Rest in Peace Ron Washington

[WstateU]

Agree, worth taking the time to read... especially you youngsters. :D
I found this very interesting:

"Wichita State University was a basketball school, having been ranked number one in the country when I arrived. Led by the great All American Dave Stallworth, and playing with the 6-11 Nate Bowman (both of whom wound up playing with the Knicks on their championship team), WSU was the cream of the Missouri Valley Conference, at the time, the nation’s toughest conference. The MVC contained schools, such as Louisville, Bradley, Tulsa, Cincinnati, Drake, St. Louis University, etc., who always put “players” on the floor. My freshman year, that stretched into the fall, September, 1964, saw the MVC bring in one of the greatest freshman classes ever: Butch Beard and Wes Unseld at Louisville, Joe Allen from Chicago at Bradley, Eldrige Webb and Bobby “Bingo” Smith at Tulsa, and of course myself and Warren (Jabali) Armstrong from Kansas City. Jabali was my roomie for 2 years and wound up being the rookie of the year for the ABA Oakland team before settling in with the Denver Nuggets.Â"

[tw805]

How is it that any of you take a basketball message from that? Notwithstanding the Cuban Marxist message, I was particularly troubled by the story about his "crew." He pumps them full of black panther ideology, and they go off and shoot a cop sitting around filling out reports! He correctly notes it to be a "stupid act," but apparently bases that on his sadness that his "crew" is in jail, not that the cop had a life and family. He then goes on to lament that he can't break them out of jail!

This was clearly before my time, and perhaps I don't understand the historical context correctly, but I wouldn't want this guy as an ambassador of my alma mater. I don't give a **** how many points he scored.

[SB Shock]

How is it that any of you take a basketball message from that? Notwithstanding the Cuban Marxist message, I was particularly troubled by the story about his "crew." He pumps them full of black panther ideology, and they go off and shoot a cop sitting around filling out reports! He correctly notes it to be a "stupid act," but apparently bases that on his sadness that his "crew" is in jail, not that the cop had a life and family. He then goes on to lament that he can't break them out of jail!

This was clearly before my time, and perhaps I don't understand the historical context correctly, but I wouldn't want this guy as an ambassador of my alma mater. I don't give a #### how many points he scored.

You mean you find stuff like this troubling

playing ball all evening and then sitting around smoking weed, drinking and from what I gathered afterwards, uniting with the slogans of the BPP.

or

After a series of meetings, we decided to break our comrades out of jail, by taking the son of Mayor Daly (Chicago’s current mayor!) hostage and holding him for exchange of our comrades and a plane to Algeria or Cuba.

As black ball players, it became clear to us in the early beginnings that we were in sophisticated klan country.

Not somebody I would idolize or even respect.

[Ashockalypse]

That was fascinating. I went to the games back then and it is astounding how many of those people I remember. From afar he seemed like just the quiet leader on the team. It is a great history lesson for some. His feelings were pretty common regardless of what you think of them. Interesting that he moved to KU. Sounds like he may have been a part of the campus unrest in Lawrence. As a 6 to 8 year old, I sure didn't know all that was going on in his head.

[ShockRef]

Totally with tw on this one.

Based on this bio read, essentially the guy was a piece of garbage and nothing WSU should promote as an ambassador.

I could really care less how many points or rebounds he grabbed.

There certainly are plenty of outstanding individuals WSU can promote as stewards and leaders who exemplify the right image. 8)

[tropicalshox]

Thank goodness we all don't think alike or we wouldn't have anybody to make us feel superior.

[WstateU]

Thank goodness we all don't think alike or we wouldn't have anybody to make us feel superior.

Amen!!!!!! :good:

[tw805]

Thank goodness we all don't think alike or we wouldn't have anybody to make us feel superior.

The irony of that statement is lost on you, isn't it?

[WstateU]

Thank goodness we all don't think alike or we wouldn't have anybody to make us feel superior.

The irony of that statement is lost on you, isn't it?

I don’t see anyone here standing up for the controversial views and actions of people like Ron Washington. Yes, what he wrote is troubling; however I’ve never faced discrimination or walked a mile in a black mans shoes. I was alive during the 60’s and can sympathize with their plight.

Regardless, I found his bio very interesting.

[tw805]

I don't disagree, nor is this a statement on the struggle of black people as a whole. I was particularly troubled by the story about the shooting of the police officer, and the lack of repudiation of the act itself. I don't see how we can find that anything but objectively unreasonable.

[tropicalshox]

Thank goodness we all don't think alike or we wouldn't have anybody to make us feel superior.

The irony of that statement is lost on you, isn't it?

Not at all.

[ShockerFever]

http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2010/09/13/ron-washingtons-story/

[ShockRef]

I guess I'll add on to my original post.

Any reference to violence against the men and women in blue urinates me off to no end.

Not only do they literally put their life on the line each and every day, they really aren't compensated for the service they provide.

His bio is particularly disturbing from a personal standpoint as my wife's father was a Columbus police officer, KIA by a coward who shot him in the back.

I'm not disputing any discrimination against him and I'm sure it wasn't pleasant. But the violence rant against law enforcement is pure BS. 8)

[shockmonster]

I would never condone shooting a police officer.

However, I remember some of the strife, anger, protests, and riots in the 60s. I was really too young to understand what was happening, but years later I heard a story about a small town in Kansas not too far from Wichita, where in the mid to late 50s (not more than 5-10 years earlier than Washington's beginning in Wichita) the town swimming pool was used by whites only on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Wednesday's and the blacks were allowed to swim on Thursday. The pool was then washed and cleaned so that the whites could swim on Monday again. Just trying to add a little context and perspective to this discussion. The whites and blacks lived in separate parts of town. There was a history of severe racial problems in that town that still are serious today.

[tw805]

I would never condone shooting a police officer.

However, I remember some of the strife, anger, protests, and riots in the 60s. I was really too young to understand what was happening, but years later I heard a story about a small town in Kansas not too far from Wichita, where in the mid to late 50s (not more than 5-10 years earlier than Washington's beginning in Wichita) the town swimming pool was used by whites only on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Wednesday's and the blacks were allowed to swim on Thursday. The pool was then washed and cleaned so that the whites could swim on Monday again. Just trying to add a little context and perspective to this discussion. The whites and blacks lived in separate parts of town. There was a history of severe racial problems in that town that still are serious today.

Anger, protests, etc., are all acceptable responses. Shooting someone because you believe they adequately represent an entity that has wronged you is not. Tacitly accepting that as an adequate response by apparently taking active steps to free the wrongdoers by ransom might be even worse. If I get robbed by a black guy, is it perfectly understandable for me to go home, get my gun, then go shoot some other random black guy? How can anyone be stretching to legitimize this guy?

And that says nothing of the Castro love affair. But I suppose I'm just being an elitist snob with a superiority complex.