Connie & Jack: A Rigged Game
All 9 Episodes Out Now. Binge the unbelievable true story of Connie & Jack.
Based on a true story, this podcast follows Connie Hawkins — a once-in-a-generation NYC basketball superstar who, in 1961, is expelled from college and later blackballed from the NBA for a crime he didn’t commit. His downfall is his association with Jack Molinas, an ex-NBA All-Star turned mob fixer.
Connie & Jack: A Rigged Game
Episode 9: Enter the Connie-verse
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The oversized underdog finally gets his shot in the NBA. We follow Connie's highly anticipated rookie season with the Phoenix Suns, where he faces colossal expectations despite a bad knee. We then enter the “Connie-verse,” exploring the alternate reality of what his career and legacy could have been if the NBA hadn't blackballed him. Finally, we chart the contrasting lives of Connie Hawkins and Jack Molinas, revealing what their intertwined stories say about America.
CREDITS
Created by: Bo Belanger
Written and Produced by: Bo Belanger
Theme Song: "Blame" by Gabriels
Music: Bo Belanger and Udio
VO: Shawn Hawkins, Bo Belanger and ElevenLabs
Sound Design and Mix: Dave Wagg and Collin Thomas
Art: Lincoln Lopes
Special Thanks: Shawn Hawkins, Dave Wolf, Charley Rosen and Kristen Farnam Belanger
Welcome back to Connie and Jack, a rigged game. This is the ninth and final episode. Enter the Connieverse. In the eighth episode, Connie, the Littman's inspector, won their lawsuit against the NBA and got a million dollar settlement from the league. The little scrappy team had beaten Goliath and embarrassed the NBA along the way, exposing their callous treatment of Connie as they wrongfully blackballed him all those years. As we pick back up with our oversized underdog, he's headed out to Phoenix to play for the Suns as a 27-year-old rookie with a bad name.
SPEAKER_16The expectations for Connie entering his rookie season were enormous. The quotes of his greatness seemed never ending as the 69-70 season approached.
SPEAKER_12The SI staff wrote in their NBA preview, Hawkins's talent, though not so overwhelming as El Cinder's, is often more enjoyable to watch, and since he has played in exile for so long, he has the same effect upon the observer that a lost Rembrandt discovered in an attic as upon an art hunter. His trademark, like a Baylor corkscrew drive or a Russell block, is his hesitation hook, delivered with an elegance that no man his size should possess. Hawkins sweeps toward the basket with long strides, veers to the right, leaps high, holds the ball outstretched away from the basket, hangs suspended for two heartbeats, and at last flips the ball through the rim.
SPEAKER_16S.I.
SPEAKER_07writer Tex Maul said, Connie may be the most skillful passer among all the big men who ever played.
SPEAKER_16Bill Sharman, who'd coached against Connie, said, He plays between Robertson and Chamberlain.
SPEAKER_06He's almost as good as Oscar at passing, and he has that same ease on the court. Some superstars let you know they're doing super things by being flashy, but Connie and Oscar don't. They make great moves look so easy you think they really are.
SPEAKER_15Bill Nunn Jr. wrote in the new Pittsburgh Courier, Connie Hawkins is being described as Elgin Baylor, plus three inches. The description fits.
SPEAKER_16Vince Cassetta, Connie's championship coach with the Pipers, said, He was the best I've ever coached anywhere. Casseta also coached Elgin Baylor. Lou El Cinder said of Connie, I've seen him play against NBA players in pickup games and embarrass them. Phoenix Suns GM Jerry Calangelo, trying to sell season tickets, told the local press that their last in-the-league team, who'd only won 16 games the year before, could now make the playoffs with Connie. Connie was nervous. These expectations were a lot for anyone. Plus he had the bum knee. His operation in the spring had gone well, but true to form, the Minnesota franchise in the ABA rushed him back.
SPEAKER_12As Dave Wolfe wrote in Foul, Owner Bill Erickson needed Hawkins. Even half of Hawkins, if the Pipers were to survive in the playoffs, and a successful showing would bring a better price when Ericsson sold the team, so the owner pressed Hawk to return quickly.
SPEAKER_16Connie complied, but he never looked right, and they kept riding him. They got bounced in the first round. Connie's knee throbbed and swelled after every game. He told Dave Wolf.
