Cavs once held training camp at Lakeland

In the fall of 1971, two fairly new entities connected.

The Cavaliers were in their second year of existence as an NBA franchise.

Lakeland Community College was in its fifth year of existence, and its athletic center barely had the proverbial ribbon cut.

They had that bond, and for four seasons to follow in the early 1970s, they came together for a unique partnership of mutual benefit: Lakeland was the training camp site for the Cavs.

Fans of a certain age will recall those days in the 80s when the Browns would conduct training camp at Lakeland, but it wasn’t the first Cleveland pro sports franchise to have that arrangement.

Fifty years ago in the summer of 1971, the Cavs were in search of a new home for their September training camp.

Lakeland athletic director Dave Poorman knew former Cavs assistant Jim Lessig from their days in Canton and connected when Poorman heard about the Cavs’ search. At the end of June, Cavs officials visited for an inspection.

Lakeland officials laid out their intention, should they be chosen, to have the facility ready to go for the team on time. Although the building of the facility was coming to fruition, the inner workings were still ongoing.

“All we promised them in June were locker rooms, showers, a basketball floor and baskets,” Poorman told the Painesville Telegraph in a September 1971 story.

The Cavs made little in the way of promises, either, requesting Lakeland keep daily contact to provide updates on how the facility completion was going.

In August, the Cavs announced Lakeland was chosen over “several” other sites.

“They said we simply outhustled everyone else, that we made them feel welcome,” Poorman said.

The hustle was only beginning, however.

Five days prior to the Cavs opening training camp, Lakeland’s gym didn’t have varnish on the hardwood floor. There were no baskets installed on the fiberglass boards. There were no bleachers, no scoreboards, no lockers. The showers were installed, but had no water.

All of those issues were resolved by the time the Cavs opened camp.

In order to handle the locker issue, Lakeland brought in old U.S. Army green lockers as a temporary fix.

“We were all pushing brooms Sunday night,” Poorman told the Telegraph, a crew of construction workers, students and coaches.

As for the team, Cavs coach Bill Fitch was tasked with cutting his second-year franchise’s roster from 19, six of whom were rookies, to 12 for the season.

Butch Beard had been selected in the expansion draft the year before from the Hawks, but was fulfilling the last three months of a twoyear hitch in the Army. In order to participate in the Cavs’ training camp, he had to take a 30-day leave.

Hopes were high for the team’s No. 1 draft choice, the heralded Notre Dame star Austin Carr — although Carr had his own challenge aside from his rookie NBA campaign, having had surgery for a broken ankle over that summer.

Walt Wesley, the elder statesman of the team at 27, had led the Cavs in scoring and rebounding during their expansion season the year prior. He was actually second in scoring among centers for the last 30 games that season to Lew Alcindor.

Bingo Smith also appeared to be a building block, having come on the second half of that campaign. He showed up to Lakeland at 207 pounds, 20 under his playing weight from 1970-71.

The Cavs were also hopeful to have a draft steal in their other All-American guard besides Carr. Charlie Davis, the reigning ACC player of the year at Wake Forest, was drafted in the eighth round. Most of the league passed on Davis, presuming he would sign instead with the New York Nets of the ABA.

“The Nets theorized that since I was a poor Black boy from Harlem, they would offer me as little money as they could and that I would accept it,” Davis candidly shared with the Telegraph. “I waited until the Cavaliers drafted me. They made a fair offer and acted in my best interests.”

Davis came to camp admittedly out of shape, after his Aug. 28 wedding. But he found his conditioning and led the Cavs’ rookie teams in weekend scrimmages at 21 points per game.

The squad was separated by rookies and veterans, because, according to Fitch, the rookies “have much more to learn, and it takes much more time.”

Camp was closed to the public the first week, but was opened to spectators for sessions the following week.

Fitch was impressed, all things considered.

“The people at Lakeland have done everything they could to make us welcome,” he told the Telegraph. “Most community colleges prefer to sit on their haunches and grow old with the community. But this college is really moving ahead. Dr. (Wayne) Rodehorst is the kind of a man who says, ‘If it can be done, let’s try it.’

“The thing that impresses me is that they are young and we are young and we are both eager.”

One massive setback at Lakeland came when Carr reinjured his aforementioned surgically repaired ankle and would have to miss a minimum of eight weeks.

The product for Year 2 was slightly better than Year 1, as the Cavs won 23 games, an eight-win improvement over their expansion season.

As they returned to Lakeland in 1972 for camp, the arrangement between the Cavs and the school was having mutual benefit.

“Any new school has difficulty getting an identity,” Lakeland assistant basketball coach Wil Shuster told the Telegraph. “People who follow the Cavaliers may never have heard of us before the Cavs started training here.

“It’s given us a lot of publicity and associates our own program with basketball as it is played on the professional level. We’re a young school, and the Cavaliers are a young team, so we can relate to one another.”

The only drama surrounding that second year at Lakeland for Cavs’ camp came through the presence or lack thereof for a name that would become synonymous with the franchise.

Beard was dealt to the Sonics in that offseason in exchange for a 34-year-old high-scoring guard who was also employed as Seattle’s coach, Lenny Wilkens. Wilkens, however, was undecided on whether to report to the team.

Former UCLA big man Steve Patterson, is his second year with the Cavs, also expressed noted candor when he was asked how good the team could be that year.

“We’ve lacked experience,” Patterson stated to the Telegraph. “Without (Wilkens), I doubt we can be a contender. This team hasn’t even known what a 13-year veteran such as Wilkens looks like.”

Fitch, of course, was a bit more optimistic.

“The fans around here understood that it takes time to get better,” he said. “We’re still on our five-year program. We have to come up with at least one good NBA player a year.”

Players stayed during camp at the Sheraton Motor Inn adjacent to Lakeland. If a player made the team, the starting salary for an NBA player back then was $17,500.

The highlight of Year 2 at Lakeland was an early-October exhibition against the newly minted Kansas City Kings, who had moved from Cincinnati. Lakeland put 1,000 tickets on sale initially for $2.50 apiece, with a $3 charge at the door that night.

It was ugly getting there, and on the floor unfortunately, for the Cavs. They played exhibitions at Madison Square Garden that Tuesday, in Pottsville, Pa., on that Wednesday and didn’t arrive back in Cleveland until noon on that Thursday, hours before tipoff.

The exhibition drew a crowd of 2,300 to Lakeland for a 115-109 Kings victory. The teams combined for 53 turnovers.

Two aspects that were helpful: The Kings were coached by Hall of Fame guard Bob Cousy and led by another legendary point guard, Tiny Archibald. Archibald had 29 points and 19 assists.

Lakeland was guaranteed $1,000 by the Cavs, plus expenses for handling ticket sales.

“At least Cousy was here,” Poorman joked.

The Cavs would later have three more training camps at Lakeland, in 1973, 1974 and 1981.

Davis played two seasons in Cleveland but was out of the league by 1974. Smith played 10 seasons with the Cavs and has his number retired by the franchise. Wesley was traded to the Suns in 1972. Wilkens did eventually report, was an All-Star for the Cavs in 1972-73 and coached the team from 1986-93.

Despite the expansion product, though, the arrangement had a massive impact on Lakeland.

When the school opened five years earlier, there were 900 students and three sports. When Cavs camp commenced in 1971, there was an estimated 3,000 students and seven sports.

In the fall of 1971, two fairly new entities connected — and they made the other better in the process.

“No one could ever calculate the direct effect that the Cavaliers have made on this fast-growing school,” the Telegraph wrote. But two boys walked into the Dean’s office last week and enrolled, saying that if Lakeland was good enough for the Cavaliers, it is good enough for them.”