Spencer Haywood, an NBA pioneer who is still looking for recognition

Hall of Famer since 2015, four-time All-Star, 1980 NBA champion with the Lakers and 1968 Olympic gold medalist. Spencer Haywood will remain primarily in the history of American basketball because in 1970 she had the courage to challenge the NBA in court.

At the time, the league denied access to any player who did not spend at least four years after high school in the NCAA or another professional league. Hailing from Mississippi and trained in Detroit, Spencer Haywood wanted to join the NBA after an outstanding season in the ABA, where he was named Rookie of the Year, All-Star and even MVP. But the NBA still banned him from joining it.

Instead of going abroad or pursuing a career at the ABA, he decided to challenge this rule in court, believing it violated his basic right to work.

“My time is coming and I don’t want to go like this”now explains in The Athletic. “The only thing I want, and I’ve been asking for four years, is to give my name to this rule: it’s the “Spencer Haywood rule”. There are 480 players in the NBA, and 468 don’t know who I am. I want the players to know that one day someone was so dedicated that he put his life and career on the line. But no one knows.”

Like Larry Bird, whose name is attached to the rule that allows teams to exceed the salary cap to keep their free agents, Spencer Haywood wants his legacy recognized through this provision that allowed young players to join the NBA at age 18, without the restriction of a college career.

The fight for recognition and justice

“Knowing a little bit of history, I see that kind of thing is just erased from history when it comes to a black athlete or a black person. I just want what’s happening to me.”

Deeply marked by his encounter with John Carlos, famous for his raised fist salute at the 1968 Olympics, Spencer Haywood developed an acute awareness of racial inequality in the United States.

A pioneer in his dedication, his story was the subject of the 2020 book The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball, and the Making of an American Iconoclast by Mark Spears and Gary Washburn. At 76, he still hopes for symbolic recognition from the league he helped transform, he, a child of the Mississippi cotton fields, scarred for life by the violence and injustices of his time.

“I’m at peace with myself, but not with my athletic career”he concludes. “What I stood for, others got. Tommy Smith and John Carlos got theirs. Me, no. But I feel that moment is approaching.”

What in memories replaces the image popularized especially by “Time of Victory”? The series notably returns to Finals 1980, when then-cocaine-addicted Spencer Haywood fell asleep in the middle of practice and was suspended from Game 2 by his coach, Paul Westhead… who he immediately assumed had been murdered.

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How to read statistics? MJ = matches played; Min = Minute; Shots = Shots Successful / Shots Attempted; 3 points = 3 points / attempt 3 points; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive jump; Tot = Total number of jumps; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal mistakes; Int = intercepts; Bp = lost balls; Ct: Against; Points = Points.