SPEAKER_09Everybody was expecting I'd be like I was before, but I knew I wouldn't. I worried about how people would react if I couldn't do what they expected. And I worried even more how I would react. I was working so hard on the therapy. I was excited, but I was depressed. I had to prove I was as good as people said, as good as I knew I was, but my leg kept worrying me.
SPEAKER_16It took time for Connie to gain confidence in his knee that first NBA season. His brain had to catch up and trust his body. Another issue for the Suns was their chemistry. Guard Gail Goodrich and Connie bonded like Gore-Tex in raindrops. Giving goes became giving gons. Most everyone thought the offense should run through Connie. Goodrich didn't. In fact, people at times thought he was icing Connie out. But it was an improvement to their defense that began turning things around, thanks to assistant coach Scotty McDonald. This was before each team had a slew of assistants, so Scotty didn't even have a seat on the bench. He'd scurry from empty seat to empty seat throughout the arena during games and yell instructions from all angles.
SPEAKER_12As Wolfe wrote, The Suns remained a weak defensive team, but even in a few practices, Scotty improved them considerably.
SPEAKER_09Connie said, He also helped our confidence. He made us feel we could be winners. And I think some of his emotionalism got to us too. I liked his style. He was outspoken. He had a don't give a damn attitude. And he cared so much about the game. I never met anyone who could explain things like him. He talked basketball with you 24 hours a day. He was a beautiful man.
SPEAKER_16The feeling was mutual. McDonald saw Connie as an unpolished gem and wrote to a friend saying, I'm in love with him.
SPEAKER_05He is quite a human being and a great basketball player. If I ever get a real chance to devote time and energy to it, he will be the best that ever played the game.
SPEAKER_16When GM Jerry Calangelo replaced his friend Johnny Kerr as coach, the team took another positive step. Kerr had deferred to Goodrich, but Calangelo ran the offense to Connie. It was a no-brainer. The team wondered why it took so long. Connie was a better passer and playmaker, despite his size. It was like driving a pinto when you had a Cadillac in your garage the whole time. They entered All-Star Weekend at 21 and 29, and even though the team was playing better, Connie didn't seem happy to Dave Wolf, who was traveling with him to write his book Foul. Wolf asked Connie point blank if he was happy. After a long pause, Connie said, I have security.
SPEAKER_09My name's clear, but right now, I'm tense. I can't relax till everything comes together. I've been struggling and struggling, and now I feel the momentum is finally going my way. But we've got to make the playoffs. If we make the playoffs, I can say I'm happy.
SPEAKER_16The Suns managed to whip off a couple of good runs in the second half of the season, including three in a row at the very end. This meant they entered their final regular season game against the San Diego Rockets, needing a win to make the playoffs. Connie recounted this game in basketball digest, saying, It came down to a March night in San Diego.
SPEAKER_09Our mission was simple: win and clinch a playoff berth in the Western Conference, where the Chicago Bulls, the Seattle Supersonics, and us were fighting for two playoff spots. We came out flat for some reason, and the Rockets, who had already been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race long before, didn't lay down and die. Elvin Hayes led them to a 17-point lead at halftime. Things looked bleak. Coach Jerry Colangelo got everyone together in the locker room and began to give us a pep talk. He was saying, Don't give up.
SPEAKER_08We still have a shot. We can still win this game. Blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_09I got up and walked into the bathroom. Paul Silas was there, and our eyes met for a second. He kind of shook his head and began to speak.
SPEAKER_10He said, Man, everybody is talking about how great you are, and you're this and you're that. Now you have a chance to show how great you are.
SPEAKER_09I began to think about his words. Silas was one of those guys from the old school of basketball. And I guess he saw something in me, I didn't see in myself, that I had the capability of playing better. Then I began to think about the long road to this point. Being expelled by Iowa, being blackballed by the NBA, finally getting to play with the Suns. All the effort to help us get to respectability, fighting to prove myself in the league, even the astronomical number of hours I'd spent practicing in steamy gyms and playground blacktops. Standing in that bathroom, I found my life and career were at a crossroads. Which path was I going to choose? When the second half started, I felt like I couldn't be stopped. Tomahawk jam, jumper from the side, layup in traffic in the lane, everything I was putting up was going in. It was a classic case of what players now call being in the zone. It doesn't happen all the time for anyone, but when it does, it feels great. And as almost every one of my shots went in, we began to make a dent in the deficit. The 17-point deficit became 14 by the end of three quarters. Then it was 10, 8, 6, 4. With just seconds left, we had the ball and a one-point deficit. I had scored 29 points in the second half. So who do you think was gonna get the ball to take the final shot on which our whole season rested? Me, of course. And after I hit that shot with five seconds left to give us the 130 to 129 win and assure us of a trip to the playoffs, I went back into the locker room and realized that the road was long, but I finally hit a run.
