McLendon would state he actually resigned as Pipers coach due to the interference of George Steinbrenner.
The Cleveland Pipers went on to win the ABL East Division with a record of 24–18 and the Kansas City Steers won the West Division with a record of 28–12.
On April 9, the Cleveland Pipers wrapped up the ABL championship when they defeated the Kansas City Steers in the finals to take the series three games to two.
In some ways, the ABL had been innovative introducing the three-point field goal, later adopted by the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA, and by widening the free throw lane to the Olympic size key, also later adopted by the NBA.
Connie Hawkins of the Pittsburgh Rens had been voted MVP after winning the ABL scoring title with 27.5 points per game and 13.2 rebounds.
But a lot of the ABL owners weren’t sure that there would be a second season for the league. One, in particular, George Steinbrenner, decided to take a preemptive strike. Steinbrenner, along with Howard Marks, a Cleveland advertising executive, went out and signed Ohio State three-time All-American, 1960 NCAA champion, and Olympic Gold Medal winner Jerry Lucas to a three-year $90,000 contract.
Jerry Lucas had just finished his eligibility in 1961–62 at Ohio State and the Cincinnati Royals of the NBA held the territorial draft rights to him. The Royals had been watching Lucas since his high school days in Middletown, Ohio and exercised their right to him in the 1962 NBA draft. But George Steinbrenner believed that by signing Lucas it would open the door for him to
move his ABL champion Cleveland Pipers into the NBA when the ABL folded.
A secret meeting took place on NBA president Maurice Podoloff’s yacht on Long Island Sound. George Steinbrenner was joined at the meeting by George McKean, the owner of the San Francisco Saints in the ABL who would be Steinbrenner’s partner. The plan was now that Steinbrenner had signed Jerry Lucas, the NBA would take in the Cleveland Pipers and merge them with the Kansas City Steers as an expansion franchise and effectively kill the ABL.
A deal was struck where Steinbrenner’s Cleveland Pipers would join the NBA in the 1963–64 season and a schedule was even printed that showed the Pipers opening the season playing the New York Knicks. The financial costs however to Steinbrenner and McKean for entering the NBA were substantial. The cost for entering the league was $400,000, of which $100,000 would be paid to the Cincinnati Royals as an indemnity payment for the release of Jerry Lucas.
The ABL was effectively DOA as it attempted to open for its second season as a six-team league. While three teams, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Chicago returned, the Cleveland Pipers, the league’s champion, were gone. A court order forced Dick Barnett to return to Syracuse of the NBA and three franchises relocated. The New York Tapers became the Philadelphia Tapers, the San Francisco Saints the Oakland Saints, and the Hawaii Chiefs the Long Beach Chiefs.
On December 31, 1962, the ABL ceased operations claiming losses of $1 million in 1961–62 and $250,000 for the current season of 1962–63.
The Cleveland Pipers never made it to the NBA. First, George McKean turned out to be underfinanced having spent a lot of cash keeping the Saints afloat in the ABL. Then, he and Steinbrenner fell behind in their payment schedule with the NBA. At that point, Maurice Podoloff put the kibosh on the deal.
Some of the ABL’s best players moved on to other teams. MVP Connie Hawkins, “persona non grata” in the NBA, joined the Harlem Globetrotters. Bill Bridges joined the St. Louis Hawks.
