Kermit Washington
Encyclopedia
Kermit Alan Washington is an American former professional basketball
player. Washington is best remembered for punching opposing player Rudy Tomjanovich
during an on-court fight in 1977. The punch nearly killed Tomjanovich, and it resulted in severe medical problems that ultimately ended his playing career. During his pro years and after his retirement, Washington has struggled with the negative perception of him that resulted from the punch.
Washington was not a highly coveted player coming out of high school and barely got into college on an athletic scholarship. He averaged a mere four points per game (ppg) during his senior season of high school. He improved rapidly once at American University
, and became one of only seven players in NCAA history to average 20 points
and 20 rebounds throughout the course of their career.
A big defensive forward, Washington was known for his ability to gather rebounds
. He averaged 9.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in ten National Basketball Association
(NBA) seasons and played in the All-Star Game once. Washington was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers
with the fifth overall pick in the 1973 NBA Draft
. He played sparingly his first three seasons, and sought the help of retired basketball coach Pete Newell
before his fourth season. Under Newell's tutelage, Washington's game rapidly improved and he became a starter for several teams. He played for the Lakers, Boston Celtics
, San Diego Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers
and Golden State Warriors
.
), where she was an excellent student; his father Alexander was an X-ray technician
. Washington had a rough childhood. When he was three years old, his parents had a fight in which his maternal uncle became involved and in which someone violently attacked his uncle with an iron. His parents soon divorced, with his father awarded custody of the children. His mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder
, then took him and his older brother Eric from their father on an ill-advised sojourn for which they were poorly prepared. Struggling to find money to feed the children, she eventually called their father, who came and took them back. His stay with his father did not last long, and he and his brother were passed around to various relatives on both sides of the family.
The effect of being shuttled into and out of the homes of family members led to a feeling of not being wanted, which made Washington extremely shy as a youth. The only time he recalls feeling a sense of self-worth was when his great-grandmother on his father's side had the pair for a while. According to Washington, she loved the boys but was extremely strict, domineering, and at times, physically abusive. After his father remarried, the children moved back in with him and his new wife. Washington felt a sense of optimism for the first time, saying "I thought it was our dream come true. All our lives we had seen nice families on TV. Real ones. Now we were going to be a real family." However, he again felt unwanted this time by his stepmother. As a small child, Washington said that he had no recollections of ever being hugged, and only felt close to his older brother, Chris. Washington was a poor student who hated school throughout most of his childhood. He had to retake many of his classes in summer school
to raise his grades. When he entered high school he played football merely so he could be around a close friend, and have someone to walk home with at night with as he was terrified of walking home alone.
As a senior in high school, Washington stood but weighed a mere 150 lbs. After some rare positive feedback by his biology teacher, Barbara Thomas, he began to study and put forth a greater effort in that class. He quickly became a solid student in biology but poor in all other subjects. When Thomas became his home room teacher and saw his grades in other classes she encouraged him to try hard in all of his courses. Washington rapidly improved his marks, making the honor roll in his senior year.
His basketball performance in high school was unimpressive. He came off the bench to average four points per game
(ppg). His stepmother informed him that when he graduated high school he would be thrown out of the house. Chris had been able to leave home on a football scholarship
and would later play in the National Football League
, but Washington himself had nowhere to go. He trained for three hours a day toward the end of his senior season, and showed up uninvited at a playground game
featuring top high school players from Washington and Pennsylvania, where he talked his way into the game. Tom Young
, who had recently left his job as an assistant coach at Maryland University to become head coach at American University
, saw him play there, and although Washington did not perform particularly well, Young was impressed by his hustle and how he ignored the poor treatment he received from the people who organized the game.
He averaged 18.6 points on 46.8 percent shooting and 20.5 rebounds in his first year of varsity basketball. He still played a somewhat unaggressive or "soft" brand of basketball, and it was hurting his chances of being drafted by a professional team. Between his sophomore and junior years he began lifting weights with Trey Coleman, a former football player from the University of Nebraska who was studying as an undergrad at American. Coleman encouraged him to be more aggressive on the court, and Washington told him that it was not in his nature. Coleman admonished him, telling him he could not afford to be "cool" on the court given his talent level if he wanted to join the pro ranks. Washington was named an academic All-American his junior year. He averaged 21.0 points on 54.4 percent shooting and an NCAA-leading 19.8 rebounds in his junior season. He was drafted after his junior season by the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association
(ABA) and offered a four year contract for $100,000 a year, which astonished him. He decided to stay at American with coach Young for his senior season because he felt he owed the school which had given him a chance when he was coming out of a difficult period in high school. He was offered an invite to try for the 1972 Olympic basketball team after the season, but did not make the squad.
Washington was one of the best players in the country going into his senior season. He marveled at newspaper reports in the Washington Post that mentioned "coaches of opposing teams and how they were planning to stop Kermit Washington." He led the nation in rebounding again in his senior season. He was a second team All-American
, and helped American into the National Invitation Tournament
(NIT). In the last game of his college career, Washington needed to score 39 points to average 20 points and 20 rebounds a game for his career in college. He became extremely nervous before the game and could neither eat nor sleep. The game set American University attendance records, and Washington felt light on his feet when he was introduced before the raucous crowd. He managed to score 40 points and in so doing, became just the seventh player to reach the 20/20 mark. He was thrown a party, and there was a campus wide celebration after the game. He graduated with a 3.37 GPA
and a degree in sociology
. Washington was a two-time Academic All-American, who taught courses in social sciences his senior year.
. A week before the team began training camp, Pat and Kermit were married. They invited neither of their families; they just drove together to LA's city hall for the ceremony. He had a difficult time making the transition from college center to NBA power forward. In basketball, many players succeed in high school and college due to superior physical skills, but when they arrive in the professional ranks, they are typically going against players that are often as physically gifted as them. Washington also had played in a primarily zone defense
system in college and was not versed in man-to-man defense
, which is more common in the NBA. He arrived on a team which had legend Jerry West
, who was in the waning stages of a career that would result in him becoming the silhouette seen on the NBA's logo. Washington admits that he was terrified of West, and felt anxiety every time he made a mistake in front of him. Though healthy, he played in only 45 games and averaged 8.9 minutes a game his rookie season. He hurt his back that year but kept quiet about it, fearing he would be "labeled soft." The injury would bother him the rest of his career. He continued to struggle in his second season, and discovered that finding individual coaching in the professional game at that time was difficult. Between the rigorous schedule, and the coaches assuming players already knew how to play for the most part when they entered the league, no one, including head coach Bill Sharman
, was willing to work with him on a one-on-one basis.
