Nate “Tiny” Archibald played fourteen years in the NBA. He is a member of the basketball Hall of Fame and was named one of the NBA’s Fifty Greatest Players. Currently, he’s the head coach of the ABA’s Long Beach Jam. Recently he was generous enough to sit down for a lengthy interview. What follows is the second in a three-part series.
Broken Cowboy:
You talk about growing up in New York City. I was wondering, what was the city game like back then? And also, you must have come across Lew Alcindor back in those days, too.
Nate Archibald:
Let me answer the first one. It’s not a city game. I think it’s a game that, when I was growing up, was fun. But it was a major learning experience, and that’s what made it so intriguing for me. It was just fun. And people think, well, the best players come out of the inner city, well we got quite a few because the damn city’s so big! We got more players probably that come out of the borough of Brooklyn than anybody else in that small radius, but New York goes up. Everybody else -- Philly, spread out. LA, spread out. California, spread out. But New York goes straight up. So you got a lot of guys who come from the project areas, or housing areas, but projects. It’s not a city game, I think it’s a game that, for me, was fun, and it’s about survival. I look at the coaches that I had, Floyd Mayne, Hilton White, early on, Ray Felix who was playing with the Lakers back then, who was a part of the community, and they gave me something. And people say, well most people in the inner city, they’re doing drugs, or they’re hanging out and stuff like that. Well, I hung out on the basketball court. I hung out in the community centers. That was kind of my outlet. And it wasn’t till later that I felt that the game was more important than anything else. You know a lot of people think the game is important now, but the game was a learning game for me. And early on, it was a disappointment also, ‘cause when I was a sophomore, I didn’t make the team. I didn’t go to school, cause I was like, “I’m gonna be a basketbal player.” And then there was a changing of coaches. Hank Jacobsen was the coach when I was a sophomore, and I failed off. And then Bob Buckner came when I was a junior. And I tell people, you give tribute to certain people -- he paved the way for me. I don’t know about anybody else, but he paved the way for me, ‘cause Clinton High School was all boys, and we had about 4,500 to 5,000 guys that went to the school. So we had a lot of guys, like Crenshaw used to have, we had a lot of guys trying out for the team. And it’s like who you know. People knew me, but I wasn’t on the team. I wasn’t part of that fraternity yet. And I was like, man, I wanna be a part of the team. And I tell people it ran in cycles. Once I got on the team, I was looking around to see, okay, now I’m on the team... but who’s time am I gonna take now? Cause that’s what it’s about. I wasn’t happy about being on the team. I was like, now I gotta fight for some time. So when I failed off, I went to a couple of games and guys were like, “Oh, man, you’re supposed to be on the team, how come he kicked you off?” Well he didn’t kick me off, I failed off. So when Buckner came, Buckner said, “Guys who were here last year that started, that was last year. Guys who are trying out this year, if they don’t become student athetes...” That’s the first time I heard that. He said, “Let me define that. Guys who don’t go to class, and don’t get their grades up, can’t be on the team.” I said, “Man, I remember that last year.”
Early he tried to get youngsters like myself to understand about sportsmanship, teamwork, and he taught us about discipline... Buckner, this was his philosophy. When we start, we’re gonna start strong, we’re gonna start tough, we’re gonna play good defense. We wanna execute all the way until the game is over. The game is never over... That year when we were seniors we didn’t lose a game, because that was his thing... and it gave me discipline early on where I got to listen to this man. Because first of all, I didn’t know that much about the game. I was still learning the game. I’m still learning the game. But I didn’t know that much about the game, and then, he put the ball in my hands. He said, “Now I want you to run the team.” And I’m like, who me? “You got it.” Shy, introvert. He says, “You got it. I want you to get the guys into the plays and stuff like that.” Now I’m a senior thinking like, I’m on the team, I’m getting a little bit of time. He’s like, “You got it.” He said, “You’re the best guy to handle the ball, and everybody respects you. You’re running this team.” ‘Cause I just wanted to have fun, you know. I’m a young guy, I’m on the team now, he’s giving me a little time here and there, and he said, “And you’re starting.” When he hit me with that I was shocked.
Our junior year we played Kareem in an exhibition game. Back then Catholic schools couldn’t play public schools, so we played them. And we beat them by a couple points, but we never played them in the city.
But the city game, getting back to your question, the city game was no different than any other inner city. To me it was a great outlet, because I could look back at it and say I didn’t do any drugs, I wasn’t part of any gangs or stuff like that, and it gave me an outlet to learn something that I loved. And when people say the city game, I mean I watch kids here [in Long Beach] and think that’s the city game because it gives you freedom. It’s not structured like you’re in a high school situation or a college situation where a coach says we gotta run certain plays. YMCA Boys Club guys give you certain things to do, they want you to learn some of the fundamentals, but they let you play. To me that’s the city game. But it’s not a city game anymore, it’s a game of basketball. The fundamentals are there for you if somebody’s gonna teach you, but it’s to go out and have fun. Enjoy the game. Play hard, enjoy the game, play on that team.
BC:
You know one thing that surprized me listening to you talk, it surprized me to hear that during your senior year of high school, you didn’t really expect to start. So I guess at that time, you weren’t thinking about the NBA.
NA:
Not at all. (Laughing.)
BC:
What were your goals as you were finishing your senior year? Are you thinking about, okay, I wanna get to college and play, or was that even something that you were thinking about?
