Irony of ironies

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Living in Ohio, I figured you to be a big Cincinnati Royals fan; Jack Twyman, Maurice Stokes, Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas.

I have always been a Celtics fan. I guess it was because I played (I graduated from H.S. in 1969.) for a high school that for over 20 years was the team to beat in my area and I just associated with the Celtics because they were the best of the best.

But I do have a story to tell about the Royals (now the Sacramento Kings). Jack Marin (played at Farrell (Penn.) H.S. and Duke Univ.) was a second year (1967-68 season) player with the the Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) at the time but some how managed to get the Philadephia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) to play pre-season game with the Cincinnati Royals at Farrel H.S. (Farrell, Penn., is right across the state line from Youngstown, Ohio.)

About six of us from my H.S. team decided to go to the game that was played on a Sunday afternoon. I don't think the tickets cost more than $5. We we cocky SOB's back then. We decided that we should try to get autographs from the players before the game, so we walked right into the Royals lockerroom. Security was kind of lax back then, , and we were wearing our basketball letter jackets. There was Wayne Embry (I think he is still president of the Cavaliers), Oscar Robertson, and a few other players, sitting around in there uniforms, chatting, and smoking cigerettes, yes smoking cigerettes. There was even a cooler with beer in one corner, I kid you not. Our mouths just about hit the floor when we saw the scene before us. Oscar politely asked us if he could help us and we told him we would like some autographs. The players obliged and chatted basketball with us for a few minutes. Boy, how I wish I still had the game program from that afternoon.

MTD, Sr.

P.S. And Wilt was in his last year as a player with the Warriors