Entering his fourth season, Washington knew the only thing keeping him in the league was his guaranteed contract and that the Lakers had essentially written him off. The organization felt he had the requisite physical skills, so they ascribed his failure to excel to mental deficiencies. Washington was particularly disturbed when in a game against Golden State
, he got into an awkward collision with Rick Barry
, upon which Barry remarked: "Listen, you better learn how to play this game." The criticism especially bothered Washington because he felt Barry's rebuke was correct. Desperate to improve, he contacted Pete Newell
at the recommendation of an agent. Newell was a retired pro and college coach who worked in a front office position with the Lakers, and had drafted Washington when he was then the team's GM. In truth, while Newell says he felt some responsibility considering he drafted him, he was involved in many player transactions over the course of his long career, and was not especially attached to Washington. He was surprised by this request however, and unhappy with his new highly marginalized job within the organization, so Newell agreed to meet Washington for individual drills. He scheduled the practices very early in the morning to test Washington's dedication, thinking a professional athlete would not bother to get up at that hour every day. Washington showed up without complaint and Newell put him through intense training sessions. Newell is often seen as a kind, gentlemanly person, who is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the game of basketball. In private practice however, he could be an intense, unforgiving teacher, and he was even more unforgiving than usual with Washington as he felt that if he were to offer his services for free he would only do so if the player was willing to train maniacally.
Newell had Washington watch tapes of Paul Silas
, who was a rebounding forward for the Boston Celtics
, and convinced him to have more confidence in his offensive game. He reworked Washington's game from the ground up, and in so doing established a name for himself as a tremendous coach of big men—he would later conduct a yearly "Big Man Camp" in Hawaii which has been attended by hundreds of NBA players.
Los Angeles had acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
, and Washington's style of play complemented him, as Jabbar was not an especially physical player. Washington played well, averaging 9.7 points and 9.3 rebounds, however he struggled with tendinitis in his knee the entire season. His wife pleaded with him to sit out some games, but he took painkillers and kept playing. Washington finally tore the patella tendon in a late season game against Denver
. "I could feel it tearing inside. I looked down, and my kneecap was hanging on the side of my leg." Doctors covered his entire leg in a cast and told him his basketball career was most likely over.
Newell was the person to bring Washington out of the despair he felt when he heard his playing career was probably over. Newell forced him through even more grueling training sessions the following summer, after some of which, Washington strongly considered quitting. His leg had atrophied
from the injury and he was scared of re-injuring it during their training sessions. Newell ignored his pleas and told him that if he ever wanted to play again he had to train more than before and work even harder. Washington came back to play the following season and performed well; through the first 25 games he was averaging career highs in points (11.6) and rebounds (10.8). He had been featured in the NBA preview edition of Sports Illustrated
(which was dedicated to enforcers that year) before the season and was praised therein for his intimidating nature and fighting skills. The magazine had posed Washington shirtless in a boxing stance as part of a picture layout entitled, "Nobody, but Nobody, Is Gonna Hurt My Teammates."
, a scuffle broke out between several players at midcourt.
The events that precipitated the fight have been frequently debated, and variously interpreted. Two months earlier, on opening night of the season, the Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks
. Bucks center Kent Benson
elbowed Jabbar in the stomach, and Jabbar appeared to be in intense pain. Jabbar then punched Benson from behind, breaking Benson's jaw and his own hand. Washington got into a brawl with several Buffalo Braves
players a few games later. In the December game, at the beginning of the game's second half, Lakers guard Norm Nixon
missed a shot. Houston's Kevin Kunnert
and Washington both contended for the rebound, which Kunnert eventually got and passed out to teammate John Lucas
. Their battle for the rebound was more physical than usual however. Jabbar became involved and wrestled with Kunnert. As a result, Kermit Washington stayed behind in the backcourt in order to watch over and make sure nothing happened. After the two disengaged, Washington grabbed Kunnert's shorts in order to prevent him from getting back over on offense quickly. Kunnert threw an elbow that hit Washington on the upper arm and this move spun him around so that he was facing Washington. What happened next is disputed: Washington, several Lakers, and Rocket forward Robert Reid
insisted that Kunnert punched him, Kunnert said Washington swung first after he attempted to free himself from Washington's grasp. The referee who saw the action saw merely a "skuffle" between Kunnert and Jabbar followed by the one between Kunnert and Washington then Washington's punch. Both Washington and Jabbar reject this account.
Kareem then ran up behind Kunnert and grabbed his arms to try to pull him away from the scuffle. But this only left him defenseless for Washington's first punch, which hit Kunnert in the head and brought him down on one knee.
Washington saw Tomjanovich running toward the altercation. Not knowing that he intended to break up the fight, Washington hit Tomjanovich with a roundhouse punch. The blow, which took Tomjanovich by surprise, fractured his face about one-third of an inch (8 mm) away from his skull and left Tomjanovich unconscious in a pool of blood in the middle of the arena. Jabbar likened the sound of the punch to a watermelon being dropped onto concrete. Tomjanovich had a reputation around the league as a peacemaker. Players involved say that right after Tomjanovich collapsed the absence of sound at the arena, which was filled with shocked fans, was "the loudest silence you have ever heard." Reporters heard the sound of the punch all in the way in the second floor press box
, and some rushed to the playing floor in disbelief.
Tomjanovich was able to get up and walk around however, and on the way into the locker room he saw Washington. Tomjanovich says that he became aggressive and asked Washington why he punched him. Washington yelled something inaudible about Kunnert, and they were broken up by two security personnel. Tomjanovich was in no condition to fight despite his aggressiveness; besides having the bone structure of his face detached from his skull and suffering a cerebral concussion and broken jaw and nose, he was leaking blood and spinal fluid into his skull capsule. His skull was fractured in such a way that Tomjanovich could taste the spinal fluid leaking into his mouth. He later recalled that at the time of the incident, he believed the scoreboard had fallen on him. The doctor who worked on Tomjanovich said "I have seen many people with far less serious injuries not make it" and likened the surgery to Scotch taping together a badly shattered eggshell.
, then watched by an average of 30 to 35 million people, replayed the punch countless times as a gag, having cast member Garrett Morris
comically defend the punch. It was also the subject of a New York Times editorial and investigated on CBS News
by Walter Cronkite
. Washington was fined $10,000, and suspended for 60 days, missing 26 games; then the longest suspension for an on-court incident in NBA history. The Rockets were furious. Tomjanovich missed the rest of the season and they felt Washington should at least have done likewise.