SPEAKER_16Connie finished that final regular season game win with 40, 20, and 8, and he delivered on Calangelo's bold playoff prediction to Phoenix fans before the season. It was a 23-win turnaround from the year before. Trivia! Who tops him on the list of rookies providing their teams with the biggest turnaround in wins from the season before? Alright, I love Tim Duncan, but he has an asterisk at the top of this list with a 36-win turnaround because David Robinson was injured the year before he came in. Speaking of the Admiral, if you had him, congrats. He was an absolute force's rookie year and was plus 35, although they also drafted Sean Elliott that year and acquired Terry Cummings in a trade. No list is complete without the legend who was plus 32 for the Celts. Kareem was plus 29 for the Bucks. All to say, there's only been a handful of guys who've had a bigger impact than Connie did in their rookie year. The benefits of being an older rookie, perhaps. In the playoffs, they went up against the Lakers with Will, West and Baylor in the first round. It was cool symmetry for Connie to go against the Depper, the guy he idolized, but also the guy who did him a solid way back when in the summer of 61 at Rucker, when Connie was a pariah. Connie threw on the Chef hat and whipped up some inspired dishes in the series, averaging 25, 14, and 6. Irmust, if you love load management, he averaged 47 minutes a game. They took a 3-1 lead against the heavy favorites, partly due to Connie's brilliance, partly due to the fact that the Lakers' three stars couldn't stand each other, a combustible chemistry experiment from the get-go. But the Lakers righted the ship in the nick of time and beat the Suns in seven. They'd eventually fall in the finals yet again, this time to the Knicks, a remarkable 0-7 record in the finals over the previous nine seasons, and still winless since they moved to LA. Somewhere, Abe Saperstein was smiling. In the Suns locker room after Game 7, their final playoff game, Dave Wolf quoted Paul Silas, who said about Connie, That dude, he's the biggest reason for everything we accomplished.
SPEAKER_10What he did this year was amazing. Man, his whole life is amazing. When I try and imagine what he's gone through, a proud man like Hawk, being an outcast, playing with the Globetrotters, I feel I'm gonna break down and cry. I think back to when Connie and I played in that all-star game in New Jersey right after high school. I try and conceive what it would have been like for me at that age to have my college years taken away, to be scorned as a crook, to be forced to go out and face life. I couldn't have handled it. I don't know how Hulk kept his sanity, but he did. And now he's proved he's as great as they say, and this is just the beginning. Next season, Connie's gonna put everything together and show he's the greatest player in the world.
SPEAKER_16Connie played with Phoenix for four years, an all-star every year. They were meaningful years for the young franchise. As Jerry Coangelo said, The Hawk put us on the map.
SPEAKER_08He gave us credibility immediately. That's something you can't ever forget.
SPEAKER_16Connie got the city excited about basketball, as Jim Goodrich wrote in Ebony.
SPEAKER_13Connie was the man most responsible for turning Phoenix into a basketball town. Around Phoenix, Hawkins's spectacular exploits on the basketball floor have evoked something akin to a mania. Everywhere, in coffee houses, bars, restaurants, and at the breakfast table. The topic is basketball, and people who never saw a game before Hawkins arrived in town now go regularly to see the Suns play in Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
SPEAKER_16Connie helped the league establish a franchise in Phoenix, and it came at a critical time for the NBA as it was expanding and needed guys with Connie's talent to keep young teams afloat in these new markets. Teams like the Lakers and Knicks were fine in the early 70s, but many teams struggled. Even the Celtics, after ripping off the best decade in the history of team sports, considered a move to Long Island. Though it wasn't all fun in the sun during Connie's time in Phoenix, by his fourth year, Calangelo was fed up with him. He questioned Connie's motivation, and he wasn't alone. Alan Goldstein wrote in the Baltimore Sun.
