BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"

Larry Jones: A Tale of Basketball Brilliance, Faith, and Fostering a Legacy Beyond the Court

• Coach Tim Brown, Uncommon Life • Season 3 • Episode 20

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Join the conversation with Columbus Ohio's own basketball legend, Larry Jones, as he shares with us tales from his ABA and NBA heydays, and the profound role his faith, family, and community played in his rise to stardom. Larry's narrative is as captivating as it is inspiring; from a late bloomer on the church basketball team to making waves in the pro leagues, his story is a testament to the power of belief and perseverance. Tune in and be moved by the spirit of a baller who continues to make his mark, both on and off the court. 

He takes us through his decision to play for the Denver Rockets over the LA Lakers and reveals the fierce advocacy for player rights that led him to a presidency in the ABA Players Association.

We navigate through the thrilling world of ABA basketball, where Larry Jones became a household name, and his astonishing 23-game 30 point scoring streak left fans and future players alike in awe. His anecdotes are filled with the tension and triumph of a professional athlete, including a memorable standoff with a general manager that solidified his reputation as a man of intelligence and integrity. Larry's leadership extended beyond the court, setting the stage for the modern era of player empowerment and equity.

As Larry reflects on his impact and commitment to mentoring the next generation, we're reminded that a true baller's influence isn't confined to the hardwood. His touching tales from a standout all-star game performance and his strategic shift to the Philadelphia 76ers round out an illustrious career. But it's his current role as a substitute teacher, shaping young minds, that truly showcases the breadth of Larry's legacy. His story isn't just about basketball—it's about building a legacy of positive influence, the kind that resonates long after the final buzzer. Tune in and be moved by the spirit of a baller who continues to make his mark, both on and off the court.

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Speaker 1:

You know, when I look back, no, coming up as a young person myself, you know it's almost like you try to pay back and I look at it. Maybe I could say something. Talking to kids could make a difference in their life.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Be A Baller Podcast where we discuss how to build a lifelong legacy. I'm your host, coach Tim Brown Today. I'm excited to have in the studio with me Columbus Ohio native and American Basketball Association ABA Trailblazer and former NBA player, larry Jones. Today on the show, larry will share his experience of playing in both the ABA and NBA. Shares experience of playing in both the ABA and NBA. Currently, larry is committed to mentoring young people through his annual basketball camp and involvement in the community. Larry, welcome to Be A Baller podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for letting me be a part of your day.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm just so excited to have you in here. I've been waiting to get you in here. I was telling you I was teasing you. I got 10 pages of notes here, you know.

Speaker 1:

I'm ready.

Speaker 2:

Are they good notes? Oh, they're good notes, bro. I got it all. I got all the T's they say as we begin this podcast. I know you're a man of faith. I know faith has been your foundation. As we begin, can you talk to the audience about how your faith has helped you achieve the success you've had in life?

Speaker 1:

Well, I've always believed in the Lord and when I look back at my traveling along the way you know I was a late bloomer in basketball but when I start thinking about how I got to where I am today, as far as my achievement playing basketball I played for the church basketball team coming up, I remember trying out for a basketball team in junior high school and I got cut. But a lot of the young guys in my church brought me around them and I played with the church team. Church has always been a pillar in my life. You know, when I talk to people about my life coming up and you say what kept you going in a lot of ways and I said in a physical realm it was my mother I said been in the spiritual realm.

Speaker 1:

God has always been a special part of my life. And when I think back as I moved through high school and college, when I was in college, I never can remember missing going to church at any home game. I always went to church and it's always. God has always been important to my life. When everything is going bad, I know God is there covering me and I just feel like I've been blessed along the way and I know it's not me, but God has looked over my life, my family and so forth.

Speaker 4:

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Speaker 2:

You know you started playing regularly at East High School during your senior year. You know that's quite a story. How did you become such a good basketball player and receive a scholarship after only one season of high school basketball?

