The idea for writing my memoirs came about one day while I was sharing lunch with my two sons at McDonald's. I noticed that both of my boys were drinking bottled water, eating burgers and fries, and using plastic forks and cups as we ate together. During the meal, my oldest son was listening to music on his MP3 player while his younger brother was sending a message on his cell phone. I explained to them -- "When I was growing up, there were no fast food restaurants with plastic utensils or recycled materials. I often drank water from a water hose, and phone conversations occurred either in my home or a nearby phone booth. If anyone in my neighborhood had two or more cars parked at their house, they were either entertaining guest or just showing off." They both laughed, and my oldest son, Brad, said, "Dad, you should write a book."
They were both interested in my basketball career. At my sons' request, I have used this sport as the common thread in communicating my memoirs. Through countless practice hours on my homemade goal in my backyard, I perfected my basketball skills and earned an athletic scholarship to a southern liberal arts college in North Carolina. It was while I was a student at this Quaker institution that I became aware of the injustice and lack of equal opportunties for minorities. Growing up in the segregated South in the 50's, and attending college in the early 60's, I was very aware of the abhorred opinions exhibited by many of my family and friends toward integration -- views I did not share. Our government enacted the Civil Rights Act during the summer of my junior year, and I was determined to be an advocate in its movement. Readers will learn that this story documents my assiduous efforts to change people's attitudes concerning civil rights.
The first half of my autobiography is about basketball. But after meeting with Mr. Jimmy Carter and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and being inspired and encouraged from my consultation with them, I initiated an undertaking to desegregate a Christain fundamentalist college in North Georgia in 1968. That year, as a college basketball coach, I recruited black athletes to its all-white institution. The second half embodies the triumphs and complications that my black athletes experienced.
In this rousing history that reads like a novel, Before You Were Born takes readers beyond the successes and disappointments on a basketball court. My coaching and playing career spanned 18 years -- from 1957 to 1975. A word to my younger readers: If you have not reached your 43rd birthday, this account of my life occurred "before you were born."
