Here's what we need:

[VF21]

Wow. Zelmo Beaty - One of my dad's longtime favorites right up until the day he went to LA.

Big Z always had a lot of great players looking over their shoulders at him. He faced up to all the registered giants --7-2 Wilt Chamberlain, 6-10 Willis Reed, 7-1, Walt Bellamy, and 6-9 Bill Russell, etc. When you look at his career, it's like looking into the soul of the man. He had immense pride. Extraordinary desire. His efforts always cried out for respect. He was like a boxer. He always answered the bell.

And that wasn't exactly easy, either. Not only was he undersized, but he suffered through nine knee operations. He was, and even in his retirement, a great example for youth, and the ultimate professional. His professionalism has carried over into his retirement, where the former Stars' great fulfilled his desire to be a carpenter by building his own home for himself and his wife, Ann, in the upscale Pikes Peak area of Bellevue, Washington, amid the trees and rolling hills. It has the charm of living in a woody area in a canyon. The home captures its natural surroundings. The magnitude of the home seems like the crowning touch for the man his Stars' teammates called, "The Franchise." The house can be called in one word "magnificent."

Not sure when that was written, but you can read the rest here,

It was written by Dan Pattison and posted on a great site about the old ABA. You younger BB fans might really enjoy taking some time and perusing the site and old-timers will surely find some memories lurking there.

Thanks for jogging the memory, bajaden!

 

[bajaden]

Wow. Zelmo Beaty - One of my dad's longtime favorites right up until the day he went to LA.

Not sure when that was written, but you can read the rest here,

It was written by Dan Pattison and posted on a great site about the old ABA. You younger BB fans might really enjoy taking some time and perusing the site and old-timers will surely find some memories lurking there.

Thanks for jogging the memory, bajaden!

You be welcome...

 

[Warhawk]

And he was in Conan the Destroyer. I mean, come on. If he's in a Conan movie, he's better than some are giving him credit for.

 

[fnordius]

Dare to explain why?

When it comes to hard fouls and physical play in basketball, being a fan for 40+ years gives a little perspective. That is, after all, more than a third of the time since basketball was invented. But let me back up to the very early days of basketball, to give you some context.

Naismith invented the game with the intention that it be non-violent, but it didn't work out that way. The first professional basketball teams got started in and around New Jersey, between 1900 and 1903, and called themselves the National Basketball League. It was at least as violent as modern professional hockey.

It was a game that saw lots of passing, the occasional set shot, and -- since referees only called fouls on blatant shoves and punches -- plenty of football-like scrimmages that left blood smearing the creaky gym floors...

Bill Himmelman, who lives in Bergen County and is the NBA's official historian, said he heard all sorts of bruising tales when he began a project of interviewing turn-of-the-century players.

"It was an absolute sin to allow an opponent to score a layup," Himmelman said. "The way it worked was this: if a guy got past you to score, you would lay into him and send him to the floor. If he did it a second time, you would use what we'd today a call a karate chop to his nose. With this going on, every player had a broken nose."

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1900.html

Fans got in on the action too; the rules about out-of-bounds balls were different in the very early days, so some of the first pro courts were surrounded by wire cages to keep the ball on the court and speed play. Spectators were known to take advantage of the cage, players were commonly attacked through it by opposing fans, armed with hatpins or lit cigars.

College basketball was rougher, too.

In its infancy, college basketball developed into a rough-and-tumble competition with elbows and even fists thrown about. The game featured two types of shots: the underhand shot and the push shot from the chest. Players were mostly stationary, while at the same time throwing long and looping passes. Contact was inevitable, and even Dr. Naismith probably didn’t expect to see some of the violence that resulted from this style of play.

http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/big10-hoops-history.html

Professional basketball was like this from 1900 until the dissolution of the ABL in the 1930s, although rule changes and the occasional non-blind ref made for a gradually decreasing level of violence. Players would at least look around to see if the ref was watching before punching another player in the face. That's how things were in 1937, when the NBL, predecessor of the NBA, was revived.

Through the 1950s, it was still not uncommon for continuous hard fouling to result in bench-clearing brawls, but the NBA started trying to put limits on it. Colleges did likewise. By 1972, when an Ohio State-Minnesota game ended in a player being viciously fouled, kneed in the groin, then had his head stomped on until he was unconscious, such events had become pretty uncommon in either college or pro ball.

Stern has put a lot of work into cleaning up the reputation of the NBA. Sixteen years ago the current flagrant foul system was added to the NBA, and the Bill Laimbeer physical game gradually gave way to the current state of basketball, where Artest admitted that he had to make major changes to his game to avoid being booted out of the league. And the playoffs are rife with technical and flagrant fouls that are awarded even after games are over. This is a huge crackdown compared to the old NBA.

Some longtime observers, such as the ESPN analyst Mark Jackson, contend that the N.B.A. has overreached in its efforts to tamp down violent play.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/sports/basketball/04fouls.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Anyway, I just wanted to put the whole thing into historical perspective. Whether you think it's good, bad, or indifferent, basketball in the US is gentler now than it's ever been. And if you don't think so, please name a game in the last 20 years where a player was beaten unconscious.

