The Popcorn Stand: Bill Sharman’s legacy of love
Even after his death, I keep peeling away the layers of Bill Sharman’s life. I continue to learn about his legacy. Sharman, a 1944 Porterville High graduate, died in 2013. I’ve written before Sharman is one of the most unassuming people I’ve ever interviewed when it comes to prominent people and athletes I’ve come into contact with in the professional sports world. And because of that Sharman doesn’t receive nearly the amount of attention other legends in professional sports receive.
I’m writing about Sharman because today is an important anniversary when it comes to breaking the color barrier in professional sports. It’s the 70th anniversary of that moment.
Jackie Robinson, Earl Lloyd and Chuck Cooper all played a role in breaking the color barrier in professional sports. And Sharman was teammates with all of them.
We all know Robinson, who on April 15, 1947, broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
But three years and 10 days later, the Boston Celtics Red Auerbach did something that was also considered astounding at the time. On April 25, 1950, Auerbach drafted Chuck Cooper, making Cooper the first black player drafted in the NBA.
Cooper wasn’t the first African-american to play in the NBA. Lloyd became the first African-american to play in the NBA on October 31, 1950.
Sharman and Lloyd were teammates at that time with the Washington Capitols. I’ve written about this before but Lloyd has talked about how he was touched greatly by Sharman’s small gesture. Sharman would give him a ride to practice.
Lloyd was the only player on the team who didn’t have a car. So Sharman offered to pick up Lloyd every day and take him to practice.
In a black neighborhood. In 1950.
Sharman admits he pretty much didn’t know any better. He admitted he was pretty sheltered growing up in the small town of Porterville and didn’t really know the magnitude of what it meant to pick up a black teammate in a black urban area and take him to practice.
But more than that to also let Lloyd ride around with him in the white part of town on the way to practice.
This is what Lloyd says about Sharman: “In my life, there were many good people who restored my faith in human nature. Bill Sharman is one I will never forget. In my early days with the Capitols we would practice at American University and Bill would drive me there and home every night. Do you understand” If he hadn’t, no one would have criticized him.”
Those words hung in Sharman’s gym. They just also happen to hang in the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the National Civil Rights Museum and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame of which Sharman is a member both as a player and coach.
Sharman also became a teammate of Robinson. In 1951, Sharman was called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sharman has the distinction of being ejected from a Major League game without actually appearing in a Major League game, the result of a bench clearing brawl.
Sharman was also on the bench when Bobby Thompson hit the “Shot Heard Round the World,” his game-winning home run against the Dodgers to win the pennant in 1951. Sharman and Thompson also became good friends.
Sharman went on to a legendary career with the Boston Celtics. Among his teammates: Cooper.
I have yet to find anything when it comes to the relationship Sharman and Cooper had, but I’m sure I eventually will.
And I’m sure if Cooper needed a ride, Sharman would have been more than glad to give him one. Charles Whisnand is the Porterville Recorder Editor. Contact him at cwhisnand@portervillerceorder.com or 784-5000, extension 1048.