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

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.

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

We lived in Yorkville, which is located on the East End of Manhattan. It's further east than Hell's Kitchen, and back then it was the kind of place where the roaches and cockroaches were big enough to carry away small children.

There were riots in just about every game we played with Syracuse.

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

We had a strong relationship with Walter Brown, and felt that he was the best owner in the league.