Legends of Basketball Official Website

 

Which player today do you think most resembles your style of play?

 

Well, that’s a tough question because it’s completely different then when I played. Today, the 

Dolph Schayes/Dirk Nowitzki NBAE/Getty Images

players are more athletic. Not to say I wasn’t athletic, but these guys have tremendous strength and agility.
 
I would be pretty similar to Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. I think I would be close to his style of play. Yeah, I would say Dirk. Our games are similar in terms of outside shooting, and when a player would try and defend me, I could post him up and drive on him like Dirk does. However, I think I’m a little quicker than him, but overall, he would most resemble my style of play.
 

If there was a movie about the life of Dolph Schayes, which actor would you like to play yourself?

 

Oh wow, that’s a great question. Of course, I could pick George Clooney. Although you don’t 

Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld)

find Hollywood types who are 6’8”. I watch movies, but I am not familiar with the celebrities and actors today. Michael Richards, the comedian from Seinfeld, if he could play basketball, I would think that he might be able to do it. He’s fairly tall, around 6’2”. Hollywood actors are not nearly as tall as the NBA players today. There are so many short guys in show business. You can get actors to play the role of a guard or forward, but not someone that is 6’8”. How about Barack Obama plays me?
 

What was it like playing in the NBA’s first All-Star Game?

 

That was a very exciting time because it was the Eastern style of play, which was move the ball – the city game at the time and running – versus a more slower and more finesse game of the West. Their big men were fast and they had to play to their strength. We had to outrun them which forced the pace of the game. And that’s how it evolved. Our fast-breaking style versus their half-court game. It was very exciting because to us it was an important game and not just an exhibition. We took pride in winning the game. Today when you watch an All-Star game on television, you see these guys showboating, shooting a bunch of threes and all that kind of stuff. They feel they have to do those types of things to satisfy the interests of the fans. But, I feel that’s a very condescending attitude to have, and the All-Star Game has now evolved into a schoolyard game.
 
In today’s NBA, if you were signed to a multi-million dollar contract, what is the first thing you would purchase?

 

Well, obviously I would take care of my family. I would have made sure that my parents were 

Father & Son: Dolph and Danny Schayes NBAE/Getty Images

comfortable. Then, of course, I would have tried to invest in very solid companies that would be there in the long run, which is always a good theory, even though today’s stock market does not look good. I would let the money sit and grow, diversify into stocks and bonds. Also, I would get involved in real estate. Specifically, rental housing and apartments in good locations and manage that aspect very well.
 
On the topic of player contracts and salaries today, I think the NBA has made sure the image of the players is better then what it once was. They help today’s young players understand that they have to give back to the millions of people who don’t have the same privileges or amount of wealth that they do. Of all the major professional sports, the NBA – by far – does the best job giving back to the community.
 
I really admire the Read to Achieve Program of the NBA, it is excellent. Reading not only gives you the joy of stories and biographies, but it can change your mind and it can greatly enhance your vocabulary. Also, the NBA does a good job trying to mentor young kids and teaching them that basketball is a means to an end. Very few kids make it and the most important thing is to be a good person and take care of yourself.
 
What are your thoughts on being considered the greatest Jewish player of All-Time?

 

Well, that is very subjective because when I played basketball in New York City, there were so 

Dolph Schayes

many excellent players. There were many terrific guards in New York. I am very proud of it, and I worked hard and played a lot of basketball growing up in the schoolyards from sixth grade on, which a lot of kids didn’t do in the summer during those days.
 
I think the next great Jewish player will come out of Israel and the Israeli leagues. A lot of kids living in the suburbs today play tennis and soccer and don’t have the motivation or passion for basketball that today’s top players have. I especially think that when the Chinese get their basketball programs moving, you are going to find hundreds of Chinese players developing across that country.
 
Basically, kids have to be motivated. And a lot of Jewish kids aren’t motivated today because parents want them to receive a great education and put that before anything else. There are, of course, great Jewish Players in Division II, Division III and the Ivy Leagues. The motivation is not what it used to be when I grew up in the Bronx and Brooklyn. It was a city game and everyone played. Today, African-Americans dominate the schoolyards and playgrounds across the country, and back then a lot of Jewish players and teams played in anonymity.

 

Well, you are going to think that I am nuts, but I did not root for the Yankees. Even though I lived so close to the stadium, they were not my team. I had underdog genes, and I rooted for the worst team in the American League, the St. Louis Browns. I just took a liking to them since they were an underdog. I liked their uniforms which were very colorful. The Bronx had millions of people, and I was probably the only person rooting for the Browns from 1935-1945. They finally won a pennant in 1944, but lost in the World Series to the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals 4-2.
 
Now, I root for the Baltimore Orioles, and you’re probably thinking why that is? But they were the 

Bobo Newsom St. Louis Browns

team that bought the Browns in 1954. Today’s Orioles are in desperate need of pitching. I used to sit in the bleachers for 50 cents, and I used to watch the likes of Hank Greenberg, Jimmy Fox and Bob Feller. I would go and watch the Browns games with my mother when those players came to the stadium. She thought I was crazy rooting for the Browns, but she was my companion at the games.
 
The Browns would rarely ever win. I also had the privilege to watch Pete Grey who was a one-armed player. He played during the 1945 season and was a great singles hitter. He was quick, he could bunt, and in the field he would toss his glove in the air and throw the ball back to either first, second or third. I remember watching Satchel Page in his last few years of baseball. But anyhow, that was the team I rooted for.
 
The year a lot of baseball stars went into military service (1944), the Browns won the pennant. Many people thought it was a fluke because only a few of the Browns players were drafted for the war. Regardless, the Browns won on the last day of the regular season and beat the New York Yankees in St. Louis. The Detroit Tigers also got beaten by the Washington Senators, sealing it for the Browns.
 
My favorite pitcher was a guy named Bobo Newsom. He had a rubber hand and the Browns had a very poor pitching staff in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In those days, players like Bobo would actually pitch double-headers. He would win 15 to 16 games a year, but he pitched so much that each year I would root for him not to 20. But he was quite a character and went long into the game.