First off, what did you do with yourself after you were done playing?
I retired in ’84- actually I retired first in 1982 after an injury. I was looking to get into the stock brokerage business after the injury. But I was playing pickup ball in Long Island when the GM of a local team told me that there was an FIBA team that needed a player and I should go play for them. I got offered a two-year contract to play for them – a team in Spain. I had to decide to drop it all and go to Spain or keep looking to become a stockbroker.
I ended up going to Spain and played one more year. That kept my name floating around in the basketball circles. That was the first year FIBA teams ran themselves instead of FIBA running them. David Stern of the NBA and Larry Fleischer of the NBA Players Union talked to me then about utilizing my experience overseas to work as a liaison between the NBA and FIBA. The NBA had interest then in the overseas market. We continued to talk, and then in 1986 Cleveland was supposed to go to Spain to play in a tournament there. I was writing for a Spanish newspaper and got word that Cleveland wasn’t coming after all. They got to the airport but were told that NBA teams were not allowed to play overseas. Players were individually, but not the teams. That’s when FIBA told me they needed someone to help them represent their interests.
So what did they do?
They wanted to hire me as an ambassador. I became then the official representative of Spanish basketball in the U.S. After 25 years they let a lot of people go, in 2011. I was one of them.
I wanted to learn more about your journey to Pittsburgh as a refugee from Germany. Can you talk about how that transpired?
I was born in a refugee camp in Hamburg, Germany, after the war. My parents were refugees there from 1946 to 1951. They lived in the Ukraine under Soviet rule and felt things couldn’t get worse when the war started then to go to Germany. My family were farmers and Stalin forced farmers to give up 90% of their crop to the government. If they found out you lied they would shoot you.
The Nazis came through and duped people to work for them. My mother and father went to Germany – my mother volunteered and my father worked. After the war they weren’t allowed back to the Ukraine. So my parents stayed in Germany, hoping to get sponsored. Over those three years they had three kids. In 1951 the Ukranian Catholic church in Pittsburgh sponsored us. They got my father a job and we went to Pittsburgh. I was two, my brother was four and sister was six.
How did you develop a love for basketball?
I used to go to Robson Park – we lived close by and played basketball and pickup games in the street. We made up games like taking a peach stone and trying to hit it with a stone to push it to the other side of the street. The church at the time asked about our vocations as kids. I was religious and looked into the seminary that was in Stamford, CT. I went to the seminary and, every day for a couple of hours we had free time before dinner. My friends played basketball and asked if I wanted to play – I was tall and could shoot the ball pretty well. There was a teacher – John Santorega – at the seminary who also coached basketball and saw I had a passion for the game. Every Sunday there was a game of the week and I’d watch Wilt Chamberlain play against Bill Russell. John took me under his wing and helped me develop my shot and a pivot game. I’d try and copy Chamberlain and Wayne Embry, who I felt had a similar style of game as what I wanted to play.
When I went home, I’d go to the park and play. I had gotten pretty good and the coach at St. Casimir high school saw me play and wanted me to play there. He and my family put the full court press on me to leave the seminary and go to St. Casimir. It was just 200 yards from my mother’s house and had a very good basketball program, so it was very appealing.
How did that go for you?
We went to the city championship twice when I was there – lost to St. George’s both times. But I was seen by local colleges recruiting in the area – and George Washington recruited me. They had me fly there – it was the first plane trip I ever took and we flew over the capital, which was amazing. I was blown away. 15-20 schools showed interest in me but I was sold on George Washington. I had good grades and got a scholarship so that helped too.
I know you were drafted by both the NBA and ABA…?
The Phoenix Suns drafted me in round four with their second pick of the draft. I was voted best player in the Washington area when I was in college and was invited to the Portsmouth Invitational – a prestigious tournament for college players. Earl Monroe and Rick Berry had played there. I hooked up with a bunch of guys there like Benny Davis, Jim Larrañaga who now coaches Miami, Jimmy O’Brien and others. We played three games in the tournament and won all three by over 20 points and I was named the MVP. Phoenix was there and scouted me.
