by William Cook
Eventually, Oscar Robertson (University of Cincinnati) and Bob Cousy (Holy Cross) would be immortalized with statues of their likenesses on their alma mater’s campuses.
Although nearly a half-century has passed, it is apparent that unresolved conflict still exists between Bob Cousy, now 90 years old, and Oscar Robertson, now 80 years old, over their Cincinnati experience. In 2018, both Cousy and Robertson appeared in the ESPN documentary Basketball—A Love Story, and when questioned about their player-coach relationship with the Royals, both were standoffish with their responses.
While Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson respected each other’s ability as players they never respected each other’s concept of what a team player represented. Cousy wanted to change Robertson’s game, have him shoot less and pass more. There was never a remote chance that their personalities and philosophies would blend in a player and coach relationship in Cincinnati. But what is more surprising is that Bob Cousy and Joe Axelson showed such blatant disrespect for The Big O, the finest all-around player in the history of the game, by trading him and receiving so little in return. Cousy’s actions with the Royals destroyed his professional coaching career. There was no second chance for Cincinnati either; with the departure of the Royals, professional basketball has never returned to the Queen City. After resigning from the Kansas City Kings, Bob Cousy would never coach another professional basketball team. Jerry Lucas was not surprised by Cousy’s failure as an NBA coach; in his opinion, “Great players never make great coaches.”20
Bibliography
Books
Associated Press Sports Staff, Supervising Editor: Will Grimsley, Photo Editor: Thomas V. diLustro, (basketball by Mike Recht). A Century of Sports. N.p.: Plimpton Press, 1971.
Benson, Michael. Everything You Wanted to Know about the New York Knicks: A Who’s Who of Everyone Who Ever Played on or Coached the NBA’s Most Celebrated Team. N.p.: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2007.
Cousy, Bob, with John Devaney. The Killer Instinct. New York: Random House, 1975.
Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1993.
Madden, Bill. Steinbrenner—The Last Lion of Baseball. New York: itbooks, 2010.
Pluto, Terry. Tall Tales—The Glory Years of the NBA, in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball. New York: Simon & Shuster, 1992.
Robertson, Oscar. The Big O—My Life, My Times, My Game. N.p.: Rodale, 2003.
Rosen, Charley. The Wizard of Odds—How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball. New York/London/Sydney/Toronto: Seven Stories Press, 2001.
Russell, Bill with Alan Steinberg. Red and Me—My Coach, My Lifelong Friend. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.
Simmons, Bill. The Book of Basketball—The NBA According to the Sports Guy. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.
Stewart, Mark. Basketball—A History of Hoops. New York/London/Hong Kong/Sydney: Franklin Watts, 1998.
Taylor, John. The Rivalry—Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and the Golden Age of Basketball. New York: Ballantine Books, 2005.
West, Jerry and Jonathan Coleman. West by West—My Charmed, Tormented Life. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2011.
Journals
Cook, Kevin. “The Rochester Royals—The Story of Professional Basketball, Rochester History.” Edited by Ruth Rosenberg Naparsteck. City Historian LVIII, no.1 (Winter 1996).
Research Papers
Compiled by Robert Bradley, with special thanks to Steve Dimitry, Roger Davis, Roger Meyer, and Dick Pfander. “History of the American Basketball League.” APBR.org, http://www.apbr.org/ablhist.html.
Robert Bradley. “The History of NBA Labor—Association for Professional Basketball Research” APBR.org, www.apbr.org/labor.html.
Libraries
Boston Public Library
Monmouth County Library (NJ)
The New York Public Library
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Magazines
Horizons, University of Cincinnati Magazine 25, no. 6 (Spring 1996).
Sport 29, no. 1 (January 1960).
Sport 49, no. 2 (February 1970).
Sports Illustrated 36, no. 22 (May 29, 1972).
Newspapers
Asbury Park Press
Boston Globe
Boston Herald
Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Post & Times-Star
New York Post
New York Times
Websites
www.allstatesugarbowl.com
www.basketball-reference.com
biography.yourdictionary.com/bob-cousy
www.buffalonews.com/business
www.fresnobee.com/sports/outdoors/article24790630.html
www.floridabulldog.org/2013/12/broward-commision-skips-bids-award-15-year-ai
www.goholycross.com/sports-baskbl/archive-files/careers.pdf
www.libraryweb.org/-rochhist’v58—1996/v58i1
www.nba.com/history
www.sandiegoreader.com
www.si.com/vault
www.spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu
www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/rochester/rochroyals
sports.espn.go.com/espn/blachhistory2009/news/story?id=3932017
Notes
Chapter 1
1. “Mother Recalls Cousy Prophecy,” Boston Globe, March 18, 1963, 24.