Speaker 1:

Well, I got to back up a little bit with that piece. Okay, I remember I went to Champion Junior High School. I remember going out for the basketball team as a seventh grader. I got cut. As an eighth grader I got cut and as a ninth grader I made the team and never played a game. So now I graduated from Champion Junior High School Now I'm enrolling at East High School had a serious history of great basketball. So as a 10th grader I went out for the basketball team and I made the reserve team play very little. As an 11th grader I went out for the varsity team. I played in one game and seemed like, and when I went from 11th grade to the 12th grade that summer the light came on, or the lord showed me a you can do this. And I went from nobody choosing me unless it was my turn to choose. I didn't get a chance to play and all of a sudden, when I went back to school as a senior, I mean I was killing everybody.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was reading in your bio about your high school coach, coach Moore, coach Jackie Moore, and how the most important thing you said about him he helped you go from a poor student to an honor student.

Speaker 1:

You know, when I was in high school, they used to take grades each week in terms of whether you can play or not. And in the early part of my high school career, in the classroom I wasn't knocking the door down, doing a good job. And as I went back as a senior, I mean, and the basketball happened to be what I was doing well, at that time I got focused in the fact of doing better in the classroom and I went from being maybe a CD student to as a senior, I was making the honor rail and it basically was based on the coach, you know, encouraging me to do better in the classroom with the idea it would provide another opportunity for me to go to school.

Speaker 2:

This podcast will be released during June, which is Ground Fathers Day. Can you talk about some of the men growing up who had an impact on your life in the community teachers, coaches, elders?

Speaker 1:

No, when I was coming up it was amazing. I used to play at Beatty Center, play outside Maryland Park, and I had a lot of fathers spend time with kids back in the day. You know kids were more respectful. And a lot of coaches, a lot of the men that coached some of the young guys, they were encouraging. And I can remember playing for a particular coach. His name was Toe Morrison. He used to have us travel On teams and we used to play throughout the city over some of the rec center and the boys club. And when I think back, I think about some coaches and some older guys. A lot of older guys used to put their arm around some younger guys, because I remember playing for a coach and they had an adult older guys it was called the Wildcats older guys. Then they had the little guys, which I was, and a lot of the older guys used to try to encourage the little guys, younger guys, to play.

Speaker 1:

But a lot of and the thing I never talked about this, but my mother was I mean, my mother was a baller, okay, my mother played basketball and I remember I used to go shoot baskets and she would be out there shooting baskets with me and most of the guys that knew my father used to say my mother was a better athlete than my dad.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you had a. From that you received a scholarship to play at the University of Toledo and you had a great story career there. Then you had a unique experience at the opportunity to play in the ABA when it was first formed. You had a great career. You were a four-time ABA All-Star, three-time All-ABA First Team. But here's the unique experience. Talk about that unique experience of how you even got in the league.

Speaker 1:

Well, first, when I came out of school, I was drafted by the Sixers, so I played with the Sixers for a year and eventually the next year I went back. I didn't make the team. Then they had what they called back then the Eastern League, which was a semi-pro league, and back then they played on the weekend and a lot of guys would make probably maybe $200 or $300 just playing on the weekend basketball and they had regular jobs. Eventually they start talking about starting the ABA. There were probably about maybe eight or nine teams in the Eastern League, but when they started the ABA for me I had played in the Eastern League for two years and played quite well and interesting. Most people don't know if you follow basketball history when you look at Bob Love, who was a great player with Chicago, paul Salas, who played in the NBA and also a coach, but a lot of guys came out of the Eastern League when the ABA started. So what I did? I wrote or called every team in the Eastern League in the ABA if they would pay for me to come for a tryout. Denver was the only one that would pay for me to come for a tryout. So what I ended up doing, I went that summer also got a call from the Lakers. They wanted me to come to training camp that summer.

Speaker 1:

So what I did went to LA, tried out, for that team played well. They offered me a contract for $10,000 and a $3,000 bonus, so I was sort of happy with that. So then I came home and two or three weeks later I went to Denver and I did the set try it out. They offered me the same amount of money, same contract. So now I come back home and this is probably running into September I'm trying to figure out what team to go to. Should I go to LA or should I go to Denver? So I was a mama's boy now, so I was looking for my mother to tell me which trip to take, and she wouldn't tell me. So I got in my car and I'm driving 70 West. When you get to St Louis you can take 66, go to LA, or you can take 70 and go to Denver. I said to myself I don't do well going to my left, so I'm going to go left. And that's how I ended up in.

Speaker 2:

Denver. Wow, that's quite a story, and so it all worked out well. You know, playing in that league, the ABA league, you had a did you have a? Big afro like the Dr J and all them guys.