On-court fights had been all too common in the 1970s, often including bench-clearing brawl
s. In the season opener, when Jabbar punched Benson, no suspension had been levied. However, Washington's punch resulted in the league enacting strict penalties for on-court fights. Current NBA commissioner David Stern
, then the NBA's chief counsel, later said that the incident made NBA officials realize that "you couldn't allow men that big and that strong to go around throwing punches at each other." As of 2010, any player who attempts to punch another—even if he misses—is automatically ejected from the game, and suspended for at least his team's next game. Under these rules, Tomjanovich would have also drawn a suspension for being the third man to enter a fight. The league added a third referee to its game crew after the season; this referee would have trailed the play and could have called a foul when Washington grabbed Kunnert's shorts, thereby potentially stopping the play and preventing the melee that succeeded it.
Washington received no support from the Lakers front office, aside from a single call the day after the fight from Cook, and was sent torrents of hate mail
filled with racial epithets. He was advised by police not to order room service when he played again, as it was feared he would be poisoned. Larry Fleisher, head of the Players' Association, wanted Washington to appeal his suspension, an idea which he originally considered, but ultimately rejected. Although many players around the league sympathized with Washington and said that he had a good reputation off the court, he and his wife became ostracized. They had a two year old daughter, and Washington's wife was eight months pregnant with the couple's first son at the time of the punch. His wife recalls her and the children being treated like pariahs after the incident. Her obstetrician refused her service because she was Washington's wife, and her friends asked her what kind of person Washington was that he could commit such an act. The only person who contacted them was Newell. Later in the year Washington went to his home with a big screen television which he insisted Newell accept.
On December 27, 1977, just two weeks after the incident, Washington was traded to the Boston Celtics. Red Auerbach
, Boston's general manager, had been a longtime fan of Washington's. Years later, then-coach Jerry West
told John Feinstein
he still wanted Washington on the roster, and then-general manager Bill Sharman
said he was "on the fence." Then-owner Jack Kent Cooke
however, decided to move on. Pat stayed behind as the couple had two young children, and Washington would be staying in a hotel. While he waited for his reinstatement, which he thought would not occur until the next season, he became depressed and fell out of shape. He pulled himself together, and began running up and down the flights of stairs of the 29 story hotel.
He started alongside Hall of Fame center Dave Cowens
, who enjoyed playing with Washington, remarking "It's great fun, you can always hear him grunt when he's rebounding." Auerbach said "Kermit was fighting a battle he couldn't win. Nothing he could say or do was going to change the way people perceived him because of that moment. I wanted him to feel at home with us, to feel wanted." Washington won Boston fans over immediately. His acceptance was aided by a glowing article Bob Ryan
of The Boston Globe
wrote on the player after researching his life and spending some time with him. After the season, Washington took less money to re-sign with the Celtics over the Denver Nuggets
.
wanted to move closer to his home and business interests in California
but continue to own an NBA team. To solve this problem, he and John Y. Brown, Jr.
, owner of the Buffalo Braves, exchanged franchises. Levin then moved the Braves to San Diego, where they were renamed the Clippers. Washington was one of four Celtics sent to San Diego as part of the deal. On November 11, 1978, San Diego played in Houston. Tomjanovich scored 26 points and collected 11 rebounds to Washington's six and two. Before the game, the Clippers coach, Gene Shue
, had suggested to the Rockets coach, Tom Nissalke
, that the players shake hands at center court prior to tipoff. Tomjanovich rejected the idea.
After a year in San Diego, Washington was traded again. Levin decided to acquire Portland center Bill Walton
even though Walton had missed the entire 1978–79 season due to broken bones in his foot. Since the Blazers and Clippers could not agree on compensation, the commissioner's office made the final decision, sending Washington, Kunnert and Randy Smith
to Portland in exchange for the center. This became the second time he had been traded along with Kunnert. The center signed with Boston before the 1978–79 season even though Washington was on the team because the Celtics offered him the most money. There remained a mostly quiet discord between the two as Washington felt Kunnert never properly acknowledged his role in the fight.
Portland had strongly desired Washington, and their general manager Stu Inman
, was a close friend of Pete Newell's. Inman had worked hard through Newell to let Washington know that they intended this to be the last time he was traded. This was important as the media coverage and re-locations had been hard on Pat and the children. To his great relief, the city of Portland welcomed Washington with open arms. Portland had one of the more rabid fan bases in the league, and everywhere Washington went he was treated like a beloved celebrity.
During the same off-season, Tomjanovich and the Rockets civil suit vs. the Lakers occurred. Houston's side argued that Los Angeles had failed to control Washington. During the trial, numerous players and coaches who where at the game testified, while Washington sat at the defense table, listening to himself be portrayed as a dangerous rogue. A jury awarded Tomjanovich $
3.25 million in damages, even though the original sum sought was only $2.6 million. When the trial was over, two or more of the six Texas jurors requested Tomjanovich's autograph. Kunnert testified during the trial and contradicted Washington's testimony, angrily branding him a liar. While the two were playing for San Diego, their wives became close friends, but their relationship only worsened over time; Washington believed the NBA was keeping Kunnert on his team to prevent him from suing him. Jack Ramsay
, Portland's coach, however, said that he chose Kunnert over San Diego center Swen Nater
when his team was asked by the league to submit a list of players they considered fair compensation for Walton.
Washington shared time at the Trail Blazers power forward spot with Maurice Lucas
at first, but after Lucas' trade to the New Jersey Nets
, he became the full time starter. He played three seasons in Portland, during which he earned a spot in the 1980 NBA All-Star Game
, after some of the top players sat out due to injury. During that All-Star weekend, which was held in Landover, Maryland
, nearby American held a halftime ceremony in which they retired Washington's number. He was named a team captain for the following season. In his post-punch career, numerous players, coaches, and officials noted that he became less aggressive on the court out of fear of getting into another fight; something he never did. Washington started experiencing pain in his back and knees during the 1980–81 season. The pain became unbearable during the 1981–82 season, and he retired in January 1982 after missing all but 20 games. In 1987, after more than five years out of the league, he tried to make a comeback with the Warriors, but lasted only eight games on the roster (playing in six of them) before being cut.
s. He ran a restaurant in Portland with former Blazer teammate Kevin Duckworth
. He has also served in a coaching role with Stanford University
, and worked at Pete Newell
's fabled "Big Man Camp" for 15 years. In 1995 he founded The 6th Man Foundation, otherwise known as Project Contact Africa. In August 1994, Washington accompanied a team of doctors and nurses on a humanitarian mission to Goma
, Zaire
, working in a refugee camp
helping victims of the bloody Rwandan Civil War
. The stench of death and human waste extended for miles. "It was a sad, sad sight," Washington later recalled, "a sight I'll never forget."
