The Bailey Howell Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Monday, January 17th, 2005
You were a two-time consensus All-American at MSU
(Second Team in 1958, First Team in 1959). Jerry West
was also a member of those All-American teams. Did you
ever have the opportunity to meet Jerry while you were
playing basketball at MSU?
No,
I didn’t meet Jerry until we were playing
professionally. I knew who he was, and knew that he was
a great talent, but our paths never crossed during
college.
You were the second overall selection in the 1959 NBA
Draft by the Detroit Pistons. Please take me back to
that event in your life. How did you find out about
being drafted and how does it compare to the way players
are drafted today?
I
heard about it on the radio. I was out of town for the
weekend, so that’s how I heard the announcement.
Cincinnati had the number one pick that year, and there
were rumors that the Royals were going to select me
first. How true that is, I don’t know. Back then the
AAU teams were popular – teams like the Phillips Oilers
and the Wichita Vickers Oilers had some of best talent
in the country playing for them – and at the time AAU
ball was an option. The league played a fifty game
season, and you were trained in a management area of the
company sponsoring the team. It was a great way to get
in the door and start a career. Cincinnati called me
before the draft and wanted to know if I’d play pro
ball. I gave them a number, but they made it clear that
they wouldn’t pay that kind of money. So there was
supposed to have been a trade before the draft – I say
‘supposed’, because in those days the deals weren’t
always made public – in which Detroit sent a player and
money to Cincinnati, with the understanding that the
Royals wouldn’t take me or trade away the first pick.
Whatever happened, the Pistons selected me with second
pick and I was off to Detroit.
One of your teammates that first season was Early Lloyd
who, earlier in his career, became the first
African-American to play in an NBA game. Please tell me
a little about Mr. Lloyd.
Well,
after graduating from college I got married during the
summer and moved to Detroit. I met Earl in training
camp – he was a veteran who’d been in the league for a
number of years, and I was the rookie trying to take his
playing time. But even though we were in competition
for minutes, Earl took me under his wing and spent a
great deal of time teaching me about the pro game. He
was truly my mentor. We continued our friendship after
our playing days were over, keeping in touch by phone
and visiting occasionally. My wife and I were at his
hall-of-fame enshrinement ceremony, and we were guests
in his home not long after that.
In the early days, Red Auerbach was famous for taking
his team on preseason barnstorming exhibitions
throughout New England. What did the Pistons do to
prepare for the start of the regular season?
We
had training camp, played ten exhibition games, and that
was it. When I moved on to Boston, the Celtics were
still doing those barnstorming tours even though Red was
no longer the coach. One time we played games on
twenty-one straight nights. But as grueling as all of
those games were, they always paid off in terms of a
competitive advantage. The Celtics were the most
well-conditioned team in the NBA..
