by Ray Sanchez 08.17.14
“Like nothing I’ve ever been through.”
That’s how Nolan Richardson described his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last week.
It’s quite a statement. He’s been through a lot. He’s won a junior college championship, a NIT title, an NCAA crown and has been feted at awards banquets and other events throughout the country for years.
Sounding a bit weary but still glowing after the induction banquet, he indicated in a phone interview with your friendly sports columnist that being among, and included with, the greatest basketball players of all time was almost unreal.
NOT THAT being awed stopped him from giving a memorable acceptance speech at the induction banquet. He’s always been known as an outstanding public speaker. He reminisced, he joked, he spoke of the hard times and the good times.
And He thanked what he called the “team” that helped him along the way, from the time when principal Frank Pollitt welcomed him as a freshman at Bowie High School in 1955 through UTEP coach Don Haskins from whom he learned about defense through his “granny” (grandmother) who ordered him, not asked him, to not be afraid of racism but to confront it and, surprisingly, through University of Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles with whom he had some problems.
HIS INDUCTION almost seems unreal to me, too.
I can’t express the feeling I got when I saw him walk up to the podium to receive his award. It was pride, admiration, love and other warm feelings all rolled up in one. To even imagine that the little black kid who I saw for the first time as a nine year old playing Little League baseball in 1950 would reach such heights blows my mind, as they say.
That Richardson was even allowed to play Little League Baseball in El Paso in 1950 was something of a miracle. Segregation was rampant throughout the country and El Paso was no exception. Even schools wouldn’t admit blacks. But El Paso businessman Bob Haynsworth, who ironically, came from highly segregated Georgia and had settled in El Paso after being stationed at Fort Bliss during World War II, and the group of El Pasoans he had gathered to start the Little League program opened it to all.
BUT I DIGRESS. One of the first things I asked Richardson after his Naismith induction was when he was coming to El Paso so we could all congratulate him personally. He seemed to perk up.
“I love El Paso,” he said.
But there’s no rest for the weary. He thought for a while then said he had to rush back to Arkansas for another of his charity golf tournaments and had other events away from El Paso already scheduled the rest of the year.
“But,” he added, “I have to get to El Paso. My mother in law is 105 years old and I need to see her.” He paused and said, “I’ve been invited to an event at UTEP (the school is celebrating its 100th anniversary) in November but I don’t know if I can attend.”
He paused again and said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
BY THE WAY, kudos to the El Paso Times for its coverage of Nolan Richardson’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The newspaper sent photographer Ruben Ramirez, already an El Paso legend, and Bill Knight, one of El Paso’s finest writers of sports ever, all the way to Springfield, Massachusetts, to cover the event.
The results were breathtaking: Great photos, great stories and even a special section.
And all well-deserved. “That little black kid” I covered in 1950 blossomed into an outstanding athlete in high school and UTEP and even a greater coach
And he is ours. He was born in El Paso, raised in El Paso and developed his talents in El Paso. How sweet is that?