Bobby Franklin remains a Point Park basketball icon 50 years later
From the playgrounds of East Cleveland to the concrete courts of Pittsburgh, Bobby Franklin Sr. became a legend in two cities. His Pittsburgh landing pad was Point Park University, where he’s still its all-time leading scorer and greatest basketball player.
In a recent reflective phone call from his home in Plum, Franklin told the strange tale of how he ended up at Point Park.
“I was watching Saturday morning cartoons with my brother, Michael. I got a random call to make a trip to Sharon, Pa., to visit a basketball tournament. I refused because they said I would be an alternate and wasn’t guaranteed a starting role.
“I refused the trip, but Michael convinced me to return the call and join the team bus headed to Sharon.
“Long story short, a team from New York needed a point guard to run their squad — they picked me — and Point Park head coach Jerry Conboy was in attendance. He liked mygame and the rest is history.”
He had honed his skills near his family home on the East Side of Cleveland, at the Harvard Playground on Benwood Avenue.
“The playground was our focal point. Not having a father in the house, the older guys at the playground helped mentor us. I didn’t get into organized ball until ninth grade. My best buddy, Marvin Bishop, encouraged me into playing and going out for the team. I ended up taking his spot on the team,” Franklin said, laughing.
As one of eight children in a single-family home with one bathroom, he praises his mother, the late Bernice Franklin. As a domestic worker with an eighth grade education, she encouraged Bobby to be his best. He did not get that from his father, Claude Franklin Jr.
“My dad never saw me play basketball. He was an Army veteran but also an alcoholic,” he said.
At home, with his seven siblings, he was affectionately known by his nickname, Butch.
Franklin, now 69, said he enjoyed athletics from his first scholastic years at Moses Cleveland Elementary. He went on to Robert H. Jamison Jr. High and John F. Kennedy High School, where he became one of Cleveland’s all-time greats.
He vividly recalls the December night in 1972 when he etched his name into Cleveland sports lore during a Friday night contest between the city’s two top teams, Cleveland East Tech and JFK. An unforeseen snowstorm threatened to cancel the game, but school officials continued the contest despite the 20 inches outside.
“We won the barn burner by 3, and I had 30 points. To this day I still have people ask me about that game,” he said.
Franklin credits his high school head coach, Jim Chambers, for his leadership.
Mark Phillips, 66, of Washington, D.C., was a sophomore guardforward at Cleveland’s Collinwood High School.
“I can attest to Bobby’s story. I was at that game, because all other games had been canceled. But they didn’t cancel this one because it was the top two teams in the state — a very important game, indeed.”
Phillips remembers Franklin running down the court with a large flowing Afro, similar to one worn at the time by Julius Erving.
“That game was historical,” said Phillips, a longtime federal government worker.
The summer before his freshman year at Point Park, Coach Jerry Conboy introduced Franklin to Jim “Dillie” McKinnon — a General Braddock High School standout who was already on the Point Park roster in 1973.
“Dillie was important to me because he introduced me to the Pittsburgh community of star basketball players. He introduced me to Connie Hawkins and Kenny Durrett and eventually, I played in the Connie Hawkins Summer Basketball League.
“There, I faced all the top hoopers from the Hill, Mon Valley, North Side, East Hills, South Side, Robert Morris,Pitt and Duquesne.” he said.
Franklin credits his 15 years of participating in the Connie Hawkins Summer League as invaluable in developing his basketball skill sets.
McKinnon said turned Franklin on to other local players like Billy Knight, the Knight brothers (Terry, Ronnie, Darryl, Byron and Devon); and Norm Nixon, the Duquesne University star who went onto NBA fame with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Bobby Franklin was one of the fastest men ever to play basketball,” McKinnon said. “He was also cat-quick. If he put the ball behind his back, he was already two steps ahead of his defender.
“Overall, he had great skills, could jumpout of the gym, and was a smart playerand a leader,” said McKinnon, who later served as Point Park’s sports information director and women’sbasketball coach.
He graduated in 1979 with a journalism degree from Point Park and is a retired Post-Gazette reporter.
But Franklin’s Point Park career nearly ended as quickly as it began. As a freshman point guard, he felt he got the blame for a loss to Steubenville College.
“At least that’s the way it felt after Coach Conboy reamed me out in the locker after the game. The next day, I decided to quit, transfer, whatever it took to get away from Point Park and Coach Conboy,” he said.
When his mother got wind of his plans, she spoke up.