Speaker 1:

You had your big fro, I had a mini fro. I don't think my hair would grow long, but I had a mini fro.

Speaker 2:

I was playing against Dr J George Gervin, the Iceman and all those other guys that was in the league at that time.

Speaker 1:

Oh, it was great. I mean, you know most people know about the Iceman but most people don't know he came out of Eastern Michigan, ended up going with the Virginia Squires at that time and with that team they had Dr J was playing there, a guy by the name of Charlie Scott, and they had several players that had even played in the NBA playing with that team. But then when Girvin came there, most people think he was always an outstanding player. He was a guy that you would hope that they put him in because he didn't do anything. But then the rest of it is history. With him he became, well, one of the most outstanding players ever playing in the league.

Speaker 2:

Looked like you held your own with those guys as well. There were some days when you had 30 or more points in. About what 10, 15 straight games Did I get that right?

Speaker 1:

No, you got it wrong. No, I played in 23 straight games where I had 30 or more and it was interesting when they were were talking about harden had a record going of so many games in a row at 30 or more. I mean, I got a couple phone calls from the media asked me how did I feel about it and I really never gave it a whole lot of thought. But sometime I think back that wasn't bad. Man scored 30 points in 23 straight games and and I was trying to figure out what was a game I scored less than and I think it was against the Kentucky Colonels and I think I had about 22, 23 points a game. But it was fun, it was fun.

Speaker 2:

You know back then. Legend has it that you were president of the ABA Players Association and at one time you guys threatened to sit out a game at the association and didn't get recognized by the owners. Can you talk about that experience?

Speaker 1:

Well, when the league first started, after a year or two, I sent out a questionnaire to all the guys in the ABA and I asked them about would they be interested in if we had a Players Association?

Speaker 1:

And I was called into the office by the general manager and he said that indicated that I was trying to start a players association and he didn't think I should do that. And he said the league is too much in the infancy state. And he said, if it doesn't be, for the ABA guys be working in the factory and all those kinds of things. And basically when he said that to me, I said now you might say that to some of the other guys, but not with me, because at that time I had a master's degree and I was working on a PhD, so I wasn't knocking the other guys, but that wouldn't work with me. So at the conclusion of that meeting he said you understand. I said okay, so I left and I continued doing what I was doing starting a players' association. And finally it got going and we're getting ready to play an all-star game in Indianapolis, indiana. You know about Indianapolis?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, we know about that.

Speaker 1:

Indianapolis, indiana, and it was on the ESPN game and we were trying to get an acceptance from the league to accept the Players Association. We were asked Stouffer's that was a hotel we were staying in and the players said, well, if they don't accept us, we're not going to play. So we just sat in a hotel and because it was the ESPN game and it was big, uh, they finally accepted us. So we had to be escorted by by the highway patrol to the coliseum to play the game. And it was there they're on and uh, it was a fun game and I started trying to figure out. It was a game I played it. It was probably the first game I could remember all-star game now that I played in. It was probably the first game I can remember all-star game now that I played in that my mom and dad both were at the game and I was with the East and the West and the West won and on my team at the time they had Spencer Haywood and Rick Barry and it was a game. I think I had like 30, 31 points and it was big. It was big to be the MVP. They gave you the use of a car and a whole lot of frills. So when the game was over, I was thinking about you know, you go in the locker room. I was thinking I was, you know, because I had a lean score, and I was thinking my mom and dad in the stands and I'm going to thank God and thank my parents and stuff. So when I go out there, they give the most valuable player to Spencer Haywood. Now, spencer Haywood was his first year in the ABA. He came out of Trinidad Junior College and he was one of the earlier players to play in the league out of college. I mean, he was an outstanding player and he became the MVP of the game. So when the locker room and Rick Barry outstanding player and he became the MVP of the game. So when the locker room and Rick Barry always spoke the way he felt and he said the guy that should have been the MVP was Larry Jones, which, no, I felt that way too. But Spencer got it and it was a good experience. And at that point the ABA had a Players Association. And then, as I look back after my contract, it was amazing.

