So I'd like to thank everyone that can access this. Thank you for spending your time with us. Thank you for Just take a little bit of time off your date. So just figure out a little bit more about these discussions when we talk about sports and politics. We look at life through the lens of sports. And I'm so honored for a couple of reasons to have Spencer Haywood on with me today. He went personally because As a basketball fan, this man averaged a double. In the League. He was an MVP as rookie, we will talk all about that. But thank you Spencer, for joining us today. We really appreciate having you here. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me. You're the first player to ever interview me. >> Well, we might need to [INAUDIBLE] >> [LAUGH] >> That's because the reason why we're here today is to honor you but really to let you know, our students all around the world understand. That because of you, we had to face in our country, the question of free trade, the question of can, if I am talented enough, willing enough, if I am able enough, can I make a living to take care of myself and my family, which seems to be simple, age old, age old questions, but you have to sacrifice a lot for us to answer those. So, I want to start with you. In 1968, though, you're a young man, you're one of the best basketball players in the world. I don't know if you knew it then because the olympics would be your Would be your proving ground. I want to first, just get to know you. We're going to talk about your upbringing in Mississippi and then, in Detroit. But, could you talk a little bit about the times of 1968? Like what music were you listening to? What was the food like? What was the people, before we get to that olympics? What was 1968 like? >> 1968 was like, man, it was revolutionary time. All of the music that was being played and was put out at that time it just had a feel to it. And being that I'm, you know, a transplant to Detroit, Michigan. I get real close with. The temptations when we were in high school at Persian High School, ladies used to come by and watch us play and then Duke from the Four Tops. He was from my Persian High School area so he would come by and watch us play too. And it was just awesome. I mean- >> [INAUDIBLE] I gotta stop. You gotta stop. So first of all, I know that the high school had to be buzzing. The high school ladies have to be there. You got to temptations you got to say hey, would you got the Four Tops? Was this today's like, did you know The thing is like, did you sit around and like seeing the guys on the corner and stuff? Was that stuff that you did too or not really or? >> Well, I was trying to transplant myself out of the old sound of Mississippi where I was just, a blues. You know, all I heard was the blues to do to so to do to do [MUSIC] Hey I'm going over yonder you know, I had that sound and then when I got to Detroit, all of a sudden, Will Robinson says you here's the ticket, you get down to the Motown review on Woodward Avenue. So I went down my boy Wiley, we we jumped on the bus on, on wood on six mile and Wood Road all the way down, jumped into the Fox Theater and my car it was like Stevie, Stevie Wonder The Four Tops, the temptations, the contours and a lot of people don't know about the Contours but the Contours could really dance and Diana Ross and The Supremes, but they were just a Supremes at that time Smokey Robinson was also there. So you just had that music coming out and I was like, my God what- >> [LAUGH] >> I was plugging Stevie when he said a hard time boy came up from Mississippi. I'm just in a deer in you know in a headlight. So it was just that sound that sound was cooking and then when they would come to the games because, you know in high school we, Scrimmage the pistons within scrimmage other high school teams. >> [LAUGH] >> They would bring over the pistons to Persian High School and we were screaming to give them that gives them because where Robinson, our coach and my father who adopted me and raised me in Detroit. He was also scouting for the pistons and the lions as well. So we got a chance to play against them and I had on my team Ralph Simpson, I had Lynn Dowdy, I had Marvin Lane play with the Tigers, Blend play with the Baltimore Ravens and Paul Seals also played with the Atlanta Falcons. So it was a real serious team. [LAUGH] So we have people coming by just to pay homage, and what is this young boy going to be like? We got all Train him help bring him back to reality here in Detroit, because he's our product now. And it was just an awesome time. I mean, we had like a jazz, we had jazz people come over and perform at the Pearson High School because our music teacher was a jazz man. So he would have Dorothy Ashfree. He had all of these great musicians coming in. We had Barol Sandoss come through our line. And he would form [SOUND] We all know, what this is so deep then we were like tripping because young boys, you know you're trying to get out of yourself and into the jazz groove and all of that. So it was just an awesome time. I mean, it was just so great. And then it came time we were we were going for this class A state champion the first time The city of Detroit had been locked out for 35 years, before I came along. And then we've got the chance to win that class A State Championship, and