Thanks to You: Memories of Warren Edward Armstrong Jabali

CONTENTS

Dedication

Special Thanks And Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Part I:   Warren’s Story

Prologue To Warren Armstrong Jabali’s Memoir

Who Was Warren Armstrong Jabali?

Genealogy, Roots And Early Development

* Central High School

Recruitment

* Wichita State University

* A Purpose Driven Life

* Aba Career Highlights

How Basketball Helped Enhance And Reinforce My Worldview

Merger Of The Aba And Nba

* Loose Balls—The Meanest Man In The Aba

* Remembering Warren Jabali

* Warren Jabali In His Own Words

Part II:   Into The Autumn Of His Life

Prologue

Our Journey

20 / 20 Vision

A Bump In The Road

The Legend

The Revelation

The Move

Rules Of The Road

You Validate My Manhood

His Focus: Educating And Empowering Youth

Social Insecurity

The Critic

* Jabali On Christianity

* The Church

Attitude Adjustment

The Aba’s Thirtieth Reunion

A Surprise Party

The Griot: Storyteller And Motivational Speaker

The Writer

Greatest High School Athlete: A Reprise

* Athletes’ Salute Honored Struggle

The Philosopher

The Interrogator

* Is The Negro Lazy And Does Not Want To Work Hard?

The Mentor

Celeste Thompson’s Story

Guest Sports Commentator

* Commissioner Of Miami Midnight Basketball Interview With Kirk Nielson

Our New Home

The Darkest Day

Parenting

Declining Health

Silence Is Golden

The Transformation

An Amorous Affair

Greeting Cards

Acts Of Kindness

His Passion—Music

Low Ridin’ And High Sidin’

Plays, Concerts And Movies

Vacations And Weekend Trips

Local Dances And Social Events

The Chef

At A Crossroad

Mr. Warren Jabali—Community Activist

6⁰Th Birthday Celebration

Home For The Holidays—Annual Trips To Kansas City

* The Warren Armstrong Court

Facebook Jabali’s Online Classroom

The Beginning Of The End

The Last Week

The Last Word

Indiana Black Expo Founders And Alumni Association

North County Citizens Association, Inc.

Eulogy In Miami Gardens, Fl

The Character Of The Character

Eulogy In Kansas City, Mo

Eulogy In Kansas City, Mo

A Final Salute: My Cousin, Surrogate Father And Coach

DEDICATION

The Armstrong and Bullock Families of Kansas City, Kansas; Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; and Arkansas

Thanks for embracing me with the love that you hold in your hearts for Warren. Being a member of your family brought joy to my life and comfort to my soul. Your kindness, hospitality and friendship throughout the years meant more to me than words can adequately express. Let this proverb: Make new friends but keep the old; some are silver and the others are gold, guide us as we continue on our separate journeys. I will always cherish the times we spent together. In my heart you will always be pure gold.

SPECIAL THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Len Trower (Mfuasi)

Jabali’s College Classmate and Best Friend

David Thomas, Ph.D.

Dedicated Friend and Chronicler of Jabali’s Career

Alexander and Alice Ellison

Central High School Classmates, Kansas City, Missouri

Federal Judge Fernando Guitan and his wife Silvia

Childhood Neighbor and Schoolmate

Lillie Q. Odom

Councilwoman, City of Miami Gardens, Florida

Claudette Derrick, Ph.D.

Guidance Counselor, North County K-8 Center

Attorney George Knox

Professor, Florida International University

Louis Hayes, George Tinsley and Alan Smith

Friends and ABA Teammates

Wilbert Tee Holloway and the Northwestern High Class of 1966

School Board Member District 1 Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Linda Darden Bellamy, Fredericker Rolle Rhodriquez, Patsy Graham

My Copyreaders

Bennie Beasley

My Brother

Mr. Irving Thomas, President, ABA-NBA-Harlem Globetrotters Retired Players Association of South Florida

Faculty and Staff at North County K-8 Center, Miami Gardens, FL

North County Citizen’s Association, Miami Gardens, FL

Dr. Mitchell Cohen MD. Electro-Physiologist, Cardiologist

Credits for News Articles, Interviews and Pictures

Bob Lutz, Ron Mendell, The Wichita Eagle, Mark Montieth and the Indianapacers.com, Reggie Marshall, Jim Scott, David Friedman, HoopsHype.com, Kirk Nielson, The Kansas City Star, Kent Pulliam, Blair Kerkhoff, Dan Pattison, Tiamoyo Karenga and Sportscope

Thaddeus Buffington (Badger)

Jabali’s Cousin

PREFACE

Tell them your name. If your life has been worthy they will know the rest.

