NBA: I Gave It a Shot

“Tom, do you have any other job possibilities?  I will have your teammate Don Nelson use my car to transport you and two other rookies back to Chicago.” Chicago Zephyrs coach, Jack McMahon.

“Yes, I do have a job waiting for me teaching and coaching at a new high school in Aurora. Thanks, Jack, for the opportunity to be in the training camp this past week. I learned a lot.” Rookie Tom Kennedy.

The brief interview was on my final day with the NBA Chicago Zephyrs’ training camp. We had departed on a bus from Downtown Chicago on Tuesday, September 4 and headed to Brown’s Lake Resort in Wisconsin where we were staying and working out in a high school gym for the week.  By Friday, with Coach McMahon’s goodbye, my brief time with a professional basketball team came to a halt. On Monday, September 10^th, I was in the Roncalli High School classroom in front of 20 fourteen-old boys.

I was not disappointed to be cut from the team.  I was very lucky that the Principal, Brother Stephen (Christian Brother) kept the job open and made it possible to “give pro basketball a shot.”  I had previously informed him that my chance of making the team was slim at best. He took a calculated risk that this would be the case.

In fact, just being drafted in April was an honor, but my plan was to get married in June and then start my teaching and coaching job at this new Christian Brothers’ high school in September.  It wasn’t until July when I received a call from the new general manager of the Zephyrs, Frank Lane, asking me to meet him to discuss my future.

Frank Lane had previously been general manager of the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cleveland Indians. In seven years with the Sox, he made 241 trades, which earned him the title of “Trader Lane.” By the time that I left his office in July, I had signed a contract to play professional basketball. If I made the team to earn my $6,000 a year plus meal money of $7 per day. (For perspective, my teaching contract was $4,500.) 

For the next 6 weeks, I continued working at the Werden Buck Boys Club in Joliet, playing semi-pro baseball for the Will County A’s, and being part of the Zephyr’s Chicago community involvement that offered basketball clinics at various parts of the city. In my free time, I tried to get into basketball shape in preparation for the camp in Wisconsin.

Being married was wonderful and Dolores and we would be planning on a family in the future.  How would that work if I made the team? There was no question that things would be different from the future we had discussed for the past several years. But if I didn’t make it, job and family had a more defined path than the dizzying world of athletics.  

Discussing these issues with my new Zephyr teammates during the summer and then at the camp gave me significant pause about basketball.  None of the veterans on the team volunteered many assurances that marriage wouldn’t be adversely affected. The glamorous world of pro basketball lacked luster as they discussed killer travel schedules and physical wear and tear on body parts. Of all major pro sports, the players thought that the NBA was the most grueling. 

The NBA in 1962 was not the equivalent to the NBA today.  Money and travel are now off the charts and the skill, size, training, and talent of current players is vastly superior.  The game is a different game.

Was I disappointed in not becoming a pro basketball player? After having played for three years at Lewis College, my first years of playing basketball? Not in the least. How many kids have the opportunity to be drafted and sign a pro contract? Not many. I “gave it a shot” and found out quickly that I wasn’t good enough and I lacked motivation. I was very lucky to have a job and family in my immediate future and, to paraphrase Lou Gehrig, “I feel that I was the luckiest” with a career in education, kids, grandkids, and a wonderful friend/spouse in Dolores.

Note: For you historians, the Chicago Packers franchise was started in 1961. The original name was in recognition to the meatpacking industry, but the name was unpopular because Bear fans intensely disliked the Green Bay football team. The Zephyrs lasted only one year (1962-63) and then moved to Baltimore as the Bullets. In 1974, they became the Washington Wizards. (The is no truth to the ugly rumor that, because Michael Jordan played for the same franchise, I claim to be his teammate.)