The Joe Caldwell story really upsets me
I plan to watch the new Soul Power documentary produced by Dr. J on the ABA (and hope to start a discussion upon finishing it).
Before that, though, let's talk a man who was an NBA and ABA alum, an All Star in both, Joe Caldwell, who effectively got lowballed and blackballed by both leagues.
Owner of the-then St. Louis Hawks, Ben Kerner, lowballed Caldwell, but to sweeten the deal, promised $20,000 to help Caldwell and his wife with a home they set their eyes on. Caldwell signed the contract, Kerner just wanted him to sign and reneged on the $20,000. NBA players couldn't have an agent at the time and Kerner told him next time to get something in writing.
Another Hawks owner, Tom Cousins, after the move to Atlanta, offered Caldwell less money than he was making, as the Hawks dished out a big contract at the time to Pete Maravich. The Hawks wanted to finance a new arena with Maravich as their main attraction, with the All Star Caldwell asking why an unproven rookie was worth more and he was told one white person is worth as much as six N-words.
So, Tedd Munchak of the ABA's Carolina Cougars offered him whatever he wanted to play for them, and he secured a pension contract to be paid out when he turned 55. The Hawks and Caldwell ended up in court, and the judge sided with Caldwell, since it turns out the Hawks actually violated the reserve clause when they severely lowballed him with their offer that was drastically lower than what he was previously making.
Caldwell became the first player to go from NBA to ABA without having to miss a year (like Rick Barry did), so Munchak claimed he owed Caldwell a lot less than what the contract said, that he said the attorney made an error in the contract. He brought Caldwell to his mansion with some of his former Hawks teammates asking him to rejoin the NBA. Caldwell said he only would if traded, but nobody wanted to take his pension. And thus, the real reason for the meeting was Munchak didn't want to pay the pension. Caldwell was offered to coach the team, but refused.
Afterward, he lost his driver's license on speeding citations despite going under the speed limit the times he was ticketed, one of his own teammates is said to have called him the N word. So, he and the teammate fought. Caldwell got fined $500, while the teammate said to have hurled the epithet, George Lehmann, got fined nothing.
The Cougars became the Spirits of St. Louis, who drafted a talented, but troubled Marvin Barnes. Caldwell gave some advice to Barnes, since Caldwell led the player's union, and he got indefinitely suspended as he was blamed for Barnes briefly leaving the team. He sued the ABA and spent many years in litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed his case, as he also had won a pension case and began receiving payouts in 1996.
I feel like his story should be told more not just as a really good player, but of the nonsense other owners pulled, the slurs he endured being appropriate for Black History Month and also him being part of the ABA and how he overcame hurdles.
I mailed him his 1969 Topps card to him just more than a year ago, which he was kind enough to send back signed. This was when he was with the Hawks. Now that I know more about him, I wonder how he isn't bitter and resentful towards the game and organization for how he was treated.
For those of you who don't know, he's the grandfather of Marvin Bagley III.
About him:
http://joecaldwell.us/joeStory.html