Achilles

From the film script of TROY

by David Benioff

I first saw Warren Armstrong Jabali in 1963. The Interscholastic League Field House in Kansas City, Missouri had just opened and he was playing for Central High School.

I did not know that the previous year he had made the All-City Team as a sophomore, a highly unusual occurrence. Nor did I know that he would be named one of the thirty greatest players in ABA history or that he was playing on a court that one day would bear his name. All I knew—or came to know as I saw him play—was that I had never seen anything like him. If I could have played like anyone—and I felt this way for years, perhaps still feel this way—I would have played like him.

A REMARKABLE PRESENCE

Warren was given enormous gifts. He had power, grace and like so many have said, he could fly. Armstrong has wings, said an opposing coach. On the basketball court there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. And he was smart, very smart. You learned something every time you watched him play.

In addition, there was Warren’s remarkable presence. He carried himself with pride and supreme confidence even as a young man. To say that he was chosen would not have struck me then (or now) as a silly or overblown statement. He was exceptional, recognized by his closest friends as exceptional (though I don’t believe he ever bothered to see himself that way).

Once, in a pickup game between his junior and senior years in high school, he collided with or dunked over or otherwise embarrassed the player guarding him (I was not there). That player was a well-known tough guy from the neighborhood, a fact that would not have factored into how Warren played as he played hard no matter what. The fellow in question took offence and pulled a knife. I was told that he said: I’ll slit your All-American throat! I also was told that players on both teams intervened. No, no, no . . . that’s not going to happen here.

I have heard of this sort of thing. Someone who clearly has a future beyond the neighborhood is protected by his peers. Intuitively, they know that here is someone who will give the neighborhood its name. They know that a story is being written and they participate in its writing as circumstances require.

FOR THE RECORD

It’s hard to convey the excitement Warren brought to Kansas City high school basketball in the 1960s. His explosiveness, the balance of power and grace, the sheer beauty of his game; it was the first time we had ever seen such a complete and extraordinary talent.

For three years, Warren was All-City, for two years All-District and as a senior, All-State and All-American. Said the Kansas City Star in its review of the 1963 Missouri State Tournament, a tournament that included Jo Jo White: ". . . the best all-around player (we) saw was Warren Armstrong (Jabali) of Kansas City Central . . . only a junior, Armstrong faces a great future if he consistently exercises all his tremendous talents."

Following his graduation from Central High School, he entered Wichita State University where he set rebounding and assist records and was, for a while, their fourth all-time scorer. He was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection, ranking in the top 20 all-time at Wichita State in scoring, rebounding and assists. At 6'2", he led Wichita State in rebounding for three consecutive years.

In 1985, Warren was inducted into the Wichita State University Athletic Hall of Fame. At the time of his induction he held the WSU record for assists in a game, a season and a career.

Following his graduation from Wichita State, Warren was drafted by the Oakland Oaks of the American Basketball Association (ABA).

His first year in the league, he was voted Rookie of the Year. His sixth year, he was voted Most Valuable Player in the ABA All-Star Game, a game that included Julius Erving, George McGinnis and Artis Gilmore. That same year he was named First Team All ABA Guard. He was four times an All Star.

Hall of Fame coach Alex Hannum, who coached championship teams in both the NBA and the ABA, called Warren the smartest player he ever coached. And Al Bianchi, also a veteran coach of both leagues, stated that Warren may have been the toughest competitor he ever was around in a lifetime of basketball.

When the ABA announced its list of the thirty greatest players, Warren was on it.

Al Smith, a veteran guard of the ABA, went further: The top five players I played against in the ABA were Julius Erving, Artis Gilmore, Moses Malone, George the Iceman Gervin and Warren Jabali.

Warren’s lifetime statistics: 5th all-time on ABA APG/average list; 6th all-time on ABA 3-point list; 9th all-time on ABA assist list (5.34/game); 25th all-time on points list (17/game).

Only two players have been named both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the Championship Series in the same season. They are Magic Johnson and Warren Jabali.