After his career, Washington has complained of treatment he has received in relation to his punching of Tomjanovich. Washington has sought to portray himself as a victim of the fight and appears to have exaggerated some of the misfortunes that came his way as a result of it. Washington told The New York Times that he has been refused work as a coach time and again. However, Tom Davis
hired him as an assistant coach at Stanford, and Davis wanted to bring him to Iowa
when he went to coach there. Washington stayed at Stanford and later quit his assistant coaching position, and he subsequently worked as strength and conditioning coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Washington also claimed that American University cut off contact with him after he punched Tomjanovich. However, this appears to be a misrepresentation of certain events. When he tried to become athletic director of American in 1995, the school offered to hire him as assistant to the athletic director, since Washington had no front office experience. When confronted about this Washington stated: "I didn't see why I couldn't be the AD so they could use my name out front and then have someone with more experience be my assistant." John Feinstein
and others have suggested that the most lasting damage caused by the fight between Washington and Tomjanovich has been to Washington's self image, and his supposed refusal to accept responsibility for his actions in that fight. Pat later said it went deeper than that, as when she met him in college:
Washington currently lives in the Washington, DC area, where he is employed as a regional representative of the National Basketball Players Association
.
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player. Washington is best remembered for punching opposing player Rudy Tomjanovich
Rudy Tomjanovich
Rudolph Tomjanovich, Jr. , nicknamed Rudy T., is an American retired basketball player and coach who coached the Houston Rockets to two consecutive NBA championships. He is currently a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.-Early life:...
during an on-court fight in 1977. The punch nearly killed Tomjanovich, and it resulted in severe medical problems that ultimately ended his playing career. During his pro years and after his retirement, Washington has struggled with the negative perception of him that resulted from the punch.
Washington was not a highly coveted player coming out of high school and barely got into college on an athletic scholarship. He averaged a mere four points per game (ppg) during his senior season of high school. He improved rapidly once at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
, and became one of only seven players in NCAA history to average 20 points
Point (basketball)
Points in basketball are used to keep track of the score in a game. Points can be accumulated by making field goals or free throws ....
and 20 rebounds throughout the course of their career.
A big defensive forward, Washington was known for his ability to gather rebounds
Rebound (basketball)
A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...
. He averaged 9.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in ten National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA) seasons and played in the All-Star Game once. Washington was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
with the fifth overall pick in the 1973 NBA Draft
1973 NBA Draft
The 1973 NBA Draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on April 24, 1973 before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
. He played sparingly his first three seasons, and sought the help of retired basketball coach Pete Newell
Pete Newell
Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses...
before his fourth season. Under Newell's tutelage, Washington's game rapidly improved and he became a starter for several teams. He played for the Lakers, Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, San Diego Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
and Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
.
Early life
Kermit Washington's mother Barbara graduated from Miner's Teacher's College (later subsumed into Howard UniversityHoward University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
), where she was an excellent student; his father Alexander was an X-ray technician
Radiologic technologist
A radiologic technologist, also known as medical radiation technologist and as radiographer, performs imaging of the human body for diagnosis or treating medical problems...
. Washington had a rough childhood. When he was three years old, his parents had a fight in which his maternal uncle became involved and in which someone violently attacked his uncle with an iron. His parents soon divorced, with his father awarded custody of the children. His mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
, then took him and his older brother Eric from their father on an ill-advised sojourn for which they were poorly prepared. Struggling to find money to feed the children, she eventually called their father, who came and took them back. His stay with his father did not last long, and he and his brother were passed around to various relatives on both sides of the family.
The effect of being shuttled into and out of the homes of family members led to a feeling of not being wanted, which made Washington extremely shy as a youth. The only time he recalls feeling a sense of self-worth was when his great-grandmother on his father's side had the pair for a while. According to Washington, she loved the boys but was extremely strict, domineering, and at times, physically abusive. After his father remarried, the children moved back in with him and his new wife. Washington felt a sense of optimism for the first time, saying "I thought it was our dream come true. All our lives we had seen nice families on TV. Real ones. Now we were going to be a real family." However, he again felt unwanted this time by his stepmother. As a small child, Washington said that he had no recollections of ever being hugged, and only felt close to his older brother, Chris. Washington was a poor student who hated school throughout most of his childhood. He had to retake many of his classes in summer school
Summer school
Summer school is a school, or a program generally sponsored by a school or a school district, that teaches students during the summer vacation....
to raise his grades. When he entered high school he played football merely so he could be around a close friend, and have someone to walk home with at night with as he was terrified of walking home alone.
As a senior in high school, Washington stood but weighed a mere 150 lbs. After some rare positive feedback by his biology teacher, Barbara Thomas, he began to study and put forth a greater effort in that class. He quickly became a solid student in biology but poor in all other subjects. When Thomas became his home room teacher and saw his grades in other classes she encouraged him to try hard in all of his courses. Washington rapidly improved his marks, making the honor roll in his senior year.
His basketball performance in high school was unimpressive. He came off the bench to average four points per game
Points per game
Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by number of games. The terminology is often used in...
(ppg). His stepmother informed him that when he graduated high school he would be thrown out of the house. Chris had been able to leave home on a football scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
and would later play in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, but Washington himself had nowhere to go. He trained for three hours a day toward the end of his senior season, and showed up uninvited at a playground game
Streetball
Streetball or street basketball is a variation of the sport of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less by way of formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules...
featuring top high school players from Washington and Pennsylvania, where he talked his way into the game. Tom Young
Tom Young (basketball coach)
Tom Young is an American basketball coach best known for being head coach at American University. He also coached at Rutgers University, Catholic University and Old Dominion University. At Rutgers Young was coach of the 1976 Scarlet Knights, a team noted for having an undefeated regular season...
, who had recently left his job as an assistant coach at Maryland University to become head coach at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
, saw him play there, and although Washington did not perform particularly well, Young was impressed by his hustle and how he ignored the poor treatment he received from the people who organized the game.
