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

Do your best when no one is looking.

Bob Brannum was my body guard on the court. He was 6'-6 and built like a bulldog.

I was literally fabricated over in France and born about six months after the boat landed at Ellis Island. This was the heart of the Depression. For the first 12 years of my life we lived in a terrible ghetto on the East River.

Kerner decided to trade my rights to the Chicago Stags, which sounded better to me than Tri-Cities, but the Stags folded up almost immediately.

I dribbled by the hour with my left hand when I was young. I didn't have full control, but I got so I could move the ball back and forth from one hand to the other without breaking the cadence of my dribble. I wasn't dribbling behind my back or setting up any trick stuff, but I was laying the groundwork for it.

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