“She said for me not to be a quitter. ‘Let’s give Coach Conboy another chance.’ The coach later explained that he wanted me to feel the pressures of a team leader, since the upperclassmen would graduate the next season.”
Franklin and Coach Conboy made amends and he went on to become the floor leader that his coach envisioned. He became Point Park’s all-time scoring leader with 2,020 points — a record that has stood since his graduation in the spring of 1977.
In the fall of his freshman year, Franklin met his college sweetheart, a Clairton girl named Jan Robinson. She became a Point Park cheerleader captain and a systems analyst major and eventually, his wife.
Franklin also found his business administration management major useful. While his wife had a long career with Westinghouse Electric, he was recruited to work for Los Angeles-based Mattel toy company as a sales representative. He retired in 2014with 37 years of service.
Though he once imagined a pro basketball career, Franklin accepted some advice from one of his best friends, Duquesne University standout and Macon, Georgia, native Norm Nixon.
He appeared in 1979 cult classic “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” and Franklin was to be an extra in the film. But his Mattel traveling schedule precluded him from a timely appearance at the Civic Arena movie set.
Nixon advised Franklin that the Mattel position could be a lifelong career and much more stable than the ups and downs of professional basketball.
“He told me, ‘You’re definitely good enough to play in the NBA, but Mattel can provide so much more stability.’ I took that to heart and without a doubt, he was right,” Franklin said. “No regrets at all.”
Point Park University president Chris W. Brussalis is another fan of Franklin.
“Bobby Franklin is an absolute legend at Point Park,” he said. “On the court, he remains among the very best Pioneers of all time, but that’s just one small part of the Bobby Franklin story.
“He’s a shining example of the type of alums we want to shepherd into the real world. He excelled on the court and in the classroom and his hard work led to a highly successful career at Mattel. That he remains a beloved member of our Point Park community decades after his graduation speaks to the kind of high-caliber person we are talking about here.”
Eddie Jefferies, retired sports editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier, said too few Pittsburghers got to see Franklin in his heyday.
“There’s no doubt Bobby’s one of the greatest players to ever play here. His only shortfall was that Point Park was a smaller college and didn’t have the drawing power of Pitt or Duquesne.
“Though not a big guy, he was an intelligent ballplayer. What he lacked in size, he made up in tenacity and will power. He was never intimidated. Though he was a winner, he was humble. He never disrespected himself, his teammates or his opponents — a special trait,” added Jefferies, 77, who was head coach of the Rankin Gangsters in the Connie Hawkins Summer League.
Franklin acknowledged he didn’t havethe size of other standouts.
“I was 5-10 and a little over 150 pounds, so I was not about trying to power my way at all. My game was purely based on speed. Speed kills, so I adopted a formula where I could manipulate my opponents by avoiding and leaving them stuck in their shoes.
“Without a doubt it was gift from God.”
Alex Johnson, 70, starred at North Braddock-Scott High School and Robert Morris University. He defended Franklin and his backcourt-mate, Nixon during their Connie Hawkins’ years. Franklin’s team, The Force, also included WPIAL high school all-stars Jonathan Marshall (Clairton) and Clarence Hobson (Schenley).
“I give Bobby credit. He was a true competitor. His quickness and speed was unmatched,” said Johnson.
Ron Richards, 61, the former head coach of Plum High School’s basketball team, calls Franklin a mentor and a big brother.
“I hired him as a volunteer coach and my players immediately took to him. When he speaks, people listen based on his immense experiences in basketball and life.”
Franklin helped coach his son, Bobby Jr., but stayed on staff 14 years after the younger Franklin graduated in 2003 and starred at Clarion University.
“When Bobby Sr. retired, so did I,” said Richards, who now officiates high school basketball and girls lacrosse.
The Franklins are proud parents of two children, Bobby Franklin Jr. and Nicole. They also have two granddaughters, Mila, 2 and Maya, 2 months.
“Basketball opened the doors to a world I never knew existed,” said Franklin. “My mother encouraged us all about breaking the cycle of what lifestyle we were living at the time. In sports, I was always a gogetter and I implemented that same mentality in my corporate world with Mattel.”
Bobby and Jan Franklin were avid supporters of the 2023-24 Point Park team, which amassed a 30-3 record. The team is led by head coach Kevin Reynolds.
Keith Paylo, Point Park vice president of students affairs and dean of students, credits the family for longtime support of the university in all capacities, including financial assistance.
“The Franklins are gems. We’re proud of both of them as successful alums who represent Point Park University to its fullest,” he said.