HALL of FAME plaintiff in Haywood v. National Basketball Association that eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. The court’s verdict that same year forced the NBA to cancel its rule that kept a player from entering the league before his college class graduation. This verdict is of huge importance to today’s players because Haywood says it enabled him to create wealth and opportunity in the NBA for the younger guys who got into the league as early entries. This includes players like Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. However, all this change didn’t magically happen without putting Haywood’s life and that of his family into total turmoil. During the time this law suit was underway, he called his experience brutal and life-threatening, even similar to baseball’s Jackie Robinson’s experience breaking the color barrier. Haywood left college at the end of his sophomore year and signed with the ABA’s Denver Rockets and led the league in scoring (30.0) and rebounds (19.5). He earned regular season MVP honors, AllStar Game MVP and Rookie of the Year in that one season with the ABA. But he paid a penalty for leaving school early. Even though he had been in college for an education, his own school, the University of Detroit, sued him for millions of dollars at a time when he says he wasn’t even making any money. Following his 1969-1970 season with the Rockets, Haywood finally joined the NBA when he signed with the Seattle SuperSonics. With Haywood still one year short of his college graduation date, the NBA said he wasn’t eligible to play
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and filed an injunction against him. So in 1970, with SuperSonics owner Sam Schulman, Haywood filed his anti-trust suit against the NBA. Recalling that time, Haywood says he was booed by the fans and had bottles, ice, balled-up programs as well as racial slurs thrown at him by fans at a number of NBA arenas. And then there were the public announcements that there was an illegal player on the court when he’d be escorted off the court and the arena premises. Intimidated by the owners, other players were afraid to talk to him – some turned their backs on him and some of the seasoned players targeted him on the court. The result? He was totally isolated. He’s not sure the guys playing today really appreciate what he had to go through, the sacrifices he had to make to change basketball for the better of every player. This unyielding pressure took its toll on Haywood and his family in several ways. After moving to the New York Knicks in the mid-70s, he met and married Somali high fashion model of the 70s, Iman. He was also introduced to cocaine and got hooked. Although it took him three years to kick his addiction, he doesn’t regret it or any other of his life experiences because they’ve made him who he is today. He and Iman divorced after 10 years of marriage and he eventually married Linda, his wife now for 23 years. Living in Las Vegas, he’s the owner of Haywood Group, LLC, which specializes in high-end floor instillations. Through it all, Haywood says his steadying influence has been God, as well as the women in his life – his mother and sisters as well as his wife and four daughters. Elected to the NBRPA Board of Directors, Haywood is still a man of action, still on a mission to recruit players, both current and former, to help their own – to join the NBRPA, to be active and get involved, and to lend their names to the organization. His dream of equality still drives him. In classic Haywood style, he says, “You got to do the right thing and set a good example.” Congratulations, Spencer, you deserve being in the Hall of Fame not only for what you did on the court, but for paving the way for a better life for future basketball payers.