Allen: Going to See Dave

Published by SURFACE, 1994 1 Magazine, Vol. 10, Iss. 3 [1994], Art. 5 GOING TO SEE DAVE 0

By l11el R. Allen

Some g amed you ne~er forget. BecaUde of what happenr1. BecaUde of who you're with.

know it was in November they had not lived. And because I can­ into the nig ht, the seniors grinded for 1966 w h e n we drove west not remember about the sky, the car, A 's. A 's m eant grad school, another from Syracuse, straight out the landscape we passed, I trust what y ear deferred . May be the war would I Route 90, head ed for D etroit, remains, the memories that have sur­ e nd. M eanwhile a n ew record had 600 miles distant. But I do not vived more than 27 years. bee n set for American casu alties in r e m e mber w h eth e r the sun It was a t im e when the w o rld Vietnam, n early a thousand d ead and shone or w h ether it rained . I do not beyond Syracuse University seem ed wounded in September. In that time, remember the car we rode in, though ringed with ba rbed w ire, ready to trip in that place, we drew com fort from in that car I watched morning turn to us up. T hat fall I li ved in a fraternity sports. These were the days of Floyd night. Bernie doesn't remember any­ house, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sammy. The Little and Larry Csonka . And though thing about the car either, except h e house faced the dy ing e lms in D ave had graduated in June, in that knows it wasn't his; h e ha d no car . Thornden P ark a nd was low -slung, house we continued the day s of D ave N either did I. That leaves P au l a nd modern, institutional, feeli ng curiously Bing , our fra t ern ity broth e r, our C la ude, a nd I can ask neither for both like a motel with two floors of rooms friend. have died. Perhaps, if they had lived, running side-by -sid e down ha ll ways. In O ctober D ave p layed his first w e could h ave seen each o ther from Inside that house, anxiety clung to the regu lar season game as a time to time, and told this story, told it seniors like mist. The University was D etroit P iston. I nside the h ouse, we often enoug h so there would be nei­ sending grad es and class rankings to could not pick up radio reception of ther need nor d esire to write it. But d raft boards; behind closed doors, late t he game against the Cincinnati Royals

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SU'.J 1966 team photo included Jtudent mana,qer (back row, far left) and p!ayerJ Da11e Bing (22) and (35).

and its great star, . So we sat in darkened cars, e ngines off, radios on, the an­ nouncer's voice drifting in and out as if, from time to time, a pillow covered his microphone. Whe n the game ended, car doors opened, their lights flash­ ing quickly, like fireflies, then the doors shut, and we stood unbe li eving in the dark. had scored no points. On winter nights whe n Dave played for Syracuse we had trudged through the Ia ugher w hose laughs quickly snow and the slush, crowd- strong, that s upple, to be so turned to thigh-slapping giggles. His ing into Manley Field House, 5,600 of enriched by a talent he could enrich face was round and his forehead, high u s, squ eezing elbow to elbow on everyone watching. He seemed to float and w ide, protruded just a bit and he bleachers, so close to the players we above the rim. And he took us with wore his glasses on a strap because he saw b ruises turn purple w h e n an him. couldn't see w ithout t h e m and h e elbow landed. This was long before the When he left Syracuse, Dave held always wanted to be ready to leap into Carrier Dome and its 30,000 fans, the SU records for most points in one a game. before the Big East and ESPN and so season, career points, points in a game, They met in the early fall of 1963, many years of televised games and so and most assists. In his senior year we Claude's freshman year. Though not many tournaments the games pile one had watch ed him average nearly 30 on scholarship, he had tried out for onto the other, losing their shape and points a game. Standing in the dark freshman football, w here he suffered a texture, their capacity to stir memory. parking lot, our radios clicked off to head injury during practice. H is play­ But if you saw Dave Bing play, you the announcer, we asked : How ing days, except for touch, had ended. remember. He stood 6-foot-3. His skin could such a player be so humbled? Claude and Dave had roomed togeth­ was smooth and brown, and he played H ow could Dave Bing score no er. Claude was t h e son of Buddy at Syracuse for th e most part with points? We thought: If his transition Young, a great a nd famous football w hite players from small cities and beyond the University could b e so player. Growing up, C laude had small towns. His game, formed on the painful, w hat, then, would become of known too many famous athletes to be playgrounds of D .C ., forever changed the rest of us? in awe of D ave; he jostled and needled Syracuse basketball. As a collegia n, his him and they grew close. hair was cropped close, almost shaved; la ude Young said we Basketball practice h ad not yet you could see sweat gliste n on his would go a nd see started, so Cla ude and Dave tossed a s ca lp beneath t h e lig hts . He wore Dave. Claude was a football across the grass, Dave the pic­ number 22. Later, as a professional, he year younger than ture of athletic elegance, Claude know­ grew an Afro and mustache and side­ Dave, but as Dave ing he was not, his eyesig ht so poor burns, but t his was the young Dave, later said, "This was a he'd not pick up t he ball's flight until it his features d e licate, almost pretty, time w hen black students noticed each was nearly upon him, a nd his hands with a long , lit h e , muscle d body. other." It would have been impossible would fly ope n, as if s natching a t a Before we had heard of ha ng time, not to notice Claude. He stood maybe bird. They shared religion: Both were Dave showed us, a nd we could only 6 feet and his hair was cut close to the Methodists w ho worshiped together imagine w hat that felt like, to be that scalp. He was a talker, a teaser, a on Sunday s in H endricks C hapel. And