2. New York Times, March 17, 1946, 53.
3. Arthur Siegel, “Young Referee Found Cousy For Julian, HC,” Boston Globe, March 18, 1963, 31.
4. “Top 25 Sports Moments,” Holy Cross Magazine, http://magazine.holycross.edu/issue.
5. Bob Cousy with John Devaney, The Killer Instinct, (New York: Random House, 1975), 18.
Chapter 2
1. Chris Broussard, “Pioneer with Early Black Pro Team Looks Back,” The New York Times, February 15, 2004, sec. 8, 2.
2. Broussard, “Pioneer with,” sec. 8, 2.
3. www.goduquesne.com/sports/m-baskbl
4. Ed Linn, “The Wonderful Wizard of Boston,” Sport 29, no. 1 (January 1960): 59.
5. Linn, “The Wonderful,” 59.
6. Arthur Siegel, “Young Referee Found Cousy For Julian, HC,” Boston Globe, March 18, 1963, 31.
7. Linn, “The Wonderful,” 60.
8. Boston Globe, March 18, 1963, 31.
9. Bill Russell with Alan Steinberg, Red and Me—My Coach, My Lifelong Friend (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), 44.
Chapter 3
1. Dave Anderson, “The Opportunity to Walk,” The New York Times, Sports of the Times, http://partners.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/021701.
2. Anderson, “The Opportunity,” Sports of the Times.
3. “Nat Holman—The Man, His Legacy and CCNY,” The City College Library, http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/exhibits/holman/basketball_scandal.html.
4. Alfred E. Clark, “Judge in Fix Case Condemns Kentucky Teams and Coach,” The New York Times, April 30, 1952, 1.
5. Clark, “Judge in Fix Case,” 1.
6. “George Mikan vs. The Knicks,” In NBA.com: Encyclopedia, www.nba.com/encyclopedia/finals/MikanvKnicks.html.
7. John Taylor, The Rivalry—Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and the Golden Age of Basketball (New York: Ballantine Books, 2005), 37.
8. Terry Pluto, Tall Tales—The Glory Years of the NBA, in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1992), 21.
Chapter 4
1. David Halberstam, The Fifties (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1993), 697.
2. John Taylor, The Rivalry—Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and the Golden Age of Basketball (New York: Ballantine Books, 2005), 77.
3. Bill Russell with Alan Steinberg, Red and Me—My Coach, My Lifelong Friend (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), 39.
4. Russell with Steinberg, Red and Me—My Coach, 130.
5. Clifton Brown, “The Foundation of a Dynasty,” in NBA.com: Encyclopedia, http://www.nba.com/encyclopedia/celtics_1957.html.
>
Chapter 5
1. Kevin Cook, “The Rochester Royals—The Story of Professional Basketball,” Rochester History, Edited by Ruth Rosenberg Naparsteck, vol. LVIII, no. 1 (Winter 1996): 13.
2. Cook, “The Rochester,” 15.
3. Associated Press, “Royals Seek New Home,” The New York Times, March 14, 1957, 37.
4. “Stokes Still in Coma, May Be Encephalitis,” Cincinnati Post, March 17, 1958, 1.
5. Aram Goudsouzian, “Can Basketball Survive Chamberlain?” http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/s005/wtumn, 167.
Chapter 6
1. Indiana University Department of History, “A Closer Look at Indiana’s Klan,” Indiana Magazine of History, http://www.iub.edu-imaghist/for_teachers/mdrnprd/stmp/Klan.html.
2. Zak Keefer, “Bob Collins Championed Attucks amid Threats, Bigotry,” The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com/longformsports.
3. Bill Simmons, The Book of Basketball—The NBA According to the Sports Guy, ESPN books (New York: Ballantine Books, 2009).
4. Haldane Dosher Higgins, “Inspired by Oscar, Letters,” University of Cincinnati Magazine 45, no. 1 (March 2015): 3.
5. “Who Named Oscar the ‘Big O’?,” The University of Cincinnati News Record, April 24, 1970, 8.
6. Oscar Robertson, The Big O—My Life, My Times, My Game (n.p.: Rodale, 2003).
7. Wally Forste, “Oscar Scores Big 56; Corny Musketeer Ace,” Cincinnati Post, January 10, 1958, 20.
8. Louis Effrat, “Robertson Sets Garden Scoring Mark as Cincinnati Routs Seton Hall Five,” The New York Times, January 10, 1958, 27.
