美国国家公共电台 NPR Bob Cousy, 90, Still Rues The Assists He Didn't Make To Bill Russell

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The duo of Bob Cousy and Bill Russell was one of the greatest. They were the Tracy and Hepburn, the Rocky and Apollo of the basketball court. They could anticipate each other's play. They could put themselves into each other's mind and movements as they won six championships for the Boston Celtics in the 1950s and '60s and buttressed¹ a dynasty that would win eight in a row. Bob Cousy was the point guard listed as 6-foot-1 - doesn't sound basketball tall today - a white man who grew up the son of poor French immigrants in Manhattan. Bill Russell was the center, 6-foot-10, a black man born in segregated² Louisiana. They became teammates in 1957 just after Martin Luther King's Montgomery bus boycott³. And they would play together through turbulent times of the civil rights movement and in a Boston roiled⁴ by bigotry⁵. Gary Pomerantz, the historian and journalist, has written a book about the Cousy-Russell partnership⁶ and the regrets one of them has about plays that maybe he didn't make. It's "The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, The Celtics, And What Matters In The End." Gary Pomerantz joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

GARY POMERANTZ: A great pleasure, Scott.

SIMON: And from Worcester, Mass., Bob Cousy, one of the first members of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Thanks so much for being with us, Mr. Cousy.

BOB COUSY: Happy to be here, Scott.

SIMON: Gary Pomerantz, let me turn to you first. What, in addition to their sheer excellence⁷, what set apart this Celtics team in their times?

POMERANTZ: Well, we can look at the Hall of Fame and nine of them are members. That's almost two full rosters⁸. And, you know, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell - what was exquisite⁹ to watch, Scott, was Russell getting the rebound¹⁰, turning and throwing the outlet¹¹ past to Cousy, sometimes before, you know, Russell's feet had hit the ground, and then Cousy turning, taking that photograph in his mind of where players were. And he was the gold standard on running the fast break.

SIMON: Bob Cousy, the Celtics were integrated, black men and white men playing for the same team at a time so many other enterprises in America weren't.

COUSY: I'm 90 years old. I still, Scott, I cannot understand why you hate one person because of the color of their eyes or their skin or their hair and therefore you hate all people who have that color hair or - you know what I mean? It's so irrational¹², but I give the credit, really, to my Jesuit education. So when it came time to deal with it, in this case on a professional sports level, I was - at least my opinions and my attitudes were pretty much set.

SIMON: Gary Pomerantz, how did Bob Cousy and Bill Russell express different sides of this very talented group?

POMERANTZ: Russell spoke¹³ out about social injustice¹⁴. He was very rare among athletes of his time - of any time really - you know, at that time, Muhammad Ali, the boxer¹⁵, and Jim Brown in football and Bill Russell. He called out the NBA, properly so, for its racial quotas¹⁶ limiting the opportunities for African-American players. And he became fully¹⁷ engaged in the civil rights struggle.

SIMON: We should explain, you obviously spent a lot of time speaking with Bob Cousy. Bill Russell just doesn't - just doesn't talk to people these days, does he?

POMERANTZ: Well, you know, when he played games in St. Louis, for instance, he would hear the screams, the catcalls from fans - you know, black gorilla¹⁸, baboon¹⁹ - horrible racist²⁰ stuff. And at home in Boston, he faced the racist heat as well. There was one moment where vandals broke into his home, for instance, spray-painted racist graffiti on the wall and defecated on his bed - just horrid²¹ stuff. And Bill Russell would later say more than once that he played for the Celtics. He didn't play for Boston.

SIMON: Bob Cousy, did you know any of that was going on?

COUSY: Oh, yeah. Well, we were part of it, obviously, when it happened in public. We wouldn't sit there and discuss these issues, Scott. I think it was a personality thing that we couldn't - I mean, I never said to him - I was timid, he was angry. You know, neither one of us ever said after a game let's go and have a few beers together.

SIMON: And when you retired²², Mr. Cousy, a few years before Bill Russell did, he was deeply moved. He called you, I think, the best man he'd ever met, if I'm not mistaken.

COUSY: Well, you know, we shared - I didn't know that at the time. Guys don't have meaningful conversations, you know? They just don't. We mature later in life. That's why the - I hope the ladies take over the world pretty soon because we've kind of screwed it up for 2,000 years. But Gary knows - what was it? Fifteen years ago or so, Gary, I did an ESPN interview here at my house, and I don't remember too many details, but at one point in the interview, the question was about those days and about the racial conflict and how did we - you know? And I teared up responding to it. I started to say, you know, I probably should have done more. And you'll see, Scott. At 90, you'll start making your little list of everyone you want to apologize to before the end and...