20 Published by SURFACE, 1994 SYRACUSE UNIVERS ITY MAGA Z I N E 3 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 10, Iss. 3 [1994], Art. 5

DaPe :1 father

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reJpect e''er!JOile; they shared geography: Claude lived in in Maryland or D.C., Claude coaxed Baltimore, Dave in D.C., and in those three or four of his fraternity brothers cities each left a sweetheart. They sat into driving south; his mother fed them up nights listening to Motown. And, in it ll'a,l people, grits and sausage. a way that is hard to measure, they That fall Claude roomed w ith Paul were destined to be friends by up­ Wandner, dark-haired, quiet, shy, a bringing and temperament. In a racial­ thinker, a reader, who, though he ly slippery time when Stokely Car­ lacked the skills, loved sports. Yes, michael thundered "Black Power" at Paul would go to Detroit. college rallies, both men possessed the not race, tluzt Bernie Fine, my roommate, would gift of seeing you from the inside out. go, too. Bernie was president of the This was when interracial rooming was fraternity , and he seemed older than rare in colleges, but Dave Bing, who the rest of us, a father superior, dishing had seldom played with or against out fines and reprimands when we whites in D.C., roomed with a la nky 1nattered. spoke out of turn a t m eetings. He white boy from Lyons, New York, expected the house in order, he wanted named Jim Boeheim. to win awards for highest academics, Dave's father, Hasker, worked con­ he wanted to win intramurals. He was struction. He told his son to respect strong and powerful, toughened in everyone; it was people, not race, that play er's number for the first time: Brookly n, a prodigious blocker on the mattered . He told him nothing came Buddy Young's 22. He said, "All any house football team, giving the quarter­ easy . H e told him to earn his way, man d eserves in life is the chance back time to find Dave streaking down every day. to prove himself, nothing more, noth­ the sideline, or Claude, blinking furi­ Claude's father, though only 5-foot- ing less." ously and waving his arms over the 4, was one of the first famous black Dave brought Claude into the fra­ middle. H e became the manager of the athletes in America. He was the first ternity, a house filled mostly with varsity basketball team, sitting on the professional black athlete to room with Jewish boys from Long Isla nd, bench, seeing every game Dave played, a white man, and w hen he quit play ing, Brookly n, Manhattan, New Haven, brooding over the play ers' well-being, a decad e before Claude came to and Rochester. On holidays and when slinging towels over their shoulders, Syracuse, the Baltimore Colts retired a Syracuse played footba ll or basketball taking care of them as he did everyone he liked. Dave was two years ahead of me at Syracuse, nearly three y ears my elder, and because of this we were not close the way h e was with Claude and Bernie. But I was close to Claude and Bernie a nd their friendship with Dave grafted onto me. If Claude and Bernie were going, then I was too.

e left on a Thursday, November 17. That nig ht the Pistons had a n awaygame, and we wanted to b e a t Dave's house in time to watch it on television. H e had yet to start a game. H e played for a

