Spencer Haywood: the NBA star who opened the door for generations of prodigies

S pencer Haywood was standing in the Cincinnati snow, freezing his butt off. The stylish green and gold bellbottom Seattle SuperSonics warmups he wore did little for the cold wind, which would blow up the thighs thanks to the wide ankle hem. The short-sleeve top didn’t help much, either. The 1970s had just begun but Haywood’s career, remarkable as it was, as a former ABA Rookie of the Year and MVP, had stalled again. But for the future multi-time All-Star, who later dealt with substance abuse issues while in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, he wasn’t standing in the sub-freezing night because of any personal or professional infraction. No, he was in the process of changing the league forever. As such, he wasn’t even allowed to stand on the Cincinnati Royals court, opposite Tiny Archibald and Norm Van Lier, or go back into the locker room and get his street clothes. He was an “illegal player” and banned from the game before it started because, simply, he was in court fighting a bigger battle.

“‘We’ve got an illegal player on the floor,’ blah-blah-blah,” Haywood tells the Guardian, remembering back to his first year in the NBA with the SuperSonics. “There was another injunction against me. So, they put me out into the snow.”

Haywood, who in 1970 was the plaintiff in the now-famous Haywood v National Basketball Association court case, was pulled from the contest against Cincinnati while still in warmups. It was something of a sad, yet common occurrence for the 6ft 8in big man at the time. Start, stop, start stop. Play a handful of games, then get pulled. Why? Because he had the gall to leave the collegiate ranks after just two years. Haywood, who grew up in tiny Silver City, Mississippi, picking cotton for $2 a day, a