then I wanted to go home and see my family. My family, my mom had never seen me play. And. >> Let me let me stop you right there because your life has been one of sacrifice and I really would like for people to really understand a little bit about Could you talk a little bit about coach will Robinson. That [INAUDIBLE] in your life? >> Yeah, what coach will Robinson [INAUDIBLE] first his history was, he was brought in from Ohio because of the riots prior to the 67 riots but the riots earlier in Detroit to calm the situation down with sports. And he started coaching at Miller High School. He had All of the great players at Miller High School, and then they went from Miller to Cass Tech where he had Dori Murray and all of those guys. And then he went from Cass Tech to Persian High School where he had [INAUDIBLE] Daniel and all of those guys and then here I come along and we could never could get to the to class A state champion because you know that the racism and everything else that was going on because once you get outside of the city, the referees you know like they changed the game on, but will Robinson also Was the same Will Robinson that, when Jackie Robinson broke into the league, the great Jackie Robinson. They needed someone to escort him and make sure he will have comfort play in the Tigers. So Will Robinson was assigned to him. >> Wow. >> And also the great judges and lawyers, Dr. Eid Bale, all of those lawyers. We had judges before everybody else had judges in this world. So all those judges and everybody was there with him, and so he was just this mythical figure, but he was just as good man. That was, all of a sudden he had adopted me, because I had no parents in Detroit. So he was that adopting, yeah, he adopted me. >> I'm going to get a beautiful mother when it gets to that lifestyle. But, kind of the way I'm going is that, you were raised by a wonderful person. And you get here, and you're with a great man, and Will Robinson that has to go through racism, that you go through racism in basketball on the court. And it just seems that people were in your life to help mold you for some of the obstacles that you're about to face coming up. So you were talking about getting the plan, you wanted to go home. And you wanted your mother to see you play, because she didn't even know her boy could get down like that. >> Could get down, yeah, so I signed with the University of Tennessee after being high school all American, the number two or number one player in the country. And I signed with the University of Tennessee, not thinking that I was the first black to be [LAUGH] in the Southeastern Conference or the second. >> Wow. >> And because I just want to play against Mississippi in Mississippi State, because they couldn't accept blacks at my home. And so my mother would get a chance to see me play. And I get there and either I overlap, and she's like, well, wait a minute, and I just lost to five blacks in 1966. >> With the university? >> So, how do you get the top black player? I should have him, so that became an issue and then we end up saying. You know what, let's just abandon this idea and go to Trinidad State Junior college, on my way, is that in the islands? [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> So I went there, and I was planned, just dominating the junior college game, and the Olympics came up, the '68 Olympics. And everybody's talking about the black boycott, because Kareem said, well, I think I'm going to go up and help children in Harlem. I'm not going to participate in this '68 Olympics. And then you had the meeting of Martin Luther King, Jackie Robinson, and Jesse Owens, and Dr. Harry Edwards. They were meeting, and they came up with the idea, no, we would not allow everyone to boycott. So we will just say, you guys gotta play and be strong and let's go on. So when they called me, not to come to the Olympic Games or trial with him. They called me and said, we're putting together junior college team, and we're going to play in Hutchinson, Kansas. And then we'll decide that week that they will allow us to bring you guys to the Olympic trials in Albuquerque. So we get a junior college team, and we go down, and we just hardcore people. It was Cliff Milli, all Kansas city was populous, because at that time, Chris, it wasn't like you could get into a major university, you had to go the junior college route. So a lot of us was there, because we wanted to play and play well. Because you couldn't play as a freshman in college at those times. >> Yeah, it was. >> Yeah, so [LAUGH] we arrived in Albuquerque to play against the NIA, the NCAA Division I, II and III. And they had the AAU, which was Akron Goodyear, and all of those teams which was the understudy of the NBA. And then they had a team from the military, from West Point. So we get down there and just start jumping and dominating. And you guess who our coach was from the junior college ranking? It was Jerry Tarkanian. [LAUGH] >> No way, coach Jerry Tarkanian? >> Yes- >> Hang on. >> It's so weird. [LAUGH] So Jerry is talking, and then talk, I got the best team in here. So we played against Pete Maravich in that, and the whole team that they had. >> Great. >> And we killed them, and Hank Iba who was the coach was, well, like that boy right there, I like that number. That