SPEAKER_07In a November 26th game with the Lakers, Colangelo asked Hawkins to return to the game in the first quarter. The Hawk refused. An infuriated Calangelo ordered him to the showers and later fined him$1,000 for insubordination. The strong mutual bond between the coach and his star player had finally snapped. Calangelo explained the heavy fine, saying, More than any other player during the last four years, I have been over backwards for Connie.
SPEAKER_08I gave him the co-captaincy this season with Dick Van Arsdale in an attempt to motivate him. In a situation like this, you can't have insubordination. Even our players were mad at him. I've tried everything in the world, but you can only get slapped so many times. I'm a little tired of treating him like a 10-year-old. The best basketball he has given the Phoenix Suns was during the final half of his first season in the league when he had tremendous self-motivation. I am convinced he can no longer be motivated.
SPEAKER_16Local sports writer Joe Gil Martin agreed. He wrote of the quote, temperamental star, saying, The Hawk is a work of art.
SPEAKER_15Some nights he's poetry in motion, other nights, still life.
SPEAKER_16The Suns also thought Connie was distracted. At this time, he and Dave Wolf were promoting their book Foul. Again, Alan Goldstein wrote in the Baltimore Sun.
SPEAKER_07Even his playmates had grown weary of his seeming lack of interest in the team's welfare. During a recent road trip, Hawkins spent almost all his time off the court promoting his book with author Wolf. In exasperation, guard Charlie Scott screamed at Connie, F the book, man. Let's get a win. But nothing has really changed. Hawkins admits himself that he finds it difficult to get up for a game. He said recently, I guess when I was younger, I was more aggressive than I am now. Perhaps Hawkins is still dwelling in the past, as he noted recently.
SPEAKER_09I'm still bitter about what happened to me. Now, I'm where I always wanted to be, playing with the best. But because of those eight years I was blacklisted, I'll never know how great a ball player I could have been.
SPEAKER_16Connie successfully kept the bitterness at bay all those years in exile. And now that he had reached his goal, the mountaintop, the NBA, the bitterness crept back in. All those what-ifs, how comes, and if-onies returned to his mind. And though his motivation on the court flagged during the end of his son's run, the fans' love for him didn't. He remained a beloved part of the Phoenix community. His impact off the court was as large as on it. He gave back to Phoenix just as he'd done in Pittsburgh, where he ran summer basketball clinics in the Hill District to give underprivileged kids the encouragement that Gene Smith at the Y gave him decades before. Jerry Urick, who was a young Sons fan when Connie played for the team, told the Arizona Republic, To a young fan, he was what every young man would dream his idol to be.
SPEAKER_04A man who would take time out for you and make you feel important and special. I wish that every kid could meet their idol. And I wish that every idol treated that kid like Connie Hawkins treated me.
SPEAKER_16Connie had the magic touch. He genuinely cared about people and was generous with his time.
SPEAKER_18Longtime Phoenix broadcaster Jude Lacava said, He had the best sense of humor and a smile that could win over anyone.
SPEAKER_16When Colangelo eventually dealt Connie to the Lakers, a Suns fan named Cindy Pittman wrote to the Arizona Republic, I agree with the man who thinks we should have a Connie Hawkins night.
SPEAKER_00Whenever some kids needed some help in Phoenix, Connie was there. Not only did Calangelo take Connie from the fans that love him, but from those kids that love him so much. How is Calangelo going to repay all those kids? Calangelo may give his money to different charities, but Connie went directly to them and gave his love. And that's what they needed most. Please help us not let Connie Hawkins be forgotten. We love you for it. If the Hawk is forgotten after all he has done for Phoenix, we don't deserve a beautiful person like Connie Hawkins.
SPEAKER_16Connie played a couple of years with the Lakers and then one final year with the Hawks in 75-76. He knew it was over one night when he missed an uncontested dunk.
SPEAKER_09He looked over at his coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and said, Either they gotta lower the basket or raise the floor, because the Hawk can't soar no more.
