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A visit with Oscar Robertson's teammate

Started by MICHAELSPAPPY, August 08, 2018, 06:53:09 pm

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MICHAELSPAPPY

I enjoy going to see different basketball venues when I am way from home. For example, in going to see our children in different places, I have seen where West Virginia and Illinois play, and now add to that Nebraska. My son-in-law got his doctorate this spring, and secured a job with Monsanto in Lincoln. We currently are visiting them. After a day of sight-seeing, my son-in-law took me to see the campus, and particularly Pinnacle Bank Arena, where the Cornhuskers play their games.

The facility was closed, but David, my son-in-law, is an adventurous sort, so we walked around to the back of the arena, trying every door. Finally, when we got to a fence where we could go no further, there was a door that had a buzzer. David tried it, but there was no response, so we started to walk away. Then suddenly we heard a voice. He replied, telling the voice that we just wanted to look at the arena, and the voice said, "Go through the door," which we did. In the interior room was a distinguished-looking black gentleman in his 70s. We visited with him for a few minutes, and he let us go to the edge of the floor area of the area, which currently is concrete, waiting for the floor to be re-installed.

His name was Albert Maxey, and he told us that he had played high school ball with "Big O." He also was the best man at Robertson's wedding. David didn't know who that was, but being an old-timer and a basketball fan, I naturally recognized Oscar Robertson's nickname and explained to David just how good he was. Robertson had played college ball at Cincinnati, and Maxey went to Nebraska. He and his wife became very prominent in civic affairs in the community and even at the state level. His wife became a state legislator, and one of his daughters was a track coach at the University of Toledo. Maxey was also a police lieutenant and is an artist of considerable ability. He was very gracious to a couple of strangers.

I later found that he is in the Indiana basketball Hall of Fame, and was twice All-Big 8 at Nebraska. His Crispus Attucks HS team of 1955 is considered one of the top five high school teams in Indiana history; and considering just how good Indiana high school basketball has been over the years, that is saying a lot.

In short, we got to meet and visit with one of the all-time Nebraska (and Indiana) basketball greats. It was quite an honor.

MomaLion


Eagle20

Sounds like my kind of fun!  Great story!

RATTLER43


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