I’d venture that the standard reaction to learning about basketball’s history is “wow, these guys were good” or “oh, that’s where that came from.” For better or worse, while working on our new book, I also found myself getting extremely emotional about … well, pretty much everyone pre-1980.The greatest players of that prehistoric era — Wilt, Russell, Kareem, West, Oscar, Walton, and so on — almost all have a tragic aspect to them, or at least pathos to spare. Maybe not Dr. J, but he got in those championships with the Sixers post-1980, and of course, the entire ABA has this weird doomed-but-defiant quality to it.Maurice Stokes, though, is in a class by himself. Not that it’s a competition, or that I base my life around what historical figures most reliably make me choke up. But Stokes is probably the most interesting “discovery” I made while researching the book, as well as the saddest story.Here’s a picture of Stokes looking so egregiously fit that a hardbody like George McGinnis might as well be a piece of carpet. For a second I thought this card had come out after Stokes’s awful career-ending injury, which left him bed-ridden and practically paralyzed. That would have been too much.

I’d venture that the standard reaction to learning about basketball’s history is “wow, these guys were good” or “oh, that’s where that came from.” For better or worse, while working on our new book, I also found myself getting extremely emotional about … well, pretty much everyone pre-1980.

The greatest players of that prehistoric era — Wilt, Russell, Kareem, West, Oscar, Walton, and so on — almost all have a tragic aspect to them, or at least pathos to spare. Maybe not Dr. J, but he got in those championships with the Sixers post-1980, and of course, the entire ABA has this weird doomed-but-defiant quality to it.

Maurice Stokes, though, is in a class by himself. Not that it’s a competition, or that I base my life around what historical figures most reliably make me choke up. But Stokes is probably the most interesting “discovery” I made while researching the book, as well as the saddest story.

Here’s a picture of Stokes looking so egregiously fit that a hardbody like George McGinnis might as well be a piece of carpet. For a second I thought this card had come out after Stokes’s awful career-ending injury, which left him bed-ridden and practically paralyzed. That would have been too much.