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World B. Free Discusses His Induction to the Cavaliers Wall of Honor
by Joe Gabriele (@CavsJoeG)
3/22/22 | Cavs.com
This season, the Wine & Gold’s prestigious Wall of Honor ceremonies finally return to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse – and the franchise will officially celebrate this year’s on Saturday before the Cavaliers take on the Bulls.
After taking a pause during the COVID pandemic, the inaugural Class of 2019 – Nick Mileti, Bill Fitch, John Johnson, Wayne Embry and John “Hot Rod” Williams – will be joined by the incoming quartet from 2002 – Lenny Wilkens, Campy Russell, Gordon Gund, and the topic of today’s Wall of Honor profile – the indomitable World B. Free.
Lloyd Bernard Free was born in Atlanta and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he got the nickname “World” as a local hoops legend. On his 28th birthday in 1981, he made the name change official.
Drafted by Philadelphia in the second round out of tiny Guilford College in 1975, Free was an NBA All-Star in 1980 and played for four different teams, including the Sixers (twice), Clippers, Warriors and Cavaliers – acquired from Golden State in a trade for Ron Brewer back in 1982.
In 13 NBA seasons, Free – who finished with nearly 18,000 career points – averaged 20.3ppg. But maybe none of his high-wire acts were as impressive as the four (sometimes tumultuous) seasons he spent resuscitating a Cavaliers franchise that was on life support when he arrived.
The Wine & Gold fell on some dark days following the breakup of the “Miracle of Richfield” squad and finished 15-67 in the year before World’s arrival. But things began to change when the man with the trademark rainbow jumper began filling up the buckets in Richfield.
Free’s antics – and his much-publicized beefs with head coach George Karl – began turning things around, and the seats at the Coliseum began filling up, too.
World was the only player before LeBron James arrived to lead the Cavs in scoring for four straight seasons and he and Karl’s magnum opus with the Cavaliers came in 1985, when they turned around a team that had started 2-19 and eventually reached the Playoffs – falling to the eventual Champion Celtics in four bare-knuckle contests.
As he prepares to return to Cleveland for this weekend’s ceremonies, the man once known as the “Prince of Mid-Air” sat down with Cavs.com to talk about his time in Cleveland, that memorable postseason run back in 1985 and the infamous “helicopter story” from the day he re-signed with the squad …
Before the arrival of LeBron James, World B. Free was the first Cavalier to lead the team in scoring in four straight seasons.
Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE Getty Images
So, what is World B. Free up to these days?
World B. Free: I’m basically the ambassador for the 76ers basketball team.
And basically, that entails going around shaking hands and kissing babies. I do a lot of school speaking engagements for the youth and I do a lot of basketball clinics and things of that nature. So, I still get a shot up here and there!
I’m just having fun and keeping myself active.
Is that unique jumper still the same?
Free: (laughs) When they looked at my shot, nobody thought it was going to go in until it went in.
They said: ‘Wait a second. There must be something behind this.’ And I would them the reason I shot like that is when I first started, I couldn’t really jump as high as I did in my later years, I used to get it blocked all the time.
So, I had to bring it back just a little bit. I probably changed my shot five or ten different times before I got to that. And I perfected it and stayed with it.
What was the situation like when you got here?
Free: When I got to Cleveland, the franchise was almost dead, dead in the water. They were getting ready to sell that team; we didn’t even know if we were getting a paycheck.
I was traded from Golden State for Ron Brewer, and when I got here at the airport – normally when you get moved from place to place, there’s reporters around – but I had one reporter that came out.
It was a strain on a lot players, because we had guys coming through like a revolving door. You didn’t know who your teammate was gonna be the next week. It was a difficult situation.
But like I told that one reporter – and also the late, great Joe Tait – before I leave here, me and my teammates are going to get this franchise back on its feet.
Joe Tait said: ‘I believe you, World.’ And before I left, it happened.
What memories do you have from the Richfield Coliseum?
