Twyman and Stokes story a hope for humanity

It’s the greatest story never really told.

Jack Twyman’s care for paralyzed teammate Maurice Stokes was the subject of a movie, though almost 40 years ago. It’s a subject familiar to many who know and are around the NBA. But its significance on NBA history and the absolutely remarkable humanitarianism of Twyman may make it one of the most important stories in NBA and American sports history.

Twyman, 78, a Hall of Famer who along with Wilt Chamberlain were the first NBA players to average 30 points in a season, died last week. And though Twyman last shot a basketball in the NBA 46 years ago, his influence and inspiration are perhaps as great as anyone who ever has played the game.

Twyman’s care of paralyzed teammate Stokes, one of the premier players of the first great era of the NBA, was a truly amazing story, the best sports story I’ve ever heard.

Twyman would become Stokes’ guardian at a time Twyman was not only playing pro ball for the Cincinnati Royals, but having a full time job selling insurance to support his family and care for Stokes and sharing local TV nighttime sports duties with Ted Kluszewski of the baseball Redlegs. After retiring, Twyman would become a national TV broadcaster for NBA games and a successful local businessman.

Has a teammate in any sport ever given more of himself and unselfishly to provide for a friend in need? It’s a model for every charitable effort over the years in sports. And at a time in the south when black teammates on the Royals could still not stay in the same hotels and eat in the same restaurants.

But beyond that, Twyman’s actions on behalf of Stokes were the foundation for the NBA to become a profession that included the care and treatment of NBA players.

Maurice Stokes (r) of the Cincinnati Royals talks over a few things with teammate Jack Twyman while resting in the hospital in 1958.
(Photo by NBA Photo Library/NBAE via Getty Images)

When Stokes became paralyzed from post traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury, in the final game of the 1957-58 regular season after hitting his head in a fall, the Royals were being sold. They offered no help for Stokes. Nor did the NBA. The league provided no health insurance or pension plan.

So Twyman began raising money for his care and the NBA players began the labor movement that has helped lead to the riches the game enjoys today with their simple act of defiance in threatening to boycott the 1964 All-Star game in Boston unless the owners finally considered benefits.

Twyman would say Stokes’ injury was an eye opener for everyone something of “There but for the grace of God go I.”

It was part of a coming together of the league, a true family of sport. The Kutcher family, who owned a resort in the Catskills in upstate New York, offered to host an annual charity game that became one of the great events of the NBA season for decades. The first one in 1958 to raise money for Stokes drew 65 players at a time there were eight teams and fewer than 90 players in the entire league. Wilt Chamberlain was playing for the Globetrotters in Europe and chartered his own plane to return for the event.

“I was the privileged one to be exposed to Maurice,” I remember Twyman saying when I once asked him about it. “I witnessed courage every day.”

Twyman was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983, and then he was the obvious one to make the speech for Stokes when Stokes was enshrined in the Class of 2004.

In that speech, Twyman marveled at Stokes’ courage. He said despite spending almost 12 years in the hospital, Stokes never failed to vote in a local, state or national election and happily did physical therapy daily for nine hours.

“Never in 12 years did I see him depressed or angry or ‘Why me?’ or ‘How did this happen?’” Twyman said at the Hall of Fame in 2004. “He looked forward to a new day every day. He was an amazing person. It was an unbelievable opportunity for me to be exposed to this man and see what he was made of. He inspired everybody who came in contact with him.”

And so did Jack Twyman.

Twyman was born in Pittsburgh and was your classic late bloomer. He didn’t even make his high school team until his senior year. But he would develop one of the first jump shots of the era. He went to the University of Cincinnati and would be drafted by the Rochester Royals in 1955 after their top pick, Maurice Stokes.

Now that was a player. Stokes was a rare 6-7, 240 pound athletic powerhouse in that era from little St. Francis in Pennsylvania.

“He was better than (Elgin) Baylor,” said former Bull Chet Walker, who is being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year. “I used to watch him all the time (growing up). He was physical and played like Baylor. He could put the ball on the floor and hang in the air. Could shoot. Tremendous player.”

