Spencer Haywood’s long wait is finally over. His game finally got its due.
was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in voting announced Monday, 32 years after he retired. He joins former Nugget as one of the 11 members of the Hall’s Class of 2015. The two are only the fifth and sixth Denver players in history to get elected, joining Dan Issel (1993), David Thompson (1996), Alex English (1997) and Sarunas Marciulionis (2014).
Haywood, a 6-foot-9 former power forward who burst onto the scene in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, had the single greatest season in Denver pro basketball history, in 1969-70, when he averaged 30.0 points and 19.5 rebounds per game while leading the Rockets to a Western Division title. Only 20 at the time, Haywood was named the ABA’s MVP.
But, after a controversial beginning to his career, when he fought a landmark legal case in order to play, and troublesome finish to his NBA career when he battled cocaine addiction, Haywood, 65, had long felt that the world forgot about his game. In his mind, he had always been labeled a firebrand, a player known more for breaking rules, not records.
On Monday, though, his moment of validation arrived.
“I’m overwhelmed by it,” Haywood said in a phone interview. “How does this young boy from Silver City, Miss., population of 300 people in the whole county, come out of the cotton field all the way to the Hall of Fame? That could not happen anywhere in the world but in America. What a great country, to allow something like this to go on. It’s just wonderful.”
After his lone season with the Rockets, Haywood signed with the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics, a move that broke the league’s rule requiring players to be four years removed from high school before turning pro. His landmark case against the NBA, Haywood v. National Basketball Association, reached the Supreme Court, which voted in his favor in 1971, paving the way for high school players and underclassmen to enter the league early.
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His trail-blazing efforts changed the face of college and pro ball. But they came with consequences. He went against the establishment. He created change.
Looking back, though, he said it was all worth it. And Monday’s announcement is all the justification he needs.
“This is No. 1,” Haywood said of where the Hall announcement ranks among his top career moments. “When I went to the Olympics, that was the biggest thing ever at the time. You’re fighting for your country, and there’s something special about that. When I went to the Supreme Court, there was just so much turmoil and so many things going on in my head, I kind of hated myself for going. I thought, ‘Why did I put myself on the line for all this, with everyone hating me?’ (The Hall) is the culmination of the Olympics, the Supreme Court, all of my career. They would never talk about what I did as a player. This is it.”
Haywood holds ABA single-season records for minutes played (3,808), field goals made (986) and rebounds (1,637) and is still Denver’s franchise leader (in both the ABA and NBA) for most points in a season, at 2,519. He’s also the franchise’s leader in single-season win shares (17.1) and player efficiency rating (28.0), four points higher than the No. 2 guy, Alex English.
After 13 seasons in the NBA, with five different teams, Haywood retired in 1983, with 14,592 career points, 7,038 rebounds and an NBA Championship, with the Lakers in 1980.
He retired never thinking it would take decades to get in the Hall. But now — now that he’s standing alongside fellow Denver star Mutombo and 1968 Olympic teammate, Jo Jo White in the Class of 2015 — Haywood said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“That’s why I know that there’s a higher power in control of everything, and not me,” Haywood said. “Left up to me I would’ve screwed it up. I would’ve wanted to be in 23 years ago, and nobody would’ve paid any attention.”
Also elected Monday were 39-year NBA referee Dick Bavetta, three-time WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie, and three-time college coach of the year and current Kentucky coach, John Calipari.
“I’m having so much fun with coach Calipari,” Haywood said. “After all these interviews, he turns around says, ‘That guy! I would have had my players for four years if it weren’t for that guy right there.”
The 11 newest members of the Hall will be formally inducted on Sept. 10-12 in Springfield, Mass. For Haywood, the kid who found his way out of poverty in Silver City, Miss., it will the culmination of a decades-long wait for complete acceptance.
“My game got its due,” Haywood said.
Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or twitter.com/nickijhabvala