Haywood Spencer, yeah him, I like him. And we [LAUGH] just kept playing and kept playing. And then all of a sudden, I wonder what's going on, because Jerry says, well, he got such an eye on you. They don't want you to get hurt, because you're jumping so high, you're blocking everything and you're killing this guy. So we got to set you down a little bit. So I stared, well, I can always go back to Detroit to show everybody I got many Olympic trial gear. I got me some nice gear, I got a bag, hey, I'm good. >> You're happy? [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] I'm happy. >> Wow, wow. >> And so all of a sudden, the team came up and when we were in the selection room, they didn't select Pistol Pete Maravich, we were, what's going on? They didn't select Rick Mount, Pistol Pete was averaging 44 points a game. >> With no three point line, it should be three. >> No three point, no three point. >> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Rick Mount from Purdue with average and 39 a game. And you had Calvin Murphy from Niagara averaging 33, they all got cut, I know it's weird. This is still 60's basketball. [LAUGH] So, they got cut, and we were like looking around, what's going to happen? And then they call out my name, well, our starting for Senate is going to be Spencer Haywood, and everybody looked around, what? >> [LAUGH] >> Young boy, and Chris, I had just turned 19, I was 18. I didn't even know they can allow freshmens to play on the Olympic team, and I was, well, but I'm a sophomore now. And they said, no, you're still a freshman, [CROSSTALK] sophomore season. So I jumped in, and we were talking and then Gabriel was, I wanted more on this team. He will take care of the people who boycotted, because Wesley Ansel, Elvin Hayes, they signed their pro contract. So the Olympics were, you have to be strictly amateur. And then they have Kareem, and then they put down Ansel on the reserve team. And I was man, this guy has being killing us. [LAUGH] >> Wow, [LAUGH] okay, wow, wow. >> I thought this is so weird. >> Yeah. >> And so we get the team set up, and lo and behold, I don't have a birth certificate. Because I was to sign an affidavit to come up from Mississippi to Detroit. So they called my mother, and she's, yeah I got a birth certificate here for the boy, man. [LAUGH] So they said, Mrs. Haywood, can you send that birth certificate up to us in Colorado Springs, so we can get his documentation? So we can get a passport, we can travel. She says, no, no, no, my Bible do not leave my site, I gotta go to churches on Sunday. because that was written. [LAUGH] John 21 in my mom's Bible. >> We are talking and let's now talk. Let's bring your beautiful mother and your family. I'm into it because really what you just talked about is just hard work ethic that you have been around great coaches, Mu Robson and others playing against the pistons in high school as just incredible. But here you are. This young man 19 years old, went to junior college I mean eight off road we could talk about him and him not believing black athletes were great. So just the fact That he did you would want to do. That's a story in itself. And in my mind, only because I know the end of the story, it just seems that you were being prepared each step of the way by being faced with certain obstacles or in the face of racism on the face of just doubters. And so. Let's talk now you're 19 years old. We're about to find out what type of Olympian you are. But talk to me a little bit about growing up. Why would your mother not just have a regular birth certificate? They got him like, Why does she have to write it in her Bible? What were those times like? >> Those times were like I was born. Into indentured slavery, which meant that my family was owned by this owner of the plantation that we worked. We were field hands we work from sunup to sundown, my first recollection of picking cotton Was when I was four years old. Since I was born because when my mother was pregnant and so on, you all the way up and you drop the baby by midwife. [COUGH] You don't have no doctors, you don't have no hospital. >> Right, right. >> And so by going right into the like a baby riding trying to pick the low rows, the low cabin And so, as a kid I just picked cotton from sunup to sundown. And I was like my brothers we were like, who's going to be the best cotton picker this county had ever had. And I had the big hand so they will let you expected to be the man So Chris, I was like picking I would like go out in the morning before the sun come up by the cotton is wet and we're just picking, picking, picking and getting my sack ready. But I didn't know that the Lord had a different plan for me. >> Right. >> So I'm picking cotton from both rows, you know like and dragging a sack down the middle and the sack is 100 pounds and 10 years old now. And, and I dragged the sack a mile away nearly I got to pick the sack up with 100 pounds, drag it, put it on my shoulder, carry it back to the trailer, weigh it, get up in the trailer and dump it and then go back and pick cotton some more. So hard work was like that was what we did. And we had our church. So I believe that, you know, because we I lived in a segregated situation I lived in it. I couldn't go to the water fountains, I couldn't go to the bathroom, I couldn't