SPEAKER_16He played seven years total in the NBA, plus two in the ABA, one in the ABL for 10 professional seasons, 13 if you include the Globetrotters. She is on the short list for the what-if careers, like Bill Walton or Len Bias, but with different circumstances. Injuries wrecked one, drugs another, and the commissioner the third. Worse still, Connie's story and legacy is largely misunderstood to this day. Case in point, one of the great NBA historians today, the always thoughtful Bill Simmons, even missed the mark on Connie. In his book, The Book of Basketball, he wrote that Connie was a misguided soul, which ironically is a misguided choice of words. As we've learned, Connie wasn't a victim of faulty judgment. He was a victim of predatory police interrogations, lazy journalism, and a callous and negligent MBA. The best source of truth for Connie's story is Dave Wolfe's book Foul. And that book is out of print, which is odd since it's such an excellent book. Hopefully this story, Connie and Jack, helps us better understand the life and career of Connie Hawkins. Connie wasn't named to the NBA 75 list in the fall of 2021. But once you know his story and you listen to how other players talked about him, and these were some of the best to ever do it, it's hard not to think about him when these lists come out. The winniest player in the history of the sport, Father GOAT Bill Russell, once picked his all-time pro team. He put Hawkins on the second five, noting that he might have been the best if he hadn't received such a bad deal. Wilt Chamberlain called Connie one of the three best basketball players I ever saw.
SPEAKER_14Karim Abdul Jabbar said, I've seen the best in the NBA, but I've never seen anybody better than Hawkins. Dr.
SPEAKER_15J said, My five was, is, and always will be Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell, with Connie Hawkins coming off the bench as my sixth man to play guard, forward, and center.
SPEAKER_16ABA great Roger Brown said, He was in a class by himself.
SPEAKER_15There are guys in the hall right now who can't carry his sneakers.
SPEAKER_03Another ABA great Mel Daniels said, I am convinced that the Connie Hawkins who led Pittsburgh to that first title could play in the NBA and be on the same level as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan are today.
SPEAKER_17Rick Barry said, As you look at basketball and the small forward position, there was a progression. You had Elgin, who was doing things that nobody had done before. And then really, the next guy was Connie, who took it to another level. Then Julius came along to take it to yet another level with the air in his game, and then Michael, though he was more of a two than a three. And now you've got LeBron.
SPEAKER_16So what does Connie's career look like in this alternate universe where he's not bullied into a false confession because he's afforded proper legal guidance, where people believe him when he says he's innocent. Where the NBA takes the time to look into his case and presumes an innocent rather than guilty. Let's enter the alternate Connyverse. He enters the league at 21 after proper college coaching the previous four years, going against Don Nelson every day in practice, plus very good Big Ten competition in the regular season. That's a remarkable Connie at 21. He's the top draft pick in 1964. Connie then gets premier coaching and plays against the best competition for the next six years instead of playing on the road for 300 plus games with the Globetrotters. He's a fast-track Hall of Famer by 27, instead of a rookie with a bad knee. It's impossible to predict if he would have won any rings, though with the Celtics' domination, unlikely. In regards to MVP trophies, centers dominated the race back then, so it's hard to give him one of those, though not unreasonable given how everyone talked about his game. Oscar snatched one from Russell and Chamberlain. Connie could have two. If you project his stats onto those lost years and factor in awards, you net out somewhere around 20,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 4,400 assists, all rookie first team, 9 time All-Star, 5 first team All-MBAs, and 2 second team All-MBAs. For context on the all-time 20,000 points, 9,000 boards, and 4,400 assists guys, the list gets pretty short, pretty fast. Lots of guys get to 20,000 points. The list cuts in half when you add in rebounds. But the big guys who can score, rebound, and pass at that rate, there aren't many. Connie would join a list of just five guys. Bonus trivia, who are they? Alright, it's Kareem, Malone, LeBron, Wilt, and Garnett. That's it. A lot of notable absences. Bird, just shy in rebounds. Oscar, also just shy in rebounds. Duncan, just shy and assists, as is Barkley. Though if you said Bird, Oscar, Barkley, or Duncan, give yourself a half point. They were close. Russ is also close. He needs more boards. Where's Magic? Not enough points. Dirk? Short on assists. Elgin, even shorter on assists. Jordan and Kobe, well short on boards. Even the durable Hablichek comes up short on boards. Pyle came up short on assists, and Durant will come up short on boards. These stat lists certainly don't tell a complete story, but it does paint an interesting historical picture in broad strokes. Back to our alternate, Connie doesn't get screwed universe. He would not have been on the NBA 25th anniversary team in 1971 because active players weren't allowed on that list, but he would have been on the 35th anniversary team in 1980, and the 50 greatest in 1996, and the NBA 75 list in 2021. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. Of course, it's unreasonable for today's basketball writers and NBA executives to factor this in. That would be ludicrous. Christ, we're in an alternate reality right now. But even in this Connie verse, it's still sad to think about. While he might not have been a top 5 or 10 all-time guy, you can safely say top 25. Another way to measure Connie's greatness and legacy is to look at his players' tree. While coaches have a very delineated coaching tree, what does a player's tree look like? Sometimes it's obvious and direct, a Kobe branch from a Michael trunk. Today it's not as clear to trace. Television allows the superstar's greatness to inspire kids around the world. But in Connie's day, as we've talked about, you had to see them in person, like him sneaking into MSG and having Elgin blow his mind, a Connie branch from an Elgin trunk. In the 60s, it's hard to think many players had a bigger impact, had a bigger player tree, were a bigger source of inspiration than Connie. He was a legend playing all day, all over the city in the late 50s and early 60s at the height of New York hoops, when the city seemed to churn out superstars like Model T's. The branches that Connie's trunk grew were guys that changed the game forever.