College years
During the summer between his senior year of high school and his freshman year of college, Washington grew four inches. He began an intense regimen of weight training, and ran up and down the flights of steps in his seven-story dormitory building wearing a weighted vest to improve his endurance. Washington became more extroverted in college, so much so that he later said his life could be separated into two parts—his pre-college life and his life after college. He has frequently described his college years as "the happiest time in my life." He began dating his future wife Pat when he was a freshman. They met after she noticed him accidentally scoring four consecutive points for the opposing team in a freshman basketball game. She pursued him even though he often remained silent when she spent time with him. A lot of the emergence of Washington's personality is credited to Pat, who encouraged him to be more outgoing and overcome his low self-esteem. Washington spent a lot of his free time practicing in the gym. He played playground basketball in the summer, and was on several Urban League teams. He averaged 19.4 points and 22.3 rebounds on his freshman team at American. Pat helped him with his grades—despite the fact that he had done well his senior year of high school he was still far behind; he did not even know what a paragraph was when he entered college or how to write a report.He averaged 18.6 points on 46.8 percent shooting and 20.5 rebounds in his first year of varsity basketball. He still played a somewhat unaggressive or "soft" brand of basketball, and it was hurting his chances of being drafted by a professional team. Between his sophomore and junior years he began lifting weights with Trey Coleman, a former football player from the University of Nebraska who was studying as an undergrad at American. Coleman encouraged him to be more aggressive on the court, and Washington told him that it was not in his nature. Coleman admonished him, telling him he could not afford to be "cool" on the court given his talent level if he wanted to join the pro ranks. Washington was named an academic All-American his junior year. He averaged 21.0 points on 54.4 percent shooting and an NCAA-leading 19.8 rebounds in his junior season. He was drafted after his junior season by the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
(ABA) and offered a four year contract for $100,000 a year, which astonished him. He decided to stay at American with coach Young for his senior season because he felt he owed the school which had given him a chance when he was coming out of a difficult period in high school. He was offered an invite to try for the 1972 Olympic basketball team after the season, but did not make the squad.
Washington was one of the best players in the country going into his senior season. He marveled at newspaper reports in the Washington Post that mentioned "coaches of opposing teams and how they were planning to stop Kermit Washington." He led the nation in rebounding again in his senior season. He was a second team All-American
1973 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans
The Consensus 1973 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of four major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Associated Press, the USBWA, The United Press International and the...
, and helped American into the National Invitation Tournament
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
(NIT). In the last game of his college career, Washington needed to score 39 points to average 20 points and 20 rebounds a game for his career in college. He became extremely nervous before the game and could neither eat nor sleep. The game set American University attendance records, and Washington felt light on his feet when he was introduced before the raucous crowd. He managed to score 40 points and in so doing, became just the seventh player to reach the 20/20 mark. He was thrown a party, and there was a campus wide celebration after the game. He graduated with a 3.37 GPA
Grade (education)
Grades are standardized measurements of varying levels of comprehension within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in letters , as a range , as a number out of a possible total , as descriptors , in percentages, or, as is common in some post-secondary...
and a degree in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. Washington was a two-time Academic All-American, who taught courses in social sciences his senior year.
Professional years
Washington was drafted fifth overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1973 NBA Draft1973 NBA Draft
The 1973 NBA Draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on April 24, 1973 before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players...
. A week before the team began training camp, Pat and Kermit were married. They invited neither of their families; they just drove together to LA's city hall for the ceremony. He had a difficult time making the transition from college center to NBA power forward. In basketball, many players succeed in high school and college due to superior physical skills, but when they arrive in the professional ranks, they are typically going against players that are often as physically gifted as them. Washington also had played in a primarily zone defense
Zone defense
Zone defense is a type of defense, used in team sports, which is the alternative to man-to-man defense; instead of each player guarding a corresponding player on the other team, each defensive player is given an area known as a "zone" to cover....
system in college and was not versed in man-to-man defense
Man-to-man defense
Man-to-man defense is a type of defensive tactic used in American football, association football, and basketball in which each player is assigned to defend and follow the movements of a single player on offense. Often, a player guards his counterpart , but a player may be assigned to guard a...
, which is more common in the NBA. He arrived on a team which had legend Jerry West
Jerry West
Jerry Alan West is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His nicknames include "Mr...
, who was in the waning stages of a career that would result in him becoming the silhouette seen on the NBA's logo. Washington admits that he was terrified of West, and felt anxiety every time he made a mistake in front of him. Though healthy, he played in only 45 games and averaged 8.9 minutes a game his rookie season. He hurt his back that year but kept quiet about it, fearing he would be "labeled soft." The injury would bother him the rest of his career. He continued to struggle in his second season, and discovered that finding individual coaching in the professional game at that time was difficult. Between the rigorous schedule, and the coaches assuming players already knew how to play for the most part when they entered the league, no one, including head coach Bill Sharman
Bill Sharman
William Walton "Bill" Sharman is a former professional basketball player and coach. Sharman completed high school in the rural city of Porterville, California and is mostly known for his time with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what some consider the greatest...
, was willing to work with him on a one-on-one basis.
Entering his fourth season, Washington knew the only thing keeping him in the league was his guaranteed contract and that the Lakers had essentially written him off. The organization felt he had the requisite physical skills, so they ascribed his failure to excel to mental deficiencies. Washington was particularly disturbed when in a game against Golden State
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, he got into an awkward collision with Rick Barry
Rick Barry
Richard Francis Dennis Barry III , better known as Rick Barry, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is considered by many veteran basketball observers to be one of the greatest pure small forwards of all time as a result of his very precise outside shot, uncanny court vision,...
, upon which Barry remarked: "Listen, you better learn how to play this game." The criticism especially bothered Washington because he felt Barry's rebuke was correct. Desperate to improve, he contacted Pete Newell
Pete Newell
Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses...
at the recommendation of an agent. Newell was a retired pro and college coach who worked in a front office position with the Lakers, and had drafted Washington when he was then the team's GM. In truth, while Newell says he felt some responsibility considering he drafted him, he was involved in many player transactions over the course of his long career, and was not especially attached to Washington. He was surprised by this request however, and unhappy with his new highly marginalized job within the organization, so Newell agreed to meet Washington for individual drills. He scheduled the practices very early in the morning to test Washington's dedication, thinking a professional athlete would not bother to get up at that hour every day. Washington showed up without complaint and Newell put him through intense training sessions. Newell is often seen as a kind, gentlemanly person, who is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the game of basketball. In private practice however, he could be an intense, unforgiving teacher, and he was even more unforgiving than usual with Washington as he felt that if he were to offer his services for free he would only do so if the player was willing to train maniacally.
Newell had Washington watch tapes of Paul Silas
Paul Silas
Paul Theron Silas is a retired American professional basketball player and current head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats. He attended Creighton University, where he set an NCAA record for the most rebounds in three seasons and averaged 20.6 rebounds per game in 1963...
, who was a rebounding forward for the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, and convinced him to have more confidence in his offensive game. He reworked Washington's game from the ground up, and in so doing established a name for himself as a tremendous coach of big men—he would later conduct a yearly "Big Man Camp" in Hawaii which has been attended by hundreds of NBA players.
Los Angeles had acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...