9. Effrat, “Robertson Sets,” 27.
10. Wally Forste, “Ozz’s Lead Slim Over Wilt,” Cincinnati Post, January 13, 1958. 13.
11. Dick Forbes, “Mendenhall ‘Clobbered,’ Referee Missed It—Smith,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 15, 1958, 11.
12. Dick Forbes, “Bearcats Wallop Wichita, 88 to 74,” Cincinnati Enquirer, February 22, 1959.
13. Stan Olson, “California Dreamin’ a Reality,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune News, http://www.chicagotribune.com.
14. Olson, “California Dreamin’.”
15. Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman, West by West—My Charmed, Tormented Life (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2011), 58.
16. Steve Kornacki, “Michigan Great Russell Reflects on ‘The House That Cazzie Built,’” October 29, 2014, http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102914aac.html.
17. West and Coleman, West by West, 103.
Chapter 7
1. Terry Pluto, Tall Tales—The Glory Years of the NBA, in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1992).
2. Oscar Robertson, The Big O—My Life, My Times, My Game, (n.p.: Rodale, 2003).
3. Robertson, The Big O.
4. Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman, West by West—My Charmed, Tormented Life (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2011), 104.
5. William Leggett, “The New Kid on The Block Takes on The Champ,” Sports Illustrated, November 14, 1960, www.si.com/vault/1960/11/14/585198.
6. Leggett, “The New Kid on the Block.”
7. Bill Madden, Steinbrenner—The Last Lion of Baseball (New York: itbooks, 2010), 42.
8. Madden, Steinbrenner—The Last, 43
9. Kevin Grace and Gregg Hand, The University of Cincinnati, (Montgomery, AL: Community Communications, 1995), 152.
10. Arthur Daley, “Paying the Piper,” The New York Times, July 13, 1962, 15.
Chapter 8
1. Bob Cousy with John Devaney, The Killer Instinct, (New York: Random House, 1975), 9.
2. Jerry Lucas, telephone interview by the author, March 30, 2015.
3. Harry Reckner, “Auerbach, Fan Exchange Blows,” Cincinnati Post, December 2, 1962, 23.
4. Pat Harmon, “Oscar Again Helps Win All-Star,” Cincinnati Post, January 17, 1963, 25.
5. Bill Russell with Alan Steinberg, Red and Me—My Coach, My Lifelong Friend, (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), 167.
6. Jerry Nason, “Cousy Day,” Boston Globe, March 19, 1963, 23.
7. Nason, “Cousy Day,” 23.
8. Nason, “Cousy Day,” 23.
9. Joe Looney, “Cousy’s Celts Topple Nats,” Boston Herald, March 18, 1963, 24.
10. Will McDonough, “Cousy’s Smile Talks,” Boston Globe, March 18, 1963, 24.
11. AP, “Celts Clip Nats in Cousy Final,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 18, 1963.
12. Jim Schottelkotte, “Can Royals Do It Again in Celts’ Lair?,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 31, 1963, 1D.
13. Jim Schottelkotte, “Auerbach Credits Royals’ Reserves,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 1, 1963, 40.
14. Oscar Robertson, The Big O—My Life, My Times, My Game, (n.p.: Rodale, 2003), 167.
15. Harry Reckner, “Xavier Floor is ‘Neutral’,” Cincinnati Post, April 1, 1963, 17.
16. Jim Schottelkotte, “Cincinnati Royals Sold to Local Businessman,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 1, 1963, 1.
17. Al Heim, “‘I’d Listen’—Juck; Grace Surprised,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 2, 1963, 27.
18. Jim Schottelkotte, “Sale to Hensel Needs Sanction,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1963, 21.
19. Jim Schottelkotte, Royals Set for Celts Tonight, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1963, P21.
20. http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/05/18/spt.
21. Jim Carfield, “Big O’s 36 Ruin Celts; Garden Final Wednesday,” Boston Herald, April 8, 1963, 23.
22. Cliff Keane, “C’s Tee Off on Referees,” Boston Globe, April 8, 1963, 18.
23. Harry Reckner, “Embry Rebounds as Royals Win,” Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, April 8, 1963, 25.
24. Harry Reckner, “Royals Shoot for Money,” Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, April 10, 1963, 27.
25. Keane, “C’s Tee Off on Referees,” 17.
26. Carfield, “Big O’s 36 Ruin,” 24.
27. Bill Anzer, “Lucas Would Prefer to Play for Royals,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 8, 1963, 35.
28. Jim Schottelkotte, “Royals in Underdog Role Against Celts,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 10, 1963, 19.