Speaker 1:

After my contract was up now, I played several years. My skills were starting to diminish somewhat, but no one would sign me and if I had to do all over again I probably would have took that to task, but nobody would sign me after then. So now I'm trying to figure out what do I do now, because I still had some basketball in me. So I looked at the NBA and I was looking at the team that had the worst guards, the worst record, and I looked at it was Philadelphia and I said no, that's interesting, that's where I started. So I ended up going to Philadelphia, tried with the Philadelphia 76ers and they had won maybe eight or nine games the year before. So I said they're more like in the building stage. And at that time they had a Freddie Carter was a starting guard and a guy named Freddie Boyd. But also that year they drafted Doug Collins and a guy named Raymond Lewis. Raymond Lewis was from Los Angeles City College. He might have led the nation in scoring. Doug Collins came out of Illinois State, I think, but they both were first-round draft picks. So at that time they might have had about 20 guards trying out about 15 forwards and several centers.

Speaker 1:

And at a point the coach called some of us aside, some centers, some forwards and some guards would say if you guys got something else to do, you just will leave, because basically we're saying you're not going to make the team. So I said I just will stay here until I get cut, come back home and get a job. So we start playing the ABA teams and I end up being the leading scorer in the exhibition season and so, even though they were rebuilding, it had been difficult for them to cut me at the time because I led the team in scoring. So when the season started there were 12 players on the team. I was the 12th guy. But I was glad to be the 12th guy because at least I would get paid.

Speaker 1:

So when the season started, I was not a point guard, I was a shooter. The point guard got hurt and I was the last guy on the bench. And when the point guard got hurt, I became the starting point guard and the guy got well and never got his job back. So I started the rest of the year. All right, what a great story. Great story.

Speaker 5:

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Speaker 2:

We know that you have a heart for young people and serving the community as well. You know you've been seen in the classroom occasionally as a substitute teacher. Why is that so important to you?

Speaker 1:

You know, when I look back, coming up as a young person myself, it's almost like you try to pay back and I look at it. Maybe I could say something. Talking to kids could make a difference in their life and I always felt like that was important for somebody to have interest in you and some of the things I would think. I was blessed to play pro ball, but when I would go in the classroom, you know it's always an issue being a sub because most of the time you have a difficult time getting kids' attention, but for me it helped me because I would say why I'm there, trying to make a difference in their life, and I said indicate that I play pro basketball and that automatically gets your attention. Oh yeah, oh yeah, okay. So it was the icebreaker for me.

Speaker 1:

Now you got to work it Right, but I would share my experience playing pro ball while I'm doing the school thing, trying to make a difference in somebody else's life, and I think when I look at children today, man, it's tough being a kid today. There's so much out there today that wasn't there when I was coming up and you're a little younger than me so you can relate to that, but I mean a lot of times. I just think. Sometimes, when I look at children, you need someone to be encouraging and believe in them. Believe in them. Believe in them. I mean a lot of times one's self-esteem could be low and sometimes you can save something that can help raise a person's self-esteem.

Speaker 2:

You know, as we come around the corner, this is a legacy podcast. Think about that word legacy Two things. What does that mean to you and what is the legacy of Larry Jones?

Speaker 1:

You know, and I often think about that, even though I did a lot in basketball, I like to feel like when people look at me, saying that he was a good person, loved the Lord and was willing to give back to try to make a difference with young people's lives, with young people's lives, and I was a good husband, a good father, I mean, and you know, the older I get, the more I feel like I've been blessed by God man, because a whole lot of other things. When I think about some of the things, some of the choices I made coming up, if it wasn't for the grace of God, I could have been in trouble.

Speaker 2:

Well, larry, I want to thank you for being a part of this podcast, but most of all, I want to thank you for your commitment to making a difference, you know, for sharing your wisdom and sharing those life lessons that you learned both on the court and off the court. And I want you to know that young people are truly inspired, and every time I see you share, I can just see how attentive they are. You know, just hanging on every word. So I appreciate this, you coming in the studio today. This brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks to our special guest, larry Jones, for sharing his wisdom of life lessons learned on the basketball court and in life. Thank you, larry, for being committed to encouraging and inspiring the next generation. Thank you for having me on. It's a blessing. Thank you for joining us during this enlightening and informative discussion on building a legacy in sports. Hope this episode was beneficial to you all and, as always, thanks for listening to Be A Baller Podcast. Thank you, great job, great job.

Speaker 3:

If you enjoyed our show, please share this podcast with family and friends. Be A Baller podcast is available on all major podcast stations. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown and produced and edited by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School.