SIMON: You wrote Bill Russell a letter a couple of years ago, I gather.

COUSY: I did. I had read a book, "Between The World And Me," a black father telling his son how to coexist in this racist environment. It was powerful. And I had - I wanted to do a mea culpa to Russ anyway. It was on my to-do list before the big basketball court in the sky. So I dropped him a note saying, Russ, you know, looking back on it, I should have done more to share your pain. I'm sorry I didn't. Please enjoy this book. It's very powerful. And that was it. Anyway, he didn't respond until about three weeks ago. The phone rang late at night, so I picked up and I heard this voice say, I'm calling to see how you're doing (laughter). And we talked - or I did most of the talking. So it was a difficult conversation, but I did say to him, Russ, I sent you a letter three years ago. You're a little late - whatever. And he said, no, we got the letter. Thank you very much, but I didn't read the book (laughter).

POMERANTZ: You know, most great athletes, as they grow older, embellish²³ and burnish²⁴ the stories they tell about themselves. You know, the fish they caught keeps growing and growing and soon it's a whale. But Bob Cousy is different. He's not doing that. He is admitting his flaws. He's even drawing attention to them. He's saying this is what I did, and his final declaration is, I did not do enough.

SIMON: Gary Pomerantz from New York and Bob Cousy, one of the greats of NBA history, from Worcester. Did I get that right?

COUSY: You did. Well done.

SIMON: Thank you. And the new book is "The Last Pass: Cousy Russell, The Celtics, And What Matters In The End." Thanks so much for being with us, gentlemen.

POMERANTZ: Thank you so much, Scott.

COUSY: A pleasure.

SIMON: There's just one story we couldn't leave out. One night, the Celtics were playing in Raleigh. Bob Cousy was with his friend and teammate Chuck Cooper, the first black player in the NBA. The hotel where the Celtics stayed wouldn't allow Mr. Cooper because of the color of his skin. So they hopped²⁵ the late-night train back up to Boston. Cousy and Coop headed to the Union Station and stopped for a few beers.

COUSY: And obviously we had to whiz, so we went looking for the men's room in Union Station. And we see the big white sign with the big black arrow - colored one way, white the other way. And I teared up because I couldn't - I was ashamed to be white. I didn't know how to explain this to now my good friend of two or three years. How the hell do I tell him we can't go and pee together? So I solved the problem. I took him out - it was midnight - out on the platform, not a lot of people around. We went to the end of the platform, and we peed together, Scott. It was a Rosa Parks moment that we couldn't talk about.

SIMON: (Laughter).

1 buttressed   

v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The court buttressed its decision. 法院支持自己的判决。 来自辞典例句
• The emotional appeal was buttressed with solid and specific policy details. 情感的感召有坚实的和详细的政策细节支持。 来自互联网

2 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

3 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

4 roiled   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的过去式和过去分词 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• American society is being roiled by the controversy over homosexual marriage. 当今美国社会正被有关同性恋婚姻的争论搞得不得安宁。 来自互联网
• In the past few months, instability has roiled Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas. 在过去的几个月里，西藏和藏人居住区不稳定。 来自互联网

5 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

8 rosters   

n.花名册( roster的名词复数 )；候选名单v.将（姓名）列入值勤名单( roster的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Teams have until Monday, Oct. 29 to set their rosters. 球队可以在下周一之前，即10月29确定他们的15人常规赛名单。 来自互联网
• Rosters, R& R, FIFO or country-based lifestyle limiting your opportunities? 枯燥单调的生活方式限制了你的机会？ 来自互联网

9 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

10 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

11 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

12 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

15 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

16 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

17 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

18 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

19 baboon   

n.狒狒

参考例句：

• A baboon is a large monkey that lives in Africa.狒狒是一种生活在非洲的大猴子。
• As long as the baboon holds on to what it wants,it's trapped.只要狒狒紧抓住想要的东西不放手，它就会被牢牢困住。

20 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

21 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

22 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

23 embellish   

v.装饰，布置；给…添加细节，润饰

参考例句：

• I asked him not to embellish the truth with ideas of his own.我要他不对事实添油加醋。
• Can you embellish your refusal just a little bit?你可以对你的婉拒之辞略加修饰吗？

24 burnish   

v.磨光；使光滑

参考例句：

• Many people,fearful for their jobs,are trying to burnish their contacts at other firms.许多人因为担心自己的工作，正在努力抹去和其他公司接触的痕迹。
• I burnish joyful sparks from my sorrows.我从伤痛里擦亮喜悦的火花。

25 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。