, and Washington's style of play complemented him, as Jabbar was not an especially physical player. Washington played well, averaging 9.7 points and 9.3 rebounds, however he struggled with tendinitis in his knee the entire season. His wife pleaded with him to sit out some games, but he took painkillers and kept playing. Washington finally tore the patella tendon in a late season game against Denver
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
. "I could feel it tearing inside. I looked down, and my kneecap was hanging on the side of my leg." Doctors covered his entire leg in a cast and told him his basketball career was most likely over.
Newell was the person to bring Washington out of the despair he felt when he heard his playing career was probably over. Newell forced him through even more grueling training sessions the following summer, after some of which, Washington strongly considered quitting. His leg had atrophied
Atrophy
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...
from the injury and he was scared of re-injuring it during their training sessions. Newell ignored his pleas and told him that if he ever wanted to play again he had to train more than before and work even harder. Washington came back to play the following season and performed well; through the first 25 games he was averaging career highs in points (11.6) and rebounds (10.8). He had been featured in the NBA preview edition of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
(which was dedicated to enforcers that year) before the season and was praised therein for his intimidating nature and fighting skills. The magazine had posed Washington shirtless in a boxing stance as part of a picture layout entitled, "Nobody, but Nobody, Is Gonna Hurt My Teammates."
Infamous punch
On December 9, 1977, during an NBA game between the Lakers and the Houston RocketsHouston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
, a scuffle broke out between several players at midcourt.
The events that precipitated the fight have been frequently debated, and variously interpreted. Two months earlier, on opening night of the season, the Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and currently plays at the Bradley Center....
. Bucks center Kent Benson
Kent Benson
Michael Kent Benson is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player.-1969-1973:...
elbowed Jabbar in the stomach, and Jabbar appeared to be in intense pain. Jabbar then punched Benson from behind, breaking Benson's jaw and his own hand. Washington got into a brawl with several Buffalo Braves
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
players a few games later. In the December game, at the beginning of the game's second half, Lakers guard Norm Nixon
Norm Nixon
Norman Ellard "Norm" Nixon is a retired American professional basketball player for the NBA, who spent twelve seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers.-Early life:...
missed a shot. Houston's Kevin Kunnert
Kevin Kunnert
Kevin Robert Kunnert is a retired American basketball player in the NBA. A 7'0" and 230 lb center-forward, was drafted out of the University of Iowa by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1973 NBA Draft...
and Washington both contended for the rebound, which Kunnert eventually got and passed out to teammate John Lucas
John Lucas II
John Harding Lucas II is a retired American professional basketball player and a current assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers.-Basketball playing career and substance abuse:...
. Their battle for the rebound was more physical than usual however. Jabbar became involved and wrestled with Kunnert. As a result, Kermit Washington stayed behind in the backcourt in order to watch over and make sure nothing happened. After the two disengaged, Washington grabbed Kunnert's shorts in order to prevent him from getting back over on offense quickly. Kunnert threw an elbow that hit Washington on the upper arm and this move spun him around so that he was facing Washington. What happened next is disputed: Washington, several Lakers, and Rocket forward Robert Reid
Robert Reid (basketball)
Robert Keith Reid is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'8" forward from St. Mary's University, Texas, Reid played thirteen seasons in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Houston Rockets, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Philadelphia 76ers...
insisted that Kunnert punched him, Kunnert said Washington swung first after he attempted to free himself from Washington's grasp. The referee who saw the action saw merely a "skuffle" between Kunnert and Jabbar followed by the one between Kunnert and Washington then Washington's punch. Both Washington and Jabbar reject this account.
Kareem then ran up behind Kunnert and grabbed his arms to try to pull him away from the scuffle. But this only left him defenseless for Washington's first punch, which hit Kunnert in the head and brought him down on one knee.
Washington saw Tomjanovich running toward the altercation. Not knowing that he intended to break up the fight, Washington hit Tomjanovich with a roundhouse punch. The blow, which took Tomjanovich by surprise, fractured his face about one-third of an inch (8 mm) away from his skull and left Tomjanovich unconscious in a pool of blood in the middle of the arena. Jabbar likened the sound of the punch to a watermelon being dropped onto concrete. Tomjanovich had a reputation around the league as a peacemaker. Players involved say that right after Tomjanovich collapsed the absence of sound at the arena, which was filled with shocked fans, was "the loudest silence you have ever heard." Reporters heard the sound of the punch all in the way in the second floor press box
Press box
The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box. In general, newspaper writers sit in this box and write about the on-field event as it unfolds...
, and some rushed to the playing floor in disbelief.
Tomjanovich was able to get up and walk around however, and on the way into the locker room he saw Washington. Tomjanovich says that he became aggressive and asked Washington why he punched him. Washington yelled something inaudible about Kunnert, and they were broken up by two security personnel. Tomjanovich was in no condition to fight despite his aggressiveness; besides having the bone structure of his face detached from his skull and suffering a cerebral concussion and broken jaw and nose, he was leaking blood and spinal fluid into his skull capsule. His skull was fractured in such a way that Tomjanovich could taste the spinal fluid leaking into his mouth. He later recalled that at the time of the incident, he believed the scoreboard had fallen on him. The doctor who worked on Tomjanovich said "I have seen many people with far less serious injuries not make it" and likened the surgery to Scotch taping together a badly shattered eggshell.
Aftermath
Worsening matters for Washington, the only available replay of the incident showed just his punch, not the scuffle that preceded it. This made the attack appear unprovoked, and Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, then watched by an average of 30 to 35 million people, replayed the punch countless times as a gag, having cast member Garrett Morris
Garrett Morris
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...
comically defend the punch. It was also the subject of a New York Times editorial and investigated on CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
by Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
. Washington was fined $10,000, and suspended for 60 days, missing 26 games; then the longest suspension for an on-court incident in NBA history. The Rockets were furious. Tomjanovich missed the rest of the season and they felt Washington should at least have done likewise.
On-court fights had been all too common in the 1970s, often including bench-clearing brawl
Bench-clearing brawl
A bench-clearing brawl, sometimes known as a basebrawl or a rhubarb, is a form of ritualistic fighting that occurs in sports, most notably baseball and ice hockey, in which every player on both teams leave their dugouts, bullpens, or benches and charge the playing area in order to fight one...
s. In the season opener, when Jabbar punched Benson, no suspension had been levied. However, Washington's punch resulted in the league enacting strict penalties for on-court fights. Current NBA commissioner David Stern
David Stern
David Joel Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien...
, then the NBA's chief counsel, later said that the incident made NBA officials realize that "you couldn't allow men that big and that strong to go around throwing punches at each other." As of 2010, any player who attempts to punch another—even if he misses—is automatically ejected from the game, and suspended for at least his team's next game. Under these rules, Tomjanovich would have also drawn a suspension for being the third man to enter a fight. The league added a third referee to its game crew after the season; this referee would have trailed the play and could have called a foul when Washington grabbed Kunnert's shorts, thereby potentially stopping the play and preventing the melee that succeeded it.
