March 15, 1958: The Tragedy of Maurice Stokes

March 15, 1958: The basketball career of Maurice Stokes comes to a shocking end. But a great, if sad, story has just begun.

Maurice Stokes (no middle name) was born on June 17, 1933, outside Pittsburgh in Rankin, Pennsylvania. The forward starred for Pittsburgh's Duquesne University, and then for the NBA's the Rochester Royals in the 1955-56 and 1956-57 seasons. Then they moved to Cincinnati for the 1957-58 season, and he kept it going, being named an All-Star for the 3rd season in a row.

On March 12, 1958, in their last game of the regular season, the Royals beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 96-89 at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Not yet 25 years old, Stokes jumped for a rebound, fell, and hit his head on the court. At first, it didn't seem like anything was amiss: Stokes finished the game, scoring 24 points.

Three days later, the Royals lost to the Detroit Pistons, 100-83 at the Memorial Building on the campus of the University of Detroit, in Game 1 of the Western Division Semifinals. (The Pistons were also in their 1st year after a move, as they had been in Fort Wayne, Indiana.)

Stokes played 39 of the 48 minutes, scoring 12 points (3 baskets and 6 free throws) and grabbing 15 rebounds. Clyde Lovellette led the Royals with 15 points, but, for the Pistons, George Yardley scored 29; and Gene Shue, later to coach the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA title, scored 25.

On the Royals' flight back to Cincinnati, Stokes suffered a seizure, and was paralyzed. He was diagnosed with encephalopathy and brain damage. Although tests proved that Stokes’ mind was not affected, he could not walk and had great difficulty speaking. Ever playing again was out of the question.

His teammate, fellow Pittsburgh native Jack Twyman, became his legal guardian. To help with Stokes' ongoing medical finances, Twyman organized the Maurice Stokes Memorial Basketball Game -- "Memorial" even though Stokes was then still alive -- to raise funds for his daily care needs. Eventually, the game grew to assist other former players who were in need. The game became a decades long annual event, attracting many of the top players in the NBA, and has been replaced by a pro-am golf tournament.

Twyman helped Stokes to obtain workers compensation, and taught him to communicate by blinking his eyes to denote individual letters. Later, when Stokes had worked to be able to type, his first message was, "Dear Jack, How can I ever thank you?" Nevertheless, his health deteriorated, and he died on April 6, 1970, only 36 years old.

In 1973, the film Maurie premiered. Former NFL player Bernie Casey played Stokes, and Swedish actor Bo Svenson played Twyman. Pitched as a basketball version of the recent Brian's Song, the story of Chicago Bears teammates Gale Sayers and the cancer-stricken Brian Piccolo, it did not do as well.

Had Stokes not fallen ill, what might have happened to the Royals? A talent like his, along with point guard Oscar Robertson and power forward Jerry Lucas, and the Royals might have outdone their peak achievement, which was reaching the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics in 1963 and 1964. The '63 series went 7 games, and the Royals lost Game 5 by 5 points. The '64 series went just 5 games, so '63 was a better chance.

Could the Royals have beaten the Los Angeles Lakers (who had moved from Minneapolis in 1960) in the 1963 NBA Finals? Or the San Francisco Warriors (who had moved from Philadelphia in 1962) in the 1964 NBA Finals? In each case, the Celtics did, so maybe the Royals could have, too.

Had they won even 1 NBA Championship, would they have stayed in Cincinnati? Would they have been powerful enough to get a new arena built in the late 1960s, instead of the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) not opening until 1975?

Maybe not: The Warriors won the title in 1947 and 1956, the Baltimore Bullets in 1948, the Lakers winning 5 in 6 years finishing in 1954, the Rochester Royals won the title in 1951, the Syracuse Nationals in 1955, and the St. Louis Hawks in 1958. And the Royals and the Nationals actually did get new arenas in the 1950s. But, in each case, their market wasn't big enough. Cincinnati just isn't a big enough metropolitan area. Even baseball's Reds considered moving in the 1950s and '60s, before the deal to build Riverfront Stadium.

And so, the Royals moved to Kansas City in 1972, after Stokes died, Twyman retired, and both Robertson and Lucas moved on. Because Kansas City already had a baseball team called the Royals, and they didn't want the same kind of confusion across Missouri, with St. Louis having both a baseball team and a football team named the Cardinals, the team's name was changed to the similar Kansas City Kings.

They moved again in 1985, becoming the Sacramento Kings. They have retired both Stokes’ Number 12 and Twyman’s Number 27, as well as Robertson's Number 14 -- but not Number 16 for Jerry Lucas. (They've retired 16 for Peja Stojaković, a star in their Sacramento years.)

Twyman was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983. Stokes was elected in 2004, and Twyman gave his induction speech. In 2013, the NBA founded the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. Stokes’ alma mater, St. Francis University outside Pittsburgh, named its new arena of 1971 after him.

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March 15, 1958 was a Saturday. One other NBA Playoff game was played: The Syracuse Nationals beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 86-82 at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse. In 1962, the Warriors moved to San Francisco. In 1963, the Nationals took their place, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers.

The NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:

* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-0 at the Boston Garden.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal defeated Manchester City, 4-2 at Maine Road in Manchester.