AN INTELLECTUAL OF HIS OWN MAKING

Warren was proficient at every aspect of the game. Above all, however, above even his explosive jumping ability, I rank his court awareness and creativity. Once—in high school—he rescued a ball going out of bounds on the side court. He assessed the situation in the seconds it required him to race after the ball, leave his feet and look back to the court. To everyone’s surprise, he shot the ball. Before he landed out of bounds, and rather than throw the ball inbounds when no one was open, he shot it. I don’t know if the ball went in but this play serves as an example of how his exceptional talent and remarkable court awareness allowed him to create the move, the pass, the defensive play that no one saw coming let alone thought possible.

It was this awareness and this creativity that Warren expanded to other domains. He read, studied, and meditated on any number of topics. First and foremost, his focus was on the struggle of African-American people. What exactly are the problems facing the African-American community? How can they be addressed? What should a man value and what is his duty to his community?

This was his focus but it necessarily took him in many directions: philosophy, psychology, history, politics and the arts. Warren made of himself an intellectual. He spoke and later wrote much like he played, with power to be sure but also with a sense of the poetic. The essays included in this book give evidence of this fact, as does his memoir (also included), unfinished but compelling, nonetheless.

Here are two examples of his line of thought: the first, an expression of his core values. Vicki Shelton grew up in Warren’s neighborhood, several years his junior. She would become a teacher and later, Athletic Director in the Kansas City School District.

"It was the summer after he was Rookie of the Year in the ABA. He came home to the neighborhood and he had a brand new car. And, as he always did, he went off to Blessed Sacrament to play basketball. And while he was gone, his younger brother drove his car, got in a wreck and totaled it. We in the neighborhood, we all thought: ‘Well, man, when Warren gets back he’s going to kill him!’ And the thing that Warren said to us was: The most important thing was that his brother was alive and was not injured. He could always get another automobile because it was materialistic but you can never bring back a person’s life.

He said so many wonderful things to us that have impacted me and I’ll say another. When the article came out in the KC Star about who was the greatest basketball player ever to come out of Kansas City, Warren responded with a letter to the Star that was never published. And in that letter he said that the most important thing was not who was the best basketball player but the most important thing is for people to impact the lives of youth and teach these young men how to become men and not necessarily basketball players. That sums up Warren Jabali. For me, he’s always been a man’s man.

Six months before Warren’s death, he and I visited the home of Coach Jack Bush. Coach Bush coached against Warren’s teams when Warren was in high school and though now long retired, he has remained in touch with many of the players who have come through the city. Leonard Jones, one of Coach Bush’s players from Warren’s time, joined us. The conversation turned to the 1963 State Tournament and to the semi-finals game that Warren’s team—Central High School—lost. Warren’s analysis:

"We lost because of coaching. See, Coach Wilkinson (Central’s coach) was not like Coach Bush. Wilkinson aspired to be corporate. He was one of these smart dudes who has all this personality and can relate to people and all that kind of stuff. He was coaching because that was all they would allow him to do—this is my perception. Bush is coaching because that’s what he loves to do. He’s going to study the game.

"Now, I have a lot of respect for Coach Wilkinson. I don’t want to come across like I don’t. It’s just that I do not believe that coaching was his highest aspiration. So, therefore, what he put into it was not everything like Coach Bush put everything into it.

"Now, if you look at our struggle, at black folks struggle, you have Booker T. Washington who has always had the point of view of ‘put down your bucket where you are.’ And then there was the other philosophy of W.E.B. Dubois: ‘We have to get equal rights and participate in the system.’ Well, if you look at these two coaches, you have Wilkinson and you have Bush. I would say that Coach Bush was a Booker T. man and Coach Wilkinson was a W.E.B. Dubois man. And then if you look at where we are as a people which is . . . we don’t have the power and influence that equals our abilities, then you would say that the Booker T. model is the model that we should have been following."

Wherever the conversation started with Warren, and it could start with any number of topics, if it went on long enough it would make its way to the topic always on his mind: the strength and viability of the African-American community. And it would find its way gracefully, thoughtfully, like in the above passage. He was a philosopher, an applied philosopher. He cultivated a rational approach to problems but he never lost the breath of vision he so often demonstrated on the court.

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE HERO’S JOURNEY

Genius, said Sartre, is what a man creates when he is looking for a way out. Warren sought a way out, a solution to the problems of racial injustice and a solution to the problems surrounding the development of the self. In the first case, he became an educator. He intervened as role-model, instructor and counselor in the lives of elementary school children (though his reach extended well beyond elementary school children). And in the second case, he pursued his own growth as a person, seeking an integration that permits interior peace while continuing in multiple ways to serve his community. I have enormous respect for what Warren made of himself. He thought about his principles and he held to them. And he continued to evolve as a person.