Free: The Coliseum was like a place out in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t a grocery store, a candy store – there wasn’t anything around there. You saw deer, and everything coming out of them woods. That’s what I remember about it.
It was in a place by itself. That’s why they call it the Coliseum, like the Roman days. You went out there to fight! And that’s what we did.
You had the ‘Miracle of Richfield’ there with Campy and Snyder, Jim Chones, Bingo. We played there when I was a rookie and I remember thinking: ‘Wow, what a great arena!’
It was big. It could hold a lot of people. It used to be live in that place!
What do you remember from that Boston series in 1985?
Free: I remember just to get there, we had to beat the New Jersey Nets – with Michael Ray Richardson – and I remember that last game to get into the Playoffs, and it was electric in that building. Electric!
After we won that game, I remember running up to George Karl and him running up to me.
Now, remember, we had been fighting each other throughout the year. He was an attitude guy, and I was right there with him. But we loved each other, and we respected each other. But we had to fight. It was like a marriage.
"When we got there, I remember Boston thinking they were gonna walk right over us. And it wasn’t gonna be that kinda party."
But after it was all over, we gave each other a hug. We respected each other for what we both brought to the table.
That’s what I remember about getting there. And when we got there, I remember Boston thinking they were gonna walk right over us. And it wasn’t gonna be that kinda party.
It was always a three or four-point game, nobody had double-digit lead in those wins. We were right there on the table with them. And there was a time where I thought we were gonna knock ‘em off.
I remember Dennis Johnson fouled me in the corner on one of my jump-shots near the end of one of those games and he said: ‘World, if you were on another team, you’d have gotten that call.’
And I thought: Damn! I know it’s like that – but wow!
There’s not a lot of information about the famous helicopter landing when you re-signed with the Cavaliers. Can you help us out?
Free: (laughs) Well, Harry Weltman wanted to do something special, something that had never been done before. And when he told me about it, I was floored because I didn’t realize they could do something like that.
So, I was flown from New York on the Gund brothers private jet. I hadn’t signed the contract yet. So, they flew me in – Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
And I got out from the airport thinking I’m going to take a cab somewhere. But they drive me around the airport and back there, there’s a helicopter. And it’s one of those helicopters where it looks like you could take a rubber band and wind the propellor up top. One of those old-days helicopters.
So, we’re up there, and I have my headphones on, because you can’t hear anything up there, and we’re flying low over the trees, and I’m scared as heck, because I don’t like flying anyway. And I ask the pilot: ‘How long you been flying?’ And he was like: ‘Aw man, I just started!’
Man, I turned yellow.
So, we get closer to the Coliseum, and I look down and I see all these people down there. The helicopter lands and some guy comes running out and rolls out this red carpet – and there’s Harry Weltman at the other end of it, smiling with a contract.
I’m still scared as heck from the helicopter flight. And I walked down to the end of the carpet, and I said to Harry: ‘Harry, if you didn’t want to sign me, you could’ve just told me. You didn’t have to scare me half to death.’
Harry said: ‘Come on, World. It’s showbiz!’
And I said: ‘Right on! I like it now!!’
How do you feel when people credit you with having saved pro basketball in Cleveland?
Free: It makes me feel great because Cleveland is a very knowledgeable town for basketball. And the fans, if you go out there and bust your head for them every night, they will back you. And I loved that about them once we got it going.
I remember the fans then were so, so excited for what was happening. Because they saw renewal. They saw basketball back in Cleveland. And that’s what I wanted to do there.
Cleveland fans are real. That’s what I love about Cleveland fans – there’s no in-between with them. Either they like you. Or they don’t like you.
It was a great time in Cleveland, going through what I went through there. And I appreciate the fans.
I’ve been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame out there, now the Wall of Honor. Now, I just need one more thing. I would love to see that “FREE” jersey go up – and have all my teammates sign it, and all of us -- go up there.
We had a bunch of characters on that team. But we all banded together. They let one person lead, and it was me. They gave me the green light and said, ‘Hey World, take us as far as you can.’
And I said: ‘Let’s go!’