In whatever sport of field of endeavor you are interested, you should do whatever is necessary to compliment your God-given talent with proper mental preparation so as to do "the best you can." The criterion should be to fully exploit your potential rather than to win at any cost. What more could anyone ever ask of you than to be the best you possibly can?

Every jock gets up and tells the world how lucky he is. But I feel that I may be the luckiest one of all in terms of timing and being at the right place at the right moment-even though, for the last 30 years, I was told I was born 20 years too soon, for obvious reasons.

My biggest win was getting the meal money bumped from $5 to $7.

That seemed to be the case with most of the teams based in the smaller towns - the fans were more rabid, and they wanted to literally kill the opposition.

The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.

Race wasn't an issue. My family was French, but Yorkville was a melting pot of races and cultures.

Cooper was my road roommate, and also happened to be the first African American player drafted by a National Basketball Association team.