At Warren’s 60th birthday celebration—a weekend affair attended by friends from around the country—person after person came to the microphone to offer their birthday tribute. These tributes were heartfelt expressions of love and respect, hilarious, touching, some dealing with Warren’s athletic feats, some—perhaps most—dealing with his life since basketball.

The next day, a bus took out-of-towners on a tour of the area: the beach, downtown Miami, South Beach. For much of the tour, I was able to visit with Len Trower-Mfuasi, Warren’s closest friend. It was Len who, while both were in college, introduced Warren to the literature and movement that would remain a focus of Warren’s life.

Len’s life runs parallel to Warren’s. He, too, has steeped himself in study, in activism, in creating his own solution. He and Warren have been brothers for nearly fifty years and, like Warren, he has known many individuals involved in the struggle against racial injustice, against injustice, period: poets, musicians, public figures, politicians. At one point in our discussion, I asked: Of the many people you have known involved prominently in the struggle, whom do you respect for who they are as individuals? Respect is a big word, he said. There are many I respect. And then he added: I respect Jabali.

I know that in these times it is hard not to be overcome with cynicism; too much disappointment in leaders, in public figures, in ourselves. And, in general, I share this cynicism. But when it comes to Jabali, I stand my ground. He was what I have heard called a life-actor. He stood in for many who watched as he adopted the risky roles of hero, warrior, outsider tired of things as they are. He had victories, many victories. Children who needed a strong male role model found one in him. By his presence alone, he gave them a path to follow. But not children alone, grown men as well were moved—and changed—by his example.

At Warren’s funeral (in Kansas City), there was something I noticed but could not put my finger on. Later, Warren’s sister identified it for me. She said that a friend had asked her if she had noticed how many men were at the service. It was true. The sanctuary was full of men, poor men, working class men, men who had come from the neighborhood and had prospered, men from around the country, men who filed before the casket in every form of dress, thread-bare work clothes, workout sweats, dashikis, the finest in men’s apparel. These were men with roots in the neighborhood, roots in the story. Mention his name to these men and they will know the rest.

Warren had his victories, the reach of his influence is little known but remarkable nonetheless. He had his victories, but he also had his losses, profound losses. It was these losses—perhaps more than the victories—that deepened him. There was the grief he felt for his community, the African-American community, there was the grief he may have caused himself (as we are wont to do), and there was the grief that comes by way of the most unwanted misfortune. Through this grief, however, or so I believe, came his extraordinary depth—a depth not available through study alone. The hero’s journey ends in a dignified, playful, compassionate self, wholeness, soulfulness, the rare individual who by his manner alone draws us toward that same development in ourselves. To me, that is who Warren was all along; and all the more impressively so as the years went by.

LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE

By the time Warren was in his forties, there was one thing that remained: fulfillment through the love of another human being. I believe that in matters of the heart, like attracts like. In Mary Beasley, Warren found his match, the love of his life (as he often said), his soul mate. Their story has been told in part in Mary’s remarkable book, Shattered Lens. It is told again in greater detail here. Nothing offered Warren the fulfillment or sense of completion that this relationship offered him. There are many reasons to read this book but for this reason alone, I believe it should be read.

A FINAL THOUGHT

The men who gathered at Warren’s funeral felt one thing in common: Warren’s story should be known. It is one of the stories of our time and it is a timeless story. In one form or another it has been told over and over and still not told often enough. It is the story of the fearless young man with extraordinary gifts who discovers that life is unfair, that the world is out of balance, that there are monsters—both inner and outer—that must be slain. It is the story of coming to terms with life as it is, facing facts squarely, and then turning your gifts, whatever they are, to the benefit of those you care about most. It is a love story, perhaps above all, a love story.

At the 2013 NBA Legends Luncheon, the In Memoriam tribute included Warren’s picture. There he was, handsome, smiling. But how many watching on television, even in attendance at the luncheon, know anything at all about this former ABA player, the young man who, in his twenties, changed his name to announce what he stood for and then never looked back. Warren left the ABA a controversial figure but his story continued. For so many who knew him and knew his story, there was only growing respect as the years went by. If the men at Warren’s funeral were to express one thing in unison it would be thanks to Mary Beasley. Because of her love and devotion, Warren’s story can be known, both in his words and hers, woven artfully in the pages that follow.