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ALLfivefriendJ met again in Augwt in MaryLand to ceLebrate CLaude and Diane J weddin.9.

team whose previ­ court." Tom VanArsdale, ous season was one the other guard, was of the worst in NBA white. With Dave start­ history. Neither the ing tonight, it was city nor the team Miles' turn to sit. had wanted Dave. Eddie Miles smiled. Instead, they had co­ "I knew Dave had to veted a local hero, start. He's too good to sit on , All­ $5,000 the bench. But I thought Van would American from the raise." We told him we be the one to sit, not me." University of Mich­ had listened to his first game in dark We stood together, Claude, Paul, igan. He was bigger, cars. He said early in that game he had Bernie and me, in Cobo Arena. For the stronger, a nd would draw more people tried for a tip-in and had knoc ked first time when they announced the into Detroit's Cobo Arena. The New Oscar Robertson to the floor. starting team, Dave ran out onto the York Knic ks a nd the Pistons had "I was halfway back up the court floor, d ressed in royal blue. About tossed a coin for the rig ht to draft before I realized what I had done," he 5,000 people were there and before the number one. The Knicks won and said. "I panicked. I wanted to go over game the announcer reminded every­ selected Russell. The Pistons, unhappi­ and say, 'Please Mr. Robertson, I'm one, "On Wednesday Cazzie Russell ly, settled for Dave Bing. In the sorry.' He came dribbling up the floor makes his first appearance at Cobo Pistons' team program that season was a nd headed right for me. I knew I was Arena." a picture of "Rookie Sta r Cazzie in for it that night. I was right." Perfection, or something close to it, Russell." Claude felt many of Dave's H e said t h e awe h e h ad for t h e came to Dave that night. H e played early struggles had been because he Cha mberlains and Robertsons was w ith a bandon, as if he were back at was trying too hard to make Detroit starting to wear off. ''I've been too Manley Field House in a game against forget Russell. anxious," he said. "I can't get over how Colgate. His shots poured in, from the We drove up to Dave's house on these big men can be so quick. I've had corners, from the key , he drove for Prest Street in the dark. At Syracuse, to change my style. I've had to shoot layups. Eight times he stole rebounds he had lived with his wife and daugh­ harder, a nd quic ker. This is why I from forwards a nd centers. Once he ters in a tiny apartment in married stu­ haven 't played as well as I know I leap ed over 6-foot-8 Marvin "B a d dent housing . Now he h ad a pretty, can." H e said once he drove to the bas­ News" Barnes and Barnes nudged his three-bedroom house on a quiet subur­ ket and smashed the legs out from unde r him. Dave ban street with lots of trees. I marvel, ball back in his face. "He said, 'Don't cracked to the floor, and lay still. He all these years later, at his wife, Aaris, go and try to embarrass me."' rolled over and rose slowly, and when greeting us, four college boys with duf­ It was delicious stuff, a nd I sensed h e shook his h ead and stayed in, the fel bags, her with a two-year-old and he had been waiting to talk about these crowd rose and cheered and shouted an infant, making us feel at home, find­ first days, w hen, for the first time, he his na me. On this night, he ha d be­ ing the sheets and blankets, as we had struggled, had been doubted. come a Piston. Their Piston. On this sprawled in front of the television. The game that night was against the nig ht t h e city stoppe d fantasiz ing D ave scored 20 points that night and . J erry W est, about Cazzie Russell. the Pistons won. I heard his footsteps E lgin Baylor. Dave DeBusschere, the When D ave left the gam e in the at 2 a.m., his door quietly opening as Pistons' player-coach, had told D ave final moment s, he had scored 35 he slipped into his room. he would get his first start in front of points. Again everyone stood. We had On Friday he showed off the house Detroit fans. n ever sat down. I doubt we w ould a nd yard, the tree-sh a d e d str eet . In the late afternoon, Eddie Miles, a have said this but I think we felt, I felt, H e was m a king $20,000 t hat y ear Pistons g uard a nd one of t he ir few in some mysterious way we had re­ a nd said if the Pistons m a d e the stars, .drove to pick D ave up a nd take turned the favor of his brilliance, had playoffs h e'd make anoth e r thou­ him to the game. Miles told us tha t restored to him his ease, his confi­ sand. "If I make rookie of the D a ve had not sta rted b ecau se "you dence, his zest; we ha d carried our year," h e said, ''I'm asking for a have to have two w hite players on the memories of that D ave with us from

