The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game

by Oscar Robertson

Overview

Perhaps the greatest all-around player in basketball history, Oscar Robertson revolutionized basketball as a member of the Cincinnati Royals and won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. When he was twenty-three, in 1962, he accomplished one of basketball's most impressive feats: averaging the triple-double in a single season-a feat never matched since. Cocaptain of the Olympic gold medal team of 1960; named the player of the century by the National Association of Basketball Coaches; named one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history; and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980-Robertson's accolades are as numerous as they are impressive.

But The Big O is also the story of a shy black child from a poor family in a segregated city; of the superstar who, at the height of his career, became the president of the National Basketball Players Association to try to improve conditions for all players. It is the story of the man forced from the game at thirty-four and blacklisted from coaching and broadcasting. But two years after he left basketball, after six years of legal wrangling, Robertson won his lawsuit against the NBA, eliminating the option clause that bound a player to a single NBA team in perpetuity and ending restrictions on free agency.

The Big O is the story of how the NBA, as we now know it, was built; of race in America in the second half of the twentieth century; and of an uncompromising man and a complex hero.

Oscar Robertson, seen by many as one of the best and most versatile basketball players of his time, played in the NBA for the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks during his fourteen-year professional basketball career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803234635
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	10/01/2010
Pages:	376
Sales rank:	190,554
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Oscar Robertson, seen by many as one of the best and most versatile basketball players of his time, played in the NBA for the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks during his fourteen-year professional basketball career.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface ix

Chapter 1 The Crossroads of America * 1938-1951 1

Chapter 2 Li'l Flap * 1951-1954 19

Chapter 3 "They Don't Want Us" * 1954-1955 42

Chapter 4 "Talk Is Cheap" * 1955-1956 55

Chapter 5 Collegiate Life * 1956-1958 72

Chapter 6 "What They Eat Don't Make Me Fat" * 1958-1959 94

Chapter 7 Gold * 1959-1960 115

Chapter 8 Rookie Stardom * 1960-1961 130

Chapter 9 The Triple-Double * 1961-1963 149

Chapter 10 Union President, NBA Royalty * 1963-1968 (Part One) 171

Chapter 11 The Sixties Continued * 1963-1968 (Part Two) 199

Chapter 12 Moving On * 1969-1970 225

Chapter 13 Milwaukee, Lew Alcindor, and the Championship * 1970-1971 248

Chapter 14 Do Not Go Gently * 1971-1974 275

Chapter 15 Endings * 1974-1976 304

Epilogue 316

Credits 333

Index 334

Editorial Reviews

“Oscar was one of basketball’s great leaders, and his life is one of basketball's great stories. He was unafraid, unabashed, and unmatched in everything he did. There will never be another like him.”—Bill Russell

Bill Russell

“Known as an intelligent player and respected by his peers as an intelligent man, Robertson puts an exclamation point on the accolades with this thoughtful reflection on a life lived without compromise. A well-written, entertaining, and thought-provoking sports autobiography—but would we ever expect less than a triple-double from the Big O?”—Wes Lukowsky, Booklist

Booklist - Wes Lukowsky

“Oscar Robertson was never a rookie. He was the measuring stick for how a player should play. It is an honor to know him and to have competed against him. He is a man for the ages.”—Jerry West

Jerry West

"Oscar Robertson is remarkably honest in his autobiography, The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game. . . . It's a fun read."—Zach Lowe, SI.com

SI.com - Zach Lowe

“Oscar Robertson is an incomparable superstar. He is also a thoughtful man and a man of vision. If you want insight into what formed Oscar in the crucial years of his youth, look here. It’s a great book.”—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

“Known as an intelligent player and respected by his peers as an intelligent man, Robertson puts an exclamation point on the accolades with this thoughtful reflection on a life lived without compromise. A well-written, entertaining, and thought-provoking sports autobiography—but would we ever expect less than a triple-double from the Big O?”—Wes Lukowsky, Booklist

— Wes Lukowsky

Booklist

“Every time I get on a basketball court, I’m chasing Oscar Robertson’s legend. He set the standard for guys like me. I can only hope, when I’m done playing, that I’ve come close to what he’s accomplished.”—Jason Kidd

Jason Kidd

“As one of the NBA’s all-time greats, Oscar Robertson has much to pass on to both his old fans and young basketball enthusiasts perhaps unfamiliar with his legacy.”—Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

The Barnes & Noble Review
In the annals of basketball history, Oscar Robertson is known as the legendary master of fundamentals and one of the early superstars who set the standard for all-around excellence. But in this engaging memoir we get more than the on-court feats of one of the game's greatest performers -- we are given a rare, honest glimpse into the rarified world of the professional athlete, and along the way we come to know a hero for the ages.

The Big O takes readers on a whirlwind ride beyond the never-ending agate of the games played on the hardwood court, and into Robertson's times, the racially sour era of the 1950s and 1960s. With Robertson as our guide, we progress from poor, black Indianapolis to a Coke bottle–cluttered dorm room at the University of Cincinnati, where Robertson achieved fame as a dominant NCAA performer. Then, it's off into a now-distant world of pro ball in which front-office suits unjustly wield all authority and games are played in shoddy, ill-maintained arenas with supbar floors -- and finally to the peak of competition as Robertson wins a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, bolstered by a young Lew Alcindor (later to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Robertson brings the U.S. civil rights movement to life with his evocation of abusive fans, a venomously biased media, and the underlying tone of his own anger throughout the text. Taking a page from baseball's historic integrator, Jackie Robinson, Robertson notes that for him, "basketball meant power," as the game provided strength to fight through the obstacles of a prejudiced society. Here, Robertson bares his scars -- not in bitterness but so that we may never forget. Bryan Hoch

bn.com

Robertson has been labeled "the most complete player in all basketball history" by Peter Bjarkman (Encyclopedia of Pro Basketball). From a poor family and broken home, Robertson began his career in a black Indianapolis high school. After integrating the University of Cincinnati basketball team, he went on to that city's NBA Royals and Milwaukee Bucks, a star player of the first rank for 14 seasons. As head of the NBA Players' Association, he led the fight for union recognition and an end to the reserve clause. But the triumphs are tempered throughout this book by Robertson's bitter recollections of the discrimination and travails with which he and other African Americans had to cope. This outspoken story is good for most public libraries and all sports collections.-Morey Berger, St. Joseph's Hosp. Lib., Tucson, AZ Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Every time I get on a basketball court, I'm chasing Oscar Robertson's legend. He set the standard for guys like me. I can only hope, when I'm done playing, that I've come close to what he's accomplished.” —JASON KIDD

“Oscar Robertson is an incomparable superstar. He is also a thoughtful man and a man of vision. If you want insight into what formed Oscar in the crucial years of his youth, look here. It's a great book.” —KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

“Oscar was one of basketball's great leaders, and his life is one of basketball's great stories. He was unafraid, unabashed, and unmatched in everything he did. There will never be another like him.” —BILL RUSSELL

“Oscar Robertson was never a rookie. He was the measuring stick for how a player should play. It is an honor to know him and to have competed against him. He is a man for the ages.” —JERRY WEST

From the Publisher