A NEW BALL GAME: HISTORY OF LABOR RELATIONS IN THE NATIONAL OGÜN CAN ÇETİNER BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (1964-1976) A Master’s Thesis by OGÜN CAN ÇETİNER A NEW BALL GAME Department of History İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara August 2020 Bilkent University 2020 Bilkent To my family A NEW BALL GAME: HISTORY OF LABOR RELATIONS IN THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (1964-1976) The Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent UniVersity by OGÜN CAN ÇETINER In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA August 2020 ABSTRACT A NEW BALL GAME: HISTORY OF LABOR RELATIONS IN THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (1964-1976) Çetiner, Ogün Can M.A., Department of history Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Owen Miller August 2020 Professional basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) founded the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) in 1954. The first collective act of professional basketball players under the NBPA was a threat to strike just before the 1964 NBA All-Star Game. Eventually, they had achieved to get the pension plan that they hoped for many years. Larry Fleisher, the general counsel of the NBPA, and Oscar Robertson, the president of the NBPA, were determined to abolish the reserve clause in basketball. The reserve clause restrained the free movement of professional athletes for many years, and NBA players were the ones who established staunch struggle against it, in various ways, including litigation. The NBPA filed a class-action lawsuit, also known as the Oscar Robertson lawsuit, against the merger between two basketball leagues, the NBA, and the ABA (American Basketball Association) in April 1970. Thus, professional basketball players were able to prevent the merger. After five years, Judge Robert L. Carter ruled that the reserve clause was illegal. Eventually, the NBA and the NBPA reached a settlement and removed the reserve clause from their collective bargaining agreement. This thesis argues that the NBA players gained the right of free agency through strong leadership and collective bargaining despite proven customer discrimination. The NBPA’s actions demonstrate that it is possible to gain rights without a strike. Key words: Collective Bargaining Agreement, Free Agency, NBA, Oscar Robertson, The Reserve Clause iii ÖZET YENİ BIR MAÇ: AMERIKAN ULUSAL BASKETBOL LİGI’NDE İŞÇİ VE İŞVEREN İLİŞKİLERİ TARİHİ (1964-1976) Çetiner, Ogün Can Yüksek Lisans, Tarih Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Owen Miller Ağustos 2020 Amerikan Ulusal Basketbol Ligi’ndeki (NBA) profesyonel basketbolcular 1954’te Ulusal Basketbol Oyuncuları Birliği’ni (NBPA) kurdu. Basketbolcuların NBPA çatısı altındaki ilk toplu eylemi, 1964 NBA All-Star maçında hemen önceki bir grev tehdidiydi. Böylece, yıllarca bekledikleri emeklilik planını elde etmeyi başardılar. NBPA genel danışmanı Larry Fleisher ve NBPA başkanı Oscar Robertson, basketboldaki serbest dolaşımı engelleyen rezerv maddesini kaldırmaya kararlıydı. Bu madde, profesyonel sporcuların serbest dolaşımı uzun yıllar engelledi ve NBA oyuncuları buna karşı, hukuksal yollar da dahil, sıkı bir mücadeleye giriştiler. Oyuncular birliği, rakip iki basketbol ligi olan NBA ve ABA (Amerikan Basketbol Birliği) arasındaki birleşmeye karşı, Oscar Robertson davası olarak da bilinen, bir toplu dava açtı. Böylece profesyonel basketbolcular iki ligin birleşmesini engelleyebildiler. Beş yıl sonra Yargıç Robert L. Carter, rezerv maddesinin hükümsüz olduğuna kanaat getirdi. Nihayetinde, NBA ve NBPA anlaşmayı varıp, rezerv maddesini toplu iş sözleşmelerinden çıkardılar. Bu tez, kanıtlanmış müşteri ayrımcılığına rağmen, NBA oyuncularının güçlü liderlik ve toplu pazarlık yoluyla serbest dolaşım hakkı elde ettiklerini savunmaktadır. Oyuncular sendikasının eylemler, greve gitmeden de hak elde etmenin mümkün olduğunu göstermektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: NBA, Oscar Robertson, Rezerv Maddesi, Serbest Dolaşım Hakkı, Toplu İş Sözleşmesi V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Asst. Prof. Dr. Owen Miller, especially for his enthusiasm about helping my thesis and my aspirations for the last two years. I would like to also thank Asst. Prof. Dr. Kenneth Weisbrode, for his guidance and patience during the process of writing this thesis. His utmost support and meticulous approach to the study of history have been invaluable throughout my master’s degree. I would like to thank my examining committee member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Övünç Ongur for taking the time to read and evaluate my thesis. The Department of History in Bilkent University has provided me with a marvelous and challenging postgraduate experience. Many thanks go to Asst. Prof. Dr. Paul Latimer for his generous help anytime I need, Asst. Prof. Dr. Oktay Özel and Professor Özer Ergenç for many enjoyable Ottoman History courses, Asst. Prof. Dr. Luca Zavagno for his eye-opening Modern Europe course and Asst. Prof. Dr. David E. Thornton for teaching many aspects of methodology in history. A special thanks to Füsun Tevhide Yurdakul from Bilkent University Library for her patience— despite my endless requests—and for her assistance with resources. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues for all their help. Many thanks to my proofreader Marium Soomro, Widy Novantyo Susanto, Yağmur Fakıoğlu, Hamdi Karakal, Harun Çelik, Cihad Kubat, Burak Yemenici, Egemen Gürgen, Dilara Erçelik, Hazal Saral and Umer Hussain. I have learned many interesting things and they made all the courses I took much more enjoyable. I am also grateful to my longtime friends from the Republic, Ekin Erdolu, Serra Baykal, Yağızhan Yılmaz, Öncü Erge Morkoç, Emir Olgun, Halil Burak Yılmaz, Kıvanç Güldürür, for all their support throughout the years. Above all, I am deeply grateful to my family and Elif, whom I could not thank enough. I would like to thank my father and my sister for their love and encouragement. I would like to thank my mother for her being my source of inspiration to write every day. I could not have completed this thesis without them. Their never-ending belief in me is what makes this thesis possible. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iii ÖZET ............................................................................................................................ V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... ix GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................ ix DRAMATIS PERSONAE ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER I ................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Objectives .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Historiography .................................................................................................. 7 1.3. Resources and Methodology ........................................................................... 14 CHAPTER II .............................................................................................................. 16 BEFORE AND AFTER THE 1964 ALL-STAR GAME .......................................... 16 2.1. Sports and American Society .......................................................................... 16 2.2. NBPA Under Tom Heinsohn and the 1964 NBA All-Star Game ................... 20 CHAPTER III ............................................................................................................. 28 LARRY FLEISHER, OSCAR ROBERTSON, THE FIRST COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT, AND THE AMERICAN BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION ..................................................................................................... 28 3.1. Larry Fleisher, Oscar Robertson, and the Struggle of the African American Athlete .................................................................................................................... 28 3.2. The 1967 Collective Bargaining Agreement ................................................... 33 3.3. The ABA ......................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER IV ............................................................................................................ 39 BIDDING WARS AND MERGER MEETINGS BETWEEN TWO LEAGUES .... 39 4.1. What Happened Between 1967 and 1970 Around the NBA and the ABA ..... 39 4.2. Connie Hawkins .............................................................................................. 42 4.3. Merger Talks Between Two Leagues and Bidding Wars for College Talents 46 4.4. The Oscar Robertson Lawsuit and the 1970 Collective Bargaining Agreement ................................................................................................................................ 52 4.5. Spencer Haywood ...........................................................................................