Washington received no support from the Lakers front office, aside from a single call the day after the fight from Cook, and was sent torrents of hate mail
Hate mail
Hate mail is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient...
filled with racial epithets. He was advised by police not to order room service when he played again, as it was feared he would be poisoned. Larry Fleisher, head of the Players' Association, wanted Washington to appeal his suspension, an idea which he originally considered, but ultimately rejected. Although many players around the league sympathized with Washington and said that he had a good reputation off the court, he and his wife became ostracized. They had a two year old daughter, and Washington's wife was eight months pregnant with the couple's first son at the time of the punch. His wife recalls her and the children being treated like pariahs after the incident. Her obstetrician refused her service because she was Washington's wife, and her friends asked her what kind of person Washington was that he could commit such an act. The only person who contacted them was Newell. Later in the year Washington went to his home with a big screen television which he insisted Newell accept.
On December 27, 1977, just two weeks after the incident, Washington was traded to the Boston Celtics. Red Auerbach
Red Auerbach
Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was an American basketball coach of the Washington Capitols, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Boston Celtics. After he retired from coaching, he served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his death...
, Boston's general manager, had been a longtime fan of Washington's. Years later, then-coach Jerry West
Jerry West
Jerry Alan West is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His nicknames include "Mr...
told John Feinstein
John Feinstein
John Feinstein is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator who wrote the top two best-selling non-fiction sports books in history, A Good Walk Spoiled and A Season on the Brink.-Early life:...
he still wanted Washington on the roster, and then-general manager Bill Sharman
Bill Sharman
William Walton "Bill" Sharman is a former professional basketball player and coach. Sharman completed high school in the rural city of Porterville, California and is mostly known for his time with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s, partnering with Bob Cousy in what some consider the greatest...
said he was "on the fence." Then-owner Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
however, decided to move on. Pat stayed behind as the couple had two young children, and Washington would be staying in a hotel. While he waited for his reinstatement, which he thought would not occur until the next season, he became depressed and fell out of shape. He pulled himself together, and began running up and down the flights of stairs of the 29 story hotel.
He started alongside Hall of Fame center Dave Cowens
Dave Cowens
David William Cowens is a retired American professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At 6'9", he played the center and occasionally the power forward position. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991...
, who enjoyed playing with Washington, remarking "It's great fun, you can always hear him grunt when he's rebounding." Auerbach said "Kermit was fighting a battle he couldn't win. Nothing he could say or do was going to change the way people perceived him because of that moment. I wanted him to feel at home with us, to feel wanted." Washington won Boston fans over immediately. His acceptance was aided by a glowing article Bob Ryan
Bob Ryan
Bob Ryan is an American sportswriter for The Boston Globe. He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru and is well known for his coverage of the sport including his famous stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s. After graduating from Boston...
of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
wrote on the player after researching his life and spending some time with him. After the season, Washington took less money to re-sign with the Celtics over the Denver Nuggets
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
.
Later career
Washington became involved in one of more unusual player transactions in NBA history. Celtics owner Irv LevinIrv Levin
Irving H. Levin was an American film producer and business executive with the National General Corporation...
wanted to move closer to his home and business interests in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
but continue to own an NBA team. To solve this problem, he and John Y. Brown, Jr.
John Y. Brown, Jr.
This article is about one of four John Young Browns, from Kentucky, that have served political office. For others see: John Young Brown ...
, owner of the Buffalo Braves, exchanged franchises. Levin then moved the Braves to San Diego, where they were renamed the Clippers. Washington was one of four Celtics sent to San Diego as part of the deal. On November 11, 1978, San Diego played in Houston. Tomjanovich scored 26 points and collected 11 rebounds to Washington's six and two. Before the game, the Clippers coach, Gene Shue
Gene Shue
Eugene William "Gene" Shue is a retired American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association . During his playing days he was a 6'2" 170 lb guard....
, had suggested to the Rockets coach, Tom Nissalke
Tom Nissalke
Thomas Edward "Tom" Nissalke is a retired former American professional basketball coach in the NBA and American Basketball Association...
, that the players shake hands at center court prior to tipoff. Tomjanovich rejected the idea.
After a year in San Diego, Washington was traded again. Levin decided to acquire Portland center Bill Walton
Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while...
even though Walton had missed the entire 1978–79 season due to broken bones in his foot. Since the Blazers and Clippers could not agree on compensation, the commissioner's office made the final decision, sending Washington, Kunnert and Randy Smith
Randy Smith (basketball)
Randolph "Randy" Smith was an American professional basketball player who set the NBA record for consecutive games played. From 1972-1982, Smith played in every regular season game, en route to a then-record of 906 straight games...
to Portland in exchange for the center. This became the second time he had been traded along with Kunnert. The center signed with Boston before the 1978–79 season even though Washington was on the team because the Celtics offered him the most money. There remained a mostly quiet discord between the two as Washington felt Kunnert never properly acknowledged his role in the fight.
Portland had strongly desired Washington, and their general manager Stu Inman
Stu Inman
Stu Inman was an American executive and interim coach in the National Basketball Association. He was selected in the 6th round of the 1950 NBA Draft from San Jose State University by the Chicago Stags; however, he did not play in the NBA.In 1970, Inman was one of several people who started the...
, was a close friend of Pete Newell's. Inman had worked hard through Newell to let Washington know that they intended this to be the last time he was traded. This was important as the media coverage and re-locations had been hard on Pat and the children. To his great relief, the city of Portland welcomed Washington with open arms. Portland had one of the more rabid fan bases in the league, and everywhere Washington went he was treated like a beloved celebrity.
During the same off-season, Tomjanovich and the Rockets civil suit vs. the Lakers occurred. Houston's side argued that Los Angeles had failed to control Washington. During the trial, numerous players and coaches who where at the game testified, while Washington sat at the defense table, listening to himself be portrayed as a dangerous rogue. A jury awarded Tomjanovich $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.25 million in damages, even though the original sum sought was only $2.6 million. When the trial was over, two or more of the six Texas jurors requested Tomjanovich's autograph. Kunnert testified during the trial and contradicted Washington's testimony, angrily branding him a liar. While the two were playing for San Diego, their wives became close friends, but their relationship only worsened over time; Washington believed the NBA was keeping Kunnert on his team to prevent him from suing him. Jack Ramsay
Jack Ramsay
Jack T. Ramsay is an American former basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack" . He is best known for coaching the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA Title, and for his broadcasting work with the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat, and for ESPN TV and ESPN Radio...