Stokes was rookie of the year and would have a 38-rebound game that season. He had 32 points, 20 rebounds and eight assists in his first NBA game. In his second season, Stokes set an NBA record for rebounds. He would play just three years in the NBA, but in his third season almost averaged a triple double with 16.4 points, 17.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists as he was one of the best passers in the game. Stokes was third in the league in assists that third and what be his final NBA season. Hall of Famer Wayne Embry, a teammate, said he always used to tell Bill Russell the Celtic wouldn’t have half the titles they did if Stokes hadn’t been disabled.

That was what seemed like nothing special at the time, Stokes going over an opponent and landing on his head. Getting your bell rung, as they said then. Stokes was out, but regained consciousness and stayed in the game. It was the last one of the regular season. The team then headed for Detroit for the first playoff game. Stokes had 12 points and 15 rebounds, not a great game for him, and said he didn’t feel well. He became violently ill on the plane ride back to Cincinnati. They took Stokes to a hospital. He went into a coma and was paralyzed, not even able to speak. Stokes was 24.

Something had to be done as Stokes had $9,000 from his three years as a pro. Twyman simply said a teammate was in need, so he did something.

But it was a different era in many ways. Players all had other jobs to support their families, and if there ever was a love of the game era that was it.

“They carried their own bags, lousy transportation and accommodations,” recalled Michael O’Daniel, a Royals staffer from that era. “It was for the love of the game and to have a good time. Jack had a fulltime job selling insurance. And he was raising a family. But they were the people who helped build the league.”

O’Daniel said Twyman was a remarkably humble man who helped recruit Oscar Robertson to the University of Cincinnati and then gave up his role of top scorer for Robertson on the Royals.

“His scoring began to go down every year, and all I remember him saying was he’d do whatever he could to help the team,” O’Daniel said.

Embry recalls his rookie season and Twyman taking he and fellow rookie Bucky Bockhorn in and teaching them about the league. When Bockhorn blew out his knee to end his career, Twyman was the first in the hospital to be with him. He brought Stokes with him and Stokes consoled Buckhorn that things would work out.

But it was with Stokes that amazed even his teammates, especially since Twyman was the star and a perennial All-Star.

“Jack was there every day for him, the ultimate care giver,” recalled Embry.

Twyman would sit with Stokes and letter by letter help him relearn the alphabet so he could communicate with nods or blinks of his eye.

“He made him feel a part of the team,” said Embry. “He’d always invite us all to the hospital to see Maurice. When he was out of the hospital at Jack’s house we’d all come. Jack gave him his whole life and hope. He’d eventually utter (through signals) he’ll be back and help us win the championship. That kept him going that he always thought he’d be back playing with us.

“And remember this is the late 1950’s, early 1960’s Cincinnati. This wasn’t New York City,” said Embry. “I couldn’t even rent a place, eat at restaurants. The day of reckoning for me came after we got back from our 17 games in 18 days exhibition tour and I’m trying to rent a place close to the arena and the guy says they can’t rent to me.

“But it never was a racial thing with Jack,” said Embry of the white Twyman and black Stokes. “One time Spike Lee wanted to make a movie and Jack said he didn’t want to make it racial. Maurice just became part of Jack’s family. If it were me or any teammate, Jack would have done it. That’s who he was. Jack didn’t need any reason more than a friend in need. He used to say Maurice needed help, what else could he do? He was an amazing humanitarian. God in heaven, what he did was remarkable.”

Stokes died of a heart attack in 1970 and was buried back at St. Francis. He was 36. But what Jack Twyman and Maurice Stokes endured and became will never be and should never be forgotten. It’s truly a hope for humanity.

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Iguodala is perhaps the team’s most valuable player, though also long discontented. After last season, he blew off the meetings with management and when there was talk during the season of friction in the locker room toward Collins, local media identified Iguodala as the likely source of the talk. The expectation with Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner the team’s future backcourt that it’s most likely Iguodala would be used in trade. And Collins has made it clear the team’s priority is inside scoring and size.

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