 

[bajaden]

When it comes to hard fouls and physical play in basketball, being a fan for 40+ years gives a little perspective. That is, after all, more than a third of the time since basketball was invented. But let me back up to the very early days of basketball, to give you some context.

Naismith invented the game with the intention that it be non-violent, but it didn't work out that way. The first professional basketball teams got started in and around New Jersey, between 1900 and 1903, and called themselves the National Basketball League. It was at least as violent as modern professional hockey.

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1900.html

Fans got in on the action too; the rules about out-of-bounds balls were different in the very early days, so some of the first pro courts were surrounded by wire cages to keep the ball on the court and speed play. Spectators were known to take advantage of the cage, players were commonly attacked through it by opposing fans, armed with hatpins or lit cigars.

College basketball was rougher, too.
http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/big10-hoops-history.html

Professional basketball was like this from 1900 until the dissolution of the ABL in the 1930s, although rule changes and the occasional non-blind ref made for a gradually decreasing level of violence. Players would at least look around to see if the ref was watching before punching another player in the face. That's how things were in 1937, when the NBL, predecessor of the NBA, was revived.

Through the 1950s, it was still not uncommon for continuous hard fouling to result in bench-clearing brawls, but the NBA started trying to put limits on it. Colleges did likewise. By 1972, when an Ohio State-Minnesota game ended in a player being viciously fouled, kneed in the groin, then had his head stomped on until he was unconscious, such events had become pretty uncommon in either college or pro ball.

Stern has put a lot of work into cleaning up the reputation of the NBA. Sixteen years ago the current flagrant foul system was added to the NBA, and the Bill Laimbeer physical game gradually gave way to the current state of basketball, where Artest admitted that he had to make major changes to his game to avoid being booted out of the league. And the playoffs are rife with technical and flagrant fouls that are awarded even after games are over. This is a huge crackdown compared to the old NBA.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/sports/basketball/04fouls.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Anyway, I just wanted to put the whole thing into historical perspective. Whether you think it's good, bad, or indifferent, basketball in the US is gentler now than it's ever been. And if you don't think so, please name a game in the last 20 years where a player was beaten unconscious.

The last big punch I remember being thrown is the one that put Rudy Tomjanovich in the hospital with a broken eye socket. It also ended, I believe, Richard Washington's career. I distinctly remember Charlie Share of the St. Louis Hawks clothes linning another player trying to make a layup and body slamming him to the floor. Just another hard foul in those days. Players would simply shove other players out of the way under the basket to grab a rebound. Players would have been embarrased to flop.

 

[VF21]

When it comes to hard fouls and physical play in basketball, being a fan for 40+ years gives a little perspective. That is, after all, more than a third of the time since basketball was invented. But let me back up to the very early days of basketball, to give you some context.

Naismith invented the game with the intention that it be non-violent, but it didn't work out that way. The first professional basketball teams got started in and around New Jersey, between 1900 and 1903, and called themselves the National Basketball League. It was at least as violent as modern professional hockey.

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1900.html

Fans got in on the action too; the rules about out-of-bounds balls were different in the very early days, so some of the first pro courts were surrounded by wire cages to keep the ball on the court and speed play. Spectators were known to take advantage of the cage, players were commonly attacked through it by opposing fans, armed with hatpins or lit cigars.

Great stuff, fnordius. And thanks for the link!

 

[fnordius]

The last big punch I remember being thrown is the one that put Rudy Tomjanovich in the hospital with a broken eye socket. It also ended, I believe, Richard Washington's career. I distinctly remember Charlie Share of the St. Louis Hawks clothes linning another player trying to make a layup and body slamming him to the floor. Just another hard foul in those days. Players would simply shove other players out of the way under the basket to grab a rebound. Players would have been embarrased to flop.

Yeah, that (1977, IIRC?) was the last time I remember a player being attacked in such a way as to leave one wondering not just whether he would play pro basketball again, but whether he might die.

Here is how Sports Illustrated described the injuries suffered by Tomjanovich who, ‘…suffered fractures of the face and skull, a broken nose and separated upper jaw, a cerebral concussion, and severe lacerations around his mouth. In effect, the bone structure of his face was knocked loose from his skull.’ (Kirkpatrick, Sports Illustrated, 1977)

The damage to Rudy’s face was so severe that the nurses attending to him, and family members put towels over mirrors to keep him from seeing the extent of damage he had suffered from the punch: “When I was (in the emergency room), I wondered if I would ever play again," Tomjanovich said. "I thought I was gonna be the Elephant Man and have to be put away and, 'Oh, my God, look at the face on that guy.' (Vliet, Sacramento Bee, 2002)

Doctors actually compared Tomjanovich’s injuries to that of a person hitting the windshield of a car at 50 mph.

Washington was fined $10, 000 and suspended for 60 days.

http://www.nbaloud.com/kermit-washington-and-rudy-tomjanovich/

 

[Kingster]

I doubt it.

Just see the highlights. Nobody really guards him and he seems too slow for the current style of NBA plays.

He was a track star in college. Won a lot of awards. I think it was the high hurdles. Amazing, amazing athlete.