SPEAKER_14Here's a quote from one of them. He did things on the court that no one had even thought of doing before. He was one of the first with huge hands who could glide and swoop and dunk and stuff all kinds of ways. He'd tantalize you. I watched his moves, his bursts of inspired improvisation, and received revelations about the game.
SPEAKER_16That was from a young Lou Alcinder, and this is from another great with a PhD.
SPEAKER_15My freshman basketball coach referred to me as Little Hawk. I didn't see him play until he was with the Pittsburgh Pipers, and I was like, wow, he's smooth. And I started hoping that one day I'd grow to be 6'8 because he was 6'8.
SPEAKER_16Those were two massive branches from Connie's trunk. And think about the branches those two trunks then grew. Older players naturally have a greater effect on future greatness. It's like compound interest. Connie's branches, like other old school greats, become trunks, which sprout even bigger branches. And on and on it goes. Connie's story is odd. He's definitely a player the NBA should be proud of, yet they're a villain in his story, so it's complicated for them. I have an idea for the NBA if they're interested. I'm sure Adam Silver and all 30 league owners are listening. Here it is. The NBA does a great job in honoring its legends, like naming its finals MVP trophy after its winningest player, Bill Russell. They should create a Connie Hawkins award that goes to players, past or present, who've overcome remarkable obstacles off the court to find success on it. You don't have to be great, you just need to show perseverance. While we celebrate the players' brilliance on the court, it would be cool to celebrate their resilience off of it. In a way, those accomplishments are just as impressive. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we're all aware that many NBA players come from disadvantaged backgrounds. But how often do we think of it and respect it when we watch them play? I don't. Does it ever cross your mind? For those who are lucky enough to find success in life, that's wonderful. For those who find success coming from the bottom, perhaps a little lower than Drake, traveling a longer, more twisted road with unjust roadblocks and obstacles, that's really something. While baseball is America's pastime, basketball and football are our sports, holding up a mirror to society, reflecting back all its brilliance and horrors all at once, the competition, the sweat, the pain, the striving. What did these ten men persevere through to get here? Were some of their circumstances as dire as Connie's? A lifetime award named after Connie reminds us that these men's perseverance on the court is just the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface, they fought and scrapped, blood, sweat, and tears, all in pursuit of success on the court. It's that round ball that allows them to dream, just like it did for Connie. But for many, like him, life more often resembles a nightmare before that dream is realized. While our jaws drop as they defy gravity, they might stay open as we think about what they've defied that has an equally strong hold over our society, historical racism and the stubborn class system. While everyone has a shot in this country, it's just so much damn harder for some. These men awe us with their play, but their lives and stories are equally inspirational. Let's celebrate that too. So there it is. Adam Silver, we look forward to the first annual presentation of the Connie Hawkins Award, celebrating a lifetime of perseverance. Alan Iverson, you have my nomination. We'll finish with Kurt Vonnegut. He created a graph called The Shape of Stories for his college thesis, which was actually rejected. It's brilliantly simple. And he used it to chart the story structure of well-known classics. The vertical axis has good fortune at the top and ill fortune at the bottom. The horizontal axis ranges from beginning of the story on the left to ending on the right. Using it, Vonnegut showed how stories often start with someone in good fortune who experiences an event that pushes them into ill fortune and how they must work their way back to good fortune. When you chart Connie and Jack's lives on Vonnegut's The Shape of Stories graph, an interesting story of America emerges. Connie was born to ill fortune, starting off below the horizontal axis, poorer than poor in bed sty. Touched by God, Hoops takes him into good fortune. A wrongful expulsion