29. Harry Reckner, “‘Won’t Be Back’—Charley Wolf,” Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, April 11, 1963, 23.
30. Cliff Keane, “Cool Movie Heats Sam,” Boston Globe, April 11, 1963. 47.
31. Jim Carfield, “Celtics Romp into Finals,” Boston Herald, April 11, 1963, 38.
32. Reckner, “‘Won’t Be Back,’” 23.
33. Reckner’s Notes, Cincinnati Post & Times Star, April 11, 1963, 23.
34. Jim Schottelkotte, “Hensel O.K. With Brown, Celts’ Owner,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 11, 1963, 36.
35. Cousy and Devaney, The Killer, 3.
36. Robertson, The Big O, 169.
37. Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman, West by West—My Charmed, Tormented Life (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2011), 84.
Chapter 9
1. The Heights, February 25, 1966—Boston College, http://newspapers.bc.edu/egi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=bcheights19660225.2.70.
2. Jim Schottelkotte, “Royals Are Not for Sale; Hensel Loses Out,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 3, 1963, 1.
3. John Underwood and Morton Sharnik, “Look What Louie Wrought,” Sports Illustrated, May 29, 1972, 42.
4. Underwood and Sharnik, “Look What Louie,” 46.
5. Howard M. Tuckner, “Tall Sure-Shot,” The New York Times, April 13, 1958, SM42.
6. Oscar Robertson, The Big O—My Life, My Times, My Game, (n.p.: Rodale, 2003), 173.
7. “NBA All-Star Ultimatum Paid Off for Players,” Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/16/sports/la-sp-all-star-strike-20110217.
8. “NBA All-Star.”
9. Bob Cousy, “A Former Coach Tells of the Evils of College Recruiting,” The New York Times, January 25, 1976, 226.
Chapter 10
1. Jerry Lucas, telephone interview by the author, March 30, 2015.
2. Terry Pluto, Tall Tales—The Gl
ory Years of the NBA, in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1992).
3. Jerry West and Jonathan Coleman, West by West—My Charmed, Tormented Life, (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2011), 63.
4. Jim Schottelkotte, “Challenge Lures McMahon,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 6, 1967, 35.
5. “The Mob—Part 2, $7 Billion from Illegal Bets and a Blight on Sports,” LIFE, September 8, 1967, 92, https://books.google.com/books.
6. Bob Cousy with John Devaney, The Killer Instinct, (New York: Random House, 1975), 65.
7. “The Mob—Part,” 92.
8. Organized Crime in Sports: Before the Select Committee on Crime, 738–739, http://njlaw.rutgers.edu/collections/gdoc/hearings/7/73601062b/73601062b.html.
9. Dave Anderson, “Personal Reminiscence—Defining ‘The Cooz’: A Personal Essay,” Holy Cross Magazine 43, no. 1 (Winter 2009): 23, http://www.holycross.edu/magazine.
10. Dave O’Hara, “Bob Cousy Denies Any Wrong Doing,” The Day (New Haven, CT), September 8, 1967, 17.
11. O’Hara, “Bob Cousy,” 17.
12. John Bach, University of Cincinnati Horizons, May 2000.
13. Jerry Lucas, telephone interview by the author, March 30, 2015.
14. Oscar Robertson, The Big O—My Life, My Times, My Game, (n.p.: Rodale, 2003), 220.
15. Sam Goldaper, “N.I.T. Rings Down Curtain for Cousy,” The New York Times, March 9, 1969, S3.
16. “Cousy to Retire as College Coach,” The New York Times, January 21, 1969, 54.
17. Sam Goldaper, “To His Fans, Cousy Goes Out Like Champion,” The New York Times, March 23, 1969, S5.
18. Goldaper, “To His Fans,” S5.
Chapter 11
1. Barry McDermott, “‘O’ Lucas Applaud Cousy’s Running Game,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 18, 1969, 13.
2. Sam Goldaper, “Cousy is Signed to Three-Year Pact at $150,000 to Coach Royals in NBA,” The New York Times, May 10, 1969, 20.
3. Jim Schottelkotte, “Cousy’s First Act,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 10, 1969, 13.
4. Jerry Lucas, telephone interview by the author, March 30, 2015.
5. McDermott, “‘O’ Lucas Applaud,” 13.
6. Schottelkotte, “Cousy’s First,” 13.
7. Milton Richman, “Bob Cousy versus Robertson: No Room For Both in Cincy?,” Washington Afro-American, February 10, 1970, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2238&dat=19700210&id=dc01AAAAIBAJ&sjid.
