Fr. Raymond B. St. George, a French professor and band director at Providence College, loved opera music and basketball. His student, a star on the Providence hardwood, shared this passion. After graduation, the young athlete faced three paths:
1. Teaching: A professorship likely awaited him at Providence.
2. AAU Ball: The industrial league offered the best pay at $9,500 per year.
3. NBA: The fledgling league, less prestigious than it is now, looked promising.
The checkboxes calling for "ethnicity" on the teaching application troubled him. His heritage—an Irish-Catholic mother and black father—defied simple labels. So, he penned a new one: “African American.”
As for a job, he ended up choosing the worst-paying option, which was playing for the NBA's St. Louis Hawks. Yet, it turned out for the best.
As a Hawk, he soared. But opera called. Before home games, he would occasionally slip away to the opera house next door to the arena.
Fr. St. George left an indelible mark—a symphony of sport and song.
College life and professional basketball were a far cry from a childhood in the “worst part of Brooklyn” where the fellow grew up. His father died of a bleeding ulcer when he was 5 and he thus became “the man of the house.”
His first job—delivering groceries—began at age 7. A customer of his in the late-1940s was new to the neighborhood. “I had no idea until he opened the door and I looked up and saw that it was Jackie.”
The great Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers star.
“I was pretty stunned. But Jackie was great. He immediately thanked me for the groceries, then sat me down and asked if I ever got a chance to go to Dodger games. I told him that my brother and I would save up our money and when we had enough, we’d go sit in the bleachers. I’m sure that Jackie knew that every kid in Brooklyn did the same thing, but he took the time to sit down and listen to me—and by doing so made me feel important and became my role model. I saw the harsh way he was treated on the field, yet he never complained. So when things went wrong for me or I was mistreated, I’d tell myself that if Jackie didn’t complain about his situation, then I certainly couldn’t complain about mine.”
From the "mean streets" of Brooklyn mean streets to NBA courts, he defied the odds. Jackie Robinson’s lessons still echo.
Though, left-handed—unorthodox for a point guard—he was named a top 50 player in NBA history and, 25 years later, a top 75 player of all-time.
The Hall of Fame also beckoned. Thrice, in fact.
Springfield came calling for him as a player, as a head coach, and as a member of the 1992 Dream Team (as an assistant coach).
He's earned the most Naismith inductions of any man in history. For good measure, he was also inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
His final act? Coaching.
After being brushed aside in Portland a season prior to the Trail Blazers championship run, he returned to Seattle for a second head coaching stint and brought the SuperSonics to the Finals in two consecutive seasons, winning one World Championship.
In all, he coached for 32 seasons with 6 franchises.
Titles won, legends forged. A career etched in hardwood and harmony.
When the NBA celebrated its 50th Anniversary, he was named one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history. For the league’s 75th Anniversary, he was noted as one of the top 15 coaches ever.
Quite a career indeed, Leonard Randolph “Lenny” Wilkens.
As always,
Brian
P.S. — We take the lessons from sports and apply them to real life inside our own coaching program.
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