do anything. Everything was black, white, black and white. And so, you learn to be subservient, but like when you get your chance You got it. You got to take it. And so what happened was one day they saw me growing up and being this big kid. He says, Well, you know what our rules are in Mississippi in the Delta. Of Mississippi. We put you in jail for a little while, and then you can't go back to school because you're embarrassed. And we put you in Parchman prison, which is the worst prison in the world. And, you're done. So they put me in jail for a night when I was 14. >> Discouraged. >> Yeah. And so I got out of jail. My mom said, the Lord came to me and said, Boy, you got to get out of here. So we rounded up the bus ticket. We couldn't leave from my hometown of Silver City and remind yourself Silver City. You don't have us. You don't have no silver in it ain't no city.45 people So I went to Bell somewhere in the next town over and I got on the bus heading North not knowing where I was going but the Lord had my back. And so [LAUGH] I get to Chicago and my brothers who had been coming down to. You know, Mississippi with a big roll of money, they were just faking. They had like, fool's gold and they were like renting a car and coming home like, Look, I got a brand new car, I got everything. And those guys are living in poverty in Chicago. So I was trying to figure out where am I going to go to school here? How can this work? So my brother Leroy. Roy, who played at Bowling Green State University who went up north with my aunt. He came over and he saw me and he said, we went out and play basketball. He says you got a great future and that's the first time I thought about, wait a minute. Basketball can put me in college and everything. And he was like, yeah, look at where I am. mean so he packed up my bag like a brown paper bag on the head, you know, like a pair of jeans and a shirt. We drove from Chicago, down to Bowling Green State University, and I was on campus I was playing against Nate Thurman. Howard Koba is all of those players that was on the same team with my brother. And I was like man, what's the artist? God, I can't think of his name but he was famous there in football. >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Yeah, his work is just. Now Not only burns out the >> Other one, >> He was an actor too. Anyway, okay, so I was there and I hadn't been integrated with white folks. So I couldn't adjust to going to school at Bowling Green. So, my brother said, let's try to get to will Robinson. So but we got to show him what we got. So I was like, okay, I'm turning 15 now. So I'm like, yeah, let's go to Detroit. So we go to Detroit Detroit at the time had chronic basketball crunk outdoor courts was this was the place the they had [CROSSTALK] I did not know that. no. >> [CROSSTALK] basketball before.Basketball was before and they had the pistons and all of the players who lived in Detroit who were out. And other teams so they were playing, like pickup basketball and it was organized really highly organized. Then you had the guys from the University of Michigan Cassie Russell peel buttons. All of those guys were there too with at Michigan State, Ohio State people came all over just to play summer ball and then they had a High School. Team which is the all star team so they threw me on the high school all star team and man, first thing I knew I noticed about those guys was like, they were like I don't want to. Were no Converse shoes. I don't want to wear no Adidas. I don't want to be in the locker room and I'm like >> [LAUGH] >> I'm like the converse had paper. I had paper because I had a big hole in my shoes. >> And I was like, [LAUGH] let me have all of these shoes because I know people in Mississippi need these shoes but I put on those shoes and I was like a new person. I went out there. Play with my high school against the high school squats and at 27 and 10. And the coaches were like, this block can run all day just run. He loves me basketball. Let's put him in against the college players. See what. >> So they put me in against him. I have 17 and seven. He's only 15 years old. We gotta have a birth certificate, but he does look young. And they said, Well, alright, one last shot. We're going to put him in against the pros. How will he do and I have 17 and seven again gets the Pro. And will Robinson said, No, don't talk to Freddie Snowden Don't talk to anybody because all the coaches have lined up on the sideline, we can make a bidding war. My brother had this whole idea we got to beat him up. But we want we are obviously too big for you. So we're opposite. >> Now I want the boy and I was looking at will and I hit it off right away with him now it's like I want to be with him. >> Yeah that's right. This is amazing. So first when we look at what you're going through and how many people you helped those of us that are thankful to you. We need to be thankful that I we need to be thankful to around us. We need to be thankful to your adoptive parents because they on this journey and the one thing about them all they had faith. They had a hard work ethic. They held you accountable they believed in you. Because when you talk to people you know if you know people always talk to me about you on the smartest men or nicest men and they've ever met before.