The ABA had actually drafted me before that – Dallas had drafted me in round two. I was excited but wanted to wait for the NBA draft. After the NBA draft I met with Jerry Colangelo- the Suns’ GM – and he told me they wanted to offer me a three-year no guarantee contract for $85,000 – with one caveat: I couldn’t take that offer to the ABA. If I did the offer was off the table.
So you took the offer?
I took the offer and did very well – I felt confident in the rookie camp. I went back and proposed to my wife. I wanted her to be with me but she came from a strict Catholic family – they wouldn’t have let her come if she wasn’t married. So we planned the wedding in just two months!
I went to Phoenix and Colangelo pulled me aside and told me he was happy with my play but they had to release me – there were other guys that just also played very well. But he asked if there was anything he could do for me.
What did you tell him?
I told him I was from Pittsburgh and that I wanted to see if he could get me into the Pittsburgh Condors camp. They had started up a week before but he got me in. They had their camp at RMU. And as luck would have it Jim O’Brien was there who I got along well with from the Portmsouth tournament. Mickey Davis too – his style fit perfectly with mine. It was a perfect fit and they offered me a contract for one year. It was a dream come true. I lived at my mother’s house on 19th Street and could walk to practice on 12th Street. Games were played at the Civic Arena and that was just a five minute drive away.
The Condors used to be the Pipers – but the Pipers moved to Minnesota. As a kid I used to go to the Pipers games with my brother. When the Pipers moved back they renamed themselves the Condors. We didn’t win much that year and people were still upset that they moved to Minnesota. So we didn’t get a lot of fans.
Who were some of the guys on that team?
John Brisker was a great player – just moody. He would beat you up in practice. He was like a mini LeBron James. George Thompson was a physical player – robust. Skeeter Smith was a good scoring guard. And Jimmy O’Brien was there until they traded him to Kentucky.
Jack McMahon was the coach and I really liked him. I was sad to see him go and get replaced by a coach that didn’t like to play rookies and wouldn’t play us. We played much less under him – sometimes we didn’t even travel to games because only 10 were allowed to travel as a team to games.
How did the NBA and ABA differ?
The NBA was more of a knock-down drag-it-out type of league. They were more physical the way the Knicks and Celtics played then. There weren’t many fast breaks. The NBA had the half-court offenses built for the big centers they had in the league then. The ABA didn’t have those guys – we looked to push the ball up the court more and shoot more threes. It was a more wide-open game.
What do you remember most of your time with the Condors?
Looking back, I shot 63% from the field. I had maybe my best game against the Virginia Squires and we beat them in Pittsburgh. But the team just didn’t make any money at the Civic Arena. The fans were still upset at the team and we didn’t win a lot. We played some games in high school gyms and became the U.S. Condors. The owners owned Domino Sugar which was based out of Connecticut so they had us play in New Haven to see if there was interest there. We played home games in Birmingham and Tucson – they were just hoping to get interest from other cities. But the team ended up folding.
I remember some moments, like when Brisker refused to come out of a game when we played in Altoona. I was sitting hoping to play, waiting for him as he told the coaches “No”. Brisker also got thrown out of games – he got into a fight and after he was thrown out he tried to fight the guy some more.
It’s funny, even though Dallas drafted me they never questioned me playing for Pittsburgh even though they owned my rights. When the Condors folded, Kentucky drafted me in the dispersal draft because I had some good games against them. They saw my hustle and took me with their first pick.
I know your son Wally had some terrific success in the NBA. Did you want him to play?
My one goal was not to take away his love of the game. He was playing Nerf basketball when he was two. He loved all ball-oriented sports and would go to pickup games with me when I played with other ex-NBA and ABA players. He tagged along and would shoot before and after games and watch us. Even when he and I played one-on-one, I tried to keep it competitive. I’d always have a handicap. When he was little I could only block his shots with my elbow. We’d change that to other body parts as he got bigger. When I went to the gym and played, he’d come with us and play. He used to shoot with his hands behind his head so no one could block his shot when he was young. And I’d pass to him at the end of games and nine times out of 10 he’d hit the game winning shot. Some things you just can’t teach.
Do you think Pittsburgh could support an NBA team today?
You’d have to look at the economics -do they have enough wealthy people who can afford those seat prices? They already have the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates. I’m not sure how much more you can expect them to spend on a sport. I think it would be really tough to make it work.