David Thomas

February 2013

Warren and David at the Kansas City Hall of Champions Induction Ceremony—2005

INTRODUCTION

Although Warren Edward Armstrong Jabali was known for his basketball skills and accomplishments in high school, college and in the American Basketball Association (ABA) 1968-1976, little is written of his personal life or career as an educator. The purpose of this book is:

to inform readers of his many positive attributes;

to reveal multiple aspects of his personality;

to describe his commitment to a cause he deemed worthy;

to familiarize readers with his passion for music;

to make known his talents as a writer and speaker;

to demonstrate his intellectual depth and keen perception;

to convey his love and to express his devotion for his children;

to unveil his spiritual growth;

and to chronicle his social evolution.

Like most students of life, we recognize and come to terms with the situations we encounter in order to achieve our goals and to reach our full potential. Warren Jabali’s life was no exception. There were risks and rewards, challenges and compromises, ups and downs, successes and failures. However, he was determined to overcome all of the obstacles on his path; those that he created and the ones that society placed before him.

Guided and positively influenced by the role his father modeled, Jabali, after realizing the plight of his children caused by his actions or lack thereof, studied and applied the techniques advocated in John Bradshaw’s book "On the Family. The literary works of the great masters and ancient sages of various philosophical and religious doctrines inspired him to transform his life by incorporating precepts of righteous living in his deeds and interactions. He became an ardent student, studying to show himself approved," as commanded in II Timothy 2:15.

Open-minded, he critically analyzed numerous tenets, belief systems and practices. He compared and contrasted established traditions and fundamental teachings, then methodically correlated the concepts. He saw the same guiding force in Jesus’s Ten Commandments as in Buddha’s Eight Fold Path. He was objective in his thinking and viewed principles as his guide to better living. It was his goal to reach a state of Holy Indifference (having a balanced understanding of life while being unaffected by events and circumstances) as described in the Baghavad Gita, the Hindu scriptures. In other words, as Jabali would often say: It is what it is.

Encouraged daily to pen his autobiography, Jabali finally developed an outline and began to write his story several months prior to his open heart surgery on February 22, 2011. Though he only typed twenty-two pages (single spaced), previously written essays and opinions expressed in news articles and interviews were organized and blended throughout select chapters. His writing style, as was his speech, is direct and very powerful. His resolve is sincere and his narrative so insightful, straightforward and enlightening that I can only imagine how positively his memoir would have been received had he completed it.

To enhance his story, I searched his personal library, viewed audio and visual recordings, read newspaper clippings in his filing cabinet, rifled through notepads in his office, and googled the internet for news articles and additional information.

I solicited assistance from his best friend Len Trower of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, David Thomas, another of Warren’s close friends, of Omaha, Nebraska and Warren’s cousin, Thaddeus Buffington of Houston, Texas.

To develop the ending of Warren’s story, my memory of events, conversations, pictures, letters and greeting cards are inserted to depict a fascinating tale of his personal life. Completing his story has been a labor of love.

PART I

WARREN’S STORY

JABALI

THE ROCK

PROLOGUE TO WARREN ARMSTRONG JABALI’S MEMOIR

I am writing this book because I think it must be done. I am not writing it because I was a great player like Oscar Robertson nor have a compelling story like Connie Hawkins nor have outlandish commentary such as Charles Barkley. I believe that the writing of this book is required of me because I have and had a black conscious point of view when few other African American athletes did and that point of view colored and guided my life and activities as a professional basketball player and as a man. It is this black conscious point of view which deserves an airing because African American people have never shared sufficiently and appropriately with generations which follow them. Only by sharing in this manner could these subsequent generations be armed with the type of knowledge which would allow them to persist and persevere in the struggle with expertise and strategies derived other than from their own experiences. Not only does this lack of knowledge transference leave young black people at a disadvantage in terms of repeating the mistakes of the past, it also causes a loss of vision wherein there is no particular purpose to the struggle of black people with which they can even identify. The inertia gained from the valiant efforts of so many comes to a standstill and eventually results in slippage backward.

An example of this phenomenon for me personally was the lack of any personal knowledge on my part of John McClendon, who was a great basketball mind. He attended the University of Kansas and was mentored by James Naismith. He could not play for Naismith because of the segregation which existed at that time but he nevertheless gleaned valuable knowledge from him.

John McClendon had a long and distinguished career. The early part of his career could have and should have been used to motivate me inasmuch as McClendon’s mother happened to be a teacher at my junior high school. During my eighth and ninth grade years, I was the best basketball player on undefeated teams each year. I was in the school from 1958 until 1961. Not only did his mother not talk about her son to me,