Oscar Robertson
Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson, nicknamed "The Big O", is an American retired National Basketball Association player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks. The 6 ft 5 in, 220 lb Robertson played at point guard and was a 12-time All-Star, 11-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in 14 professional seasons. He is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. He was a key player on the team which brought...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth24 November 1938
CountryUnited States of America
I was taught to play that way when I was in high school and even before I got to high school.
I played on an all-black high school team and we didn't want people saying that we were clowns.
You see what happens in college and high school games today - a three-point shot or a dunk. I think that's the reason that you see a lot of that in the pros today.
They should have a rule: in order to be a sportswriter, you have to have played that sport, at some level; high school, college, junior college, somewhere. Or, you should have had to have been around the game for a long time.
I don't think that players learn how to play any other aspect of the game in high school or college.
Basketball wasn't what it is today, ... Being brought up in the ghetto, my parents were told, long before I came along, that education was the way out.
Pete Newell was the Olympic coach and was a fine person. It was a great honor to play on that team, ... Jack McMahon of the Royals was another coach I enjoyed playing for in the NBA and I got the opportunity to play with and against so many great players.
So many kids think that, ... But when you look at the history of players coming out (of college) early, only a handful really make it.
Of course I think with my 14 years in the NBA I never made a million dollars,
There have been a couple of coaches there, through the years, that I didn't always agree with what was going on, ... Today, a lot of these guys at the university have my cell phone number.
I've got a system in place where the university gets a lot of money from me, especially when I die, ... I will still help the basketball program, too.
It's just good to be out here, ... I'm just glad to supply these guys.
It's a sad day for Bob, but what I don't understand is all these people pulling their (financial) support and things like that, ... There are a lot of things at UC I haven't liked over the years, but I still support the university.
It meant that the critics who needed something negative to say about my career couldn't say something negative about it.