Sports and Basketball in Stationery Business Directory

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The Big O in Stationery Business Directory

 

Book by Oscar Robertson explaining his basketball techniques. Oscar Robertson (The Big O) was named Player of the Century by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2000. He is one of the first five inductees into the NABCs new Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He has been enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame since 1979, his first year eligible, as well as the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. He is the NBAs all-time leader in triple-double games for a career (181) and a single season (41). At every level -- high school, college, the Olympics and the NBA -- The Big O set new standards of excellence and changed the way the game was played. As the first big point guard, who could score from anywhere on the court, pass, rebound, and play defense, he created the template for such players as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. But Oscar Robertson is much more than a superb athlete, some of whose achievements may never be duplicated. He has also distinguished himself as a humanitarian, a social activist, a businessman, a mentor and teacher, and a labor leader. He graduated in the top 10% of his Crispus Attucks High School class, earned a business degree in four years at the University of Cincinnati, and was recently named one of the NCAAs top student athletes of all time. A street in his hometown of Indianapolis now bears his name, making him the first living person in that citys history to be so honored. The 2006-07 NBA season marks the 30th anniversary of the Oscar Robertson Rule, a 1976 class action settlement between the NBA and its players resulting from a lawsuit brought by Robertson six years earlier as President of the NBA Players Association, which paved the way for free agency and forever changed the balance of power in professional sports. Robertson served as the third president of the NBA Players Association from 1965 until his retirement in 1974. In 1992 he was one of five founders of the National Basketball Retired Players Association, dedicated to improving pension benefits and medical care for an earlier generation of players, and served as its first president from 1992-1998. In 1997 The Big O performed the assist of a lifetime when he donated a kidney to his daughter Tia, who was suffering from lupus. Since that point, he has been an outspoken advocate for organ transplantation and kidney disease prevention on behalf of the National Kidney Foundation. Today Mr. Robertson is one of the nations leading small business owners, with interests in document management services, banking, specialty chemicals, processed foods, and media. He is a leading advocate for minority business owners and often takes part in leadership development seminars. He remains an international ambassador for the game of basketball and is much in demand as a speaker, teacher and clinician. He is the author and publisher of The Art of Basketball (Oscar Robertson Media Ventures, 1998), the definitive guide to fundamental skills development for boys and girls of all ages, and the host of http://www.thebigo.com. His autobiography, The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game, was published by Rodale Press in 2003. He has contributed four bylined essays on basketball to The New York Times and one to TIME Magazine, as well as a game-by-game blog to nba.com during the 2005 NBA Finals. Oscar Robertson was born November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee, the youngest of three sons of Bailey and Mazell Robertson. Four years later the family moved to Indianapolis, where Oscar learned to play basketball on the dirt courts of the inner city, playing against his older brothers and encountering stiff competition from other neighborhood kids. He also refined his game through endless hours of individual practice. As a sophomore at Crispus Attucks High School, Oscar led his team to within one game of the 1954 state finals, losing to eventual champion Milan. Over the next two seasons, he attracted national attention by leading the Tigers to a 45-game winning streak, two consecutive Indiana state titles and a national championship. Attucks was the first African-American school and the first Indianapolis school to win the Indiana state crown, and the first African-American school to win a national championship in any sport. Oscar was named Mr. Basketball for the state of Indiana in 1956 as well as national high school player of the year. He also graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. At University of Cincinnati, where he became known as The Big O, he led the Bearcats to the Final Four in 1959 and 1960. He was a three-time first team All-American, the first player to lead the NCAA in scoring three straight years, and the first to win National College Player of the Year honors three times. (In 1998, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association renamed their mens college Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy.) Following graduation in 1960 with a B.S. degree in Business, he co-captained the Pete Newell-coached, undefeated 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, often considered the greatest basketball team ever put together. During his 14-year NBA career -- ten with the Cincinnati Royals and four with the Milwaukee Bucks -- The Big O led his teams to 10 playoff appearances including an NBA championship with the Bucks in 1971. He was the NBAs Rookie of the Year in 1961 and Most Valuable Player in 1964. He was a 12-time NBA All-Star and was voted Most Valuable Player in three All-Star games. In 1961-62, he became the only player in NBA history ever to average a triple double for an entire season (double figures in scoring, rebounding and assists). He is the alltime NBA leader in triple doubles for a career and a single season. He led the league in free throw percentage twice and assists six times. He is the only guard ever to lead his team in rebounding. His career record of 9,887 assists stood for 17 years and his 26,710 points and 25.7 points per game average rank him seventh on the list of all-time NBA scorers. Since his retirement, The Big O has been active as an entrepreneur, broadcaster and author, and also served briefly during the summer of 2004 as interim head basketball coach at his alma mater, University of Cincinnati. He and his wife Yvonne, who he wed in 1960, reside in Cincinnati and have three daughters, Shana, Tia and Mari. He serves as President of OR Solutions, Marlton, NJ; Orchem, Inc., and Oscar Robertson Foods, Fairfield, OH; and as general partner in Oscar Robertson Media Ventures, Los Angeles, CA. He is a board member of Countrywide Financial Corporation, Calabasas, CA, and the Touchstone Family of Funds, Cincinnati, OH. Mr. Robertson is involved in numerous charitable and community activities, including the NBA Legends Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club of New York, and the National Kidney Foundation, for whom he acts as an advocate for organ donation. Throughout and following his career, he has taught or mentored hundreds of youngsters on his own and through various youth organizations. In 2003 the University of Cincinnati awarded him its William Howard Taft Medal for notable achievement, the highest honor a UC alumnus can receive.

 

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