, Portland's coach, however, said that he chose Kunnert over San Diego center Swen Nater
Swen Nater
Swen Eric Nater is a retired Dutch professional basketball player, primarily in the ABA and NBA.-Basketball career:Nater helped John Wooden's UCLA Bruins win two NCAA titles....
when his team was asked by the league to submit a list of players they considered fair compensation for Walton.
Washington shared time at the Trail Blazers power forward spot with Maurice Lucas
Maurice Lucas
Maurice Lucas was an American professional basketball player. The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels...
at first, but after Lucas' trade to the New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, he became the full time starter. He played three seasons in Portland, during which he earned a spot in the 1980 NBA All-Star Game
1980 NBA All-Star Game
GAME 30: at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md., Feb. 3, 1980MVP: George GervinCoaches: East: Billy Cunningham, West: Lenny Wilkens.Television: CBSAnnouncers: Brent Musburger, Bill Russell, Rod Hundley-Western Conference: -Eastern Conference:...
, after some of the top players sat out due to injury. During that All-Star weekend, which was held in Landover, Maryland
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover...
, nearby American held a halftime ceremony in which they retired Washington's number. He was named a team captain for the following season. In his post-punch career, numerous players, coaches, and officials noted that he became less aggressive on the court out of fear of getting into another fight; something he never did. Washington started experiencing pain in his back and knees during the 1980–81 season. The pain became unbearable during the 1981–82 season, and he retired in January 1982 after missing all but 20 games. In 1987, after more than five years out of the league, he tried to make a comeback with the Warriors, but lasted only eight games on the roster (playing in six of them) before being cut.
Retirement
Since retiring, Washington has run restaurants and is a founder and operator of a number of charitable organizationCharitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
s. He ran a restaurant in Portland with former Blazer teammate Kevin Duckworth
Kevin Duckworth
Kevin Jerome Duckworth was an American professional basketball player at center in the National Basketball Association. A native of Illinois, he played college basketball at Eastern Illinois University before being drafted in 1986 in the second round by the San Antonio Spurs...
. He has also served in a coaching role with Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and worked at Pete Newell
Pete Newell
Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses...
's fabled "Big Man Camp" for 15 years. In 1995 he founded The 6th Man Foundation, otherwise known as Project Contact Africa. In August 1994, Washington accompanied a team of doctors and nurses on a humanitarian mission to Goma
Goma
Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the western branch of the Great Rift Valley, and Goma lies only 13 to 18 km due south of the crater of the active...
, Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
, working in a refugee camp
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
helping victims of the bloody Rwandan Civil War
Rwandan Civil War
The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict within the Central African nation of Rwanda between the government of President Juvénal Habyarimana and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front...
. The stench of death and human waste extended for miles. "It was a sad, sad sight," Washington later recalled, "a sight I'll never forget."
After his career, Washington has complained of treatment he has received in relation to his punching of Tomjanovich. Washington has sought to portray himself as a victim of the fight and appears to have exaggerated some of the misfortunes that came his way as a result of it. Washington told The New York Times that he has been refused work as a coach time and again. However, Tom Davis
Tom Davis (basketball)
Dr. Thomas "Dr. Tom" Davis is an American former college men's basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Lafayette College, Boston College, Stanford University, the University of Iowa, and Drake University from 1971 to 2007....
hired him as an assistant coach at Stanford, and Davis wanted to bring him to Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
when he went to coach there. Washington stayed at Stanford and later quit his assistant coaching position, and he subsequently worked as strength and conditioning coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Washington also claimed that American University cut off contact with him after he punched Tomjanovich. However, this appears to be a misrepresentation of certain events. When he tried to become athletic director of American in 1995, the school offered to hire him as assistant to the athletic director, since Washington had no front office experience. When confronted about this Washington stated: "I didn't see why I couldn't be the AD so they could use my name out front and then have someone with more experience be my assistant." John Feinstein
John Feinstein
John Feinstein is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator who wrote the top two best-selling non-fiction sports books in history, A Good Walk Spoiled and A Season on the Brink.-Early life:...
and others have suggested that the most lasting damage caused by the fight between Washington and Tomjanovich has been to Washington's self image, and his supposed refusal to accept responsibility for his actions in that fight. Pat later said it went deeper than that, as when she met him in college:
Washington currently lives in the Washington, DC area, where he is employed as a regional representative of the National Basketball Players Association
National Basketball Players Association
The National Basketball Players Association is a trade association that represents basketball players in the National Basketball Association . It was previously a labor union before dissolving during the 2011 NBA lockout. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major...
.
Sources
- Chin, Oliver Clyde. The Tao of Yao: Insights from Basketball's Brightest Big Man. California: Frog, LTD. 2003 ISBN 1583940901
- Feinstein, JohnJohn FeinsteinJohn Feinstein is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator who wrote the top two best-selling non-fiction sports books in history, A Good Walk Spoiled and A Season on the Brink.-Early life:...
. The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever. Little, Brown 2002 0316279722 - Halberstam, DavidDavid HalberstamDavid Halberstam was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian, known for his early work on the Vietnam War, his work on politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and his later sports journalism.-Early life and education:Halberstam...
. The Breaks of the GameThe Breaks of the GameThe Breaks of the Game is a 1981 sports book written by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Halberstam about the Portland Trail Blazers' 1979–1980 season. The Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team which plays in the National Basketball Association...
. Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
1981 ISBN 1401309720 - Lamovsky, Jesse, Rosetti, Matthew, & DeMarco, Charlie. The Worst of Sports: Chumps, Cheats, and Chokers from the Games We Love. Ballantine Books 2007 ISBN 0345498917
- Lazenby, RolandRoland LazenbyRoland Lazenby is an American sportswriter and educator.Lazenby has written more than five dozen nonfiction books, mainly about basketball and American football...
. The Show: The Inside Story of the Spectacular Los Angeles Lakers In The Words of Those Who Lived It. McGraw-Hill 2005 ISBN 0071430342 - Mandelbaum, Michael. The Meaning Of Sports: why americans watch baseball, football and basketball and what they see when they do. New York: Public Affairs 2004 ISBN 1586483307
- Simmons, BillBill SimmonsWilliam J. "Bill" Simmons III is a sports columnist, author, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!...
. The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy. (ebook) ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
2009 ISBN 034551176X
External links
- Kermit Washington's charity website
- Legal Timeout with Kermit... The Coach by Jeff Twiss @ NBA.com
- Where Are They Now- Kermit Washington by Laura Kurz @ nbrpa.com
- Career Statistics from Basketball-Reference.com