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SYRAC U S E UN IVER S ITY M A G A Z INE Published by SURFACE, 1994 5 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 10, Iss. 3 [1994], Art. 5

Syracuse. For a few hours on a Detroit n the fall of I993 I went back nig ht we had no future to fret over, to Syracuse for the first time. I only the knowledge that Dave h ad do not know w hy I had not given us, in return, his greatest game. gone before. It is so easy to lose touch. I came w ith D anny , my ave's season e nded, 8-year-old. I was bringing him then C la ude, P a ul, to the Syrac use vs. Boston College and Bernie graduat­ football game. But I had really come to ed, and in August we see Bernie, now SU's assistant basket­ a ll met again, in ball coach , to ask him if he remem­ Mary la nd, to see bered that night in Detroit, 1966. And Claude marry. I remember Claude I wanted to walk across the Quad w ith hopping from friend to friend, a smil­ Danny, wanted him to join the surge of ing, happy man. He'd been hired by people hurry ing to the game, b ut it Paine-Webber to be a stockbroker in rained so we parked close and hustled training a nd soon h e would take toward the Dome. Diane, his bride, to D.C. to live. I see We sat behind the end zone. It was a myself at t he wedding ha ng ing o ut hig h-scoring game w ith lots of action with Paul, both of us shy in crowds, in front of us. We ate hot dogs, drank shaking hands with Claude, hearing his Claude just said he was tired . Later he sodas, and when the game ended we happiness, his plans, and seeing Dave, saw a doctor a nd the doctor found descended a stairway and staring at us now NBA rookie of t h e year. But I lymph oma t h at n either drugs n or was a life-sized portrait of Dave Bing. write this knowing w hat li es ahead. prayers could stop. His daughter was "Dad," my son ask ed, "was he as In the fall Paul went to Washington, 6, his son, 4 . good as M ichael Jorda n?" too, to law school. But something went I was living in Maine then, cut off by I said to me he was the best because wrong, as it did for so many in those time and distance from old friends. On he was a friend. days, w hen the barbed wire drew too New Y ear's D ay, I was watching t he T hen we walked across the campus close. Drugs took him, he dropped out, Ora nge Bowl w h e n I h eard the in the drizzle, found our car and drove and one day, stoned, he burned his leg announcer say his prayers were w ith to see Bernie, and I tried to tell my son badly. To save his li fe t h e leg was Claude Young, Buddy's son, who was as much as I could remember, as much amputated. He entered drug rehab, gravely ill. as he could unde rstand, about fou r and, as t he months passed, he grew Dave remembers this: "I was playing friends w ho once drove west to see a stronger. His life was coming around, a TV game against the Knicks. Diane basketball game. I tried to tell him w hy he was ready to return to school. In the called me. If I wanted to see Cla ude some games y ou never forget. • summer, as a reward, he traveled to alive, I needed to come down . I flew to Europe. He was in Greece on some D.C. that evening. I drove to his home. isolated is land when a pain tore H e couldn't see. H e knew I was there. through his side. A doctor told him he He knew he wasn't going to make it. could get a helicopter for $200, or a J ust the two of us for half an hour, one MeL R. ALLen iJ ferry. Unaware of w hat was wrong, on one. I left to go to my mother's Jenior editor of Paul chose the ferry, and somewhere house. Before I could get there he had Yankee magazine. out at sea on the way to Athens, his died." He earned a dual appendix burst. D ave p lay ed one more season w ith degree f ro m the Cla ude drove from W ashington to the Pistons, then w a s traded to the Co LLege of ArtJ Long Isla nd for the funeral. T he next Washington Bullets, and play ing in his and ScienceJ ano summer, the summer of 1974, he visit­ seventh a ll-star game, in front of his t h e N e who u Je ed Dave in Detroit. They p layed ball hometown fans, he was na m ed most Schoo L in 1968. and tennis and took a sauna, and Dave valuable player. Cla ude would have Thi.J i.J hi.J Jenior complimented him on losing weight. loved that. c!aJJ picture.

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