from Iowa boots him back to ill fortune. He scrapes by, making a pittance relative to his talent. He slowly creeps back into good fortune, but a wrongful band from the MBA is determined to keep himself of the horizontal axis in ill fortune. He finally slays Goliath and gets himself back into good fortune by playing in the MBA. A man born into ill fortune manages to die in good fortune because of his perseverance, but gets little help from the world around him. Jack's graph is different. Whereas society seemed to do its best to keep Connie in ill fortune, it did its best to keep Jack in good fortune. He was born into it for starters. He had hopes and dreams and confidence as a kid. After being suspended from Columbia, he gets a second chance in college. Despite his checkered past, he's drafted into the NBA, but bets on his own games and is rightfully booted and banned from the league. Even still, this man with a couple of strikes is able to become a lawyer. He's seemingly creeping back into good fortune with his law practice, but is actually the ringleader of a betting scandal which corrupts and ruins the lives of a lot of kids. He goes to jail back to ill fortune. And yet again he gets another shot. He's paroled early and allowed to go to LA. Come on, Jack, society seems to be saying. Don't screw this up. But he mixes with a mob and criminal activities yet again, including his involvement in the death of his business partner, and he's killed by the mob for having hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid debt. So Jack is a man born into good fortune who dies in ill fortune despite society's best efforts to prevent it.
SPEAKER_02I keep losing, still keep hoping for that when you can change my mind.
SPEAKER_16In a rigged basketball game, the outcome is still not certain. You never know what could happen. A player might not comply, the opposing team might be too much to handle. But the outcome is more probable than if the game was played straight. In America, life is the same. We like to think we're playing the game straight and fair. It's more pleasant that way. That our success, our win, is merely a matter of hard work. But in reality, we're living in a rake game. Success is more likely for some than others. Birthplace is more predictable of success in life than effort. So we have Connie's story and we have Jack's. Both American, good and bad, the oversized underdog, the corrupted soul, second chances, third chances, no chances, playing a rake game and living one too.
SPEAKER_02Can be a captive of the swell wanna be.
SPEAKER_11And a thank you to my uncle Mick for telling me about Dave's book to begin with. Thank you to Dave Wag, a great mixer and a better man. I always appreciate your kindness and talent, Dave. And thank you to Colin Thomas for helping Dave out with our sound design. You both were great teammates who helped bring this story to life. For our theme song, thank you first to the artists Jacob Bryan and Ari of the Gabriels for allowing me to use your beautiful song. Thank you to Chip Herter, Joaquin Perez at Cobalt, Tat Harrington Stewart at Warner Music UK, and Samantha Falco at Secretly. As soon as I heard Blame by Gabriels, I knew it was the perfect theme song, and you all kindly helped me make that happen. Thank you to Lincoln Lopez for helping me with the art for this project. A true beaver if there ever was one. Thank you to Tim Pollock and Tom Jordan for your ongoing support of this project. Maya Glitman, thank you for your partnership. Thank you to my early readers, Justin Leary and John Fleschner, for your time, input, and encouragement. You gave me confidence in this story when I needed it most. Thank you to my early listeners, Richard Farrow, Ryan Belanger, Claire Kramer, and Ryan Menching. The production quality wasn't there when you listened, but you still encouraged me. Thank you to my family for your love and for not calling me crazy all these years when I kept writing, even though you might have been thinking it. A special thank you to the heavens, to my mother and her mother, who always asked me how my writing was going long after everyone else stopped. That meant the world to me. And finally, thank you to my wife Kristen. Reader, listener, sounding board, Lord knows the hundreds, probably thousands of questions I asked you about this project the last six years. It's been a roller coaster. Thanks for keeping me buffled in. And of course, you are Millie Bean and Howie Boy.