NA:
That was something, because Buckner who came out of West Point, played with Bobby Knight, his goal was to get guys kinda acclimated into thinking about going on to a four-year institution. And my senior year I think we had seven, eight guys go to Division I schools. But that was him. A lot of times you look at programs here who have great guys and the thrust is “we got a good team, we’re gonna win games.” Not thinking about making that young guy right now a future student-athlete. They had a guy here that went to Crenshaw High School, his name was John Staggers. Could play. He was about six -four, six-five, he’s still around. When I came here, ‘cause I was at UTEP as an assistant, I came here and watched him. Oh my god. Coach said, “Yeah, he could play.” I said, “Coach, how’s his grades?” He said, “He could play basketball, he could play football.” “Coach, how’s his grades?” “Well, you know, Nate, he’s not really a good student.” And I’m not pointing fingers or anything like that, but I believe if I got in a situation, whether it’s high school or college, I’m gonna make sure that my guys are student athletes. Yes, I wanna win games, but that’s not gonna help me in the long run when a guy is in high school and he doesn’t have his grades. He goes to college, or he’s accepted into college and he never goes to college. Young man never went. He got a four-year scholarship to UTEP, didn’t have the grades. Went to a junior college, stayed their two, three months, and right now he’s just a basketball player. I’m telling people, what happens when his basketball runs out of his system? He doesn’t have a college degree, what can he do? He can’t go to IBM or Stanford and those places and say, “Well I play ball.” It’s over. That part of it is over. Something that you love is over. Now what do you do with the rest of your life? I was like that in high school. [Coach Don Haskins] came to our city final game, he was recruiting one guy. He ended up taking three, and I was one of them. He was looking at Mike. Mike Sweisser was the man on our Clinton team. I was just the guy that was doing all the distributing and stuff like that. And a guy named Ray Solomon. Don Haskins came in and said, “I’m taking him, and I’m taking him, and I’m taking him.” And the coach said, “Well you were only recruiting one guy.” Well he said, “You didn’t tell me about the guard, and you didn’t tell me about this other guy.” So all three of us went on that one guy’s coattails. But it was good, because sometimes you come and watch, or you’re scouting one guy, and find out that, damn, everybody’s talking about this guy, but I like that guy to fit in my type of system. So it worked out pretty good. And then I did get my BS from UTEP, so that made my mother feel a lot better.
BC:
You mentioned Coach Haskins. He’s obviously well known for that championship game against Kentucky. [UTEP, then known as Texas Western, started five black players and beat Adolph Rupp’s segregated Kentucky team.]
NA:
In ‘66. I came in ‘67.
BC:
What was it like coming into a program at that time after such an historic accomplishment? Did you see it as that, or were you just going to play ball?
NA:
I was going because there were three guys on that championship team that I played with. Willie Wordsley -- it’s gonna be a real short story because I tell people this all the time -- Willie Wordsley was a senior when I was a sophomore (in high school). I was a part time player when I did get eligible. And I played with Willie a little bit, but mostly in the summertime. Willie went to Clinton and led the city in scoring. Nate Archibald went to Clinton and I tell people that when Willie was playing, I had the best seat in the house. ‘Cause I was on the bench when he was going up and down the floor. And I was learning my way on that team. Willie Wordsley was on that UTEP championship team from Clinton. Willie Cager went to Morris which is in the Bronx, and Neville Shedd went to Morris which is in the Bronx. So we played all together on a summer league team, and see I knew those guys. So when they won the championship, I said that’s where I’m gonna go. I knew that early on, and since I was kinda behind those guys, I knew I wasn’t gonna play a lot, but I kinda wanted to go where I knew some people already that were there, and they could help me through. Because when I got there I knew nothing about Texas, I knew nothing about El Paso. And it was like I’m learning something about a situation, I’m learning something about a big school, a university. I never was on a university campus before, even though I grew up in the city. So it was a learning process, and it was foreign to me, and I was very uncomfortable at first. And it took me a while to make that adjustment, and I’m kinda glad they were there to kind of smooth that process out a little bit.
BC:
At least there was something familiar there.
NA:
They were. Not the school, but they were.
BC:
So when you came out of college, I’m sure there were a lot of people who felt like you weren’t gonna be able to play because of your size, and then you ended up not getting drafted until the second round, basically you’re replacing Oscar Robertson in Cincinnati. Did you ever doubt yourself, did you feel like you had something to prove?
NA:
Of course. I was kinda glad that somebody gave me a chance to play. ‘Cause I tell these guys here that you can be blessed with ability and talent and never get a chance. I thought that coaches prepared me, maybe not for the NBA, but prepared me for partly basketball, but kept reinforcing that you need to go to school and get your education. Because I didn’t know where I fit in in the NBA. And a lot of guys think they’re gonna be an NBA player -- I didn’t think that. Early on, I said if I get a chance, I’m gonna try to do the best I could. And when I got drafted, Oscar was gone the year before I got there. Oscar was in Milwaukee. Before I got there I played in a couple of classics that they don’t have anymore. They had the Aloha Classic, which I played in Hawai’i because Hawai’i was in the WAC conference so I used to go over there every year. And I just thought I could go over there and learn some basketball -- I knew some of the scouts were there -- and just play. Just have fun playing. And since I played pretty good over there, they have what they called the East/West Classic, and I think it was in Indianapolis, and I played really well [there].
BC:
So these are like all-star games?
NA:
College all-star games. When I was in Hawai’i, that was the first time I met Bob Cousy, ‘cause I always saw him on TV. He was a coach. And Bob said, “I’m gonna be talking to you.” And I’m like, what are you gonna be talking to me for? He said he wanted a chance to sit down and talk to me. After the game I sat down with him and he was talking about, not drafting me or anything like that, but what my intentions were, was I thinking about playing in the league and stuff like that. I just went blank. I’m like, I don’t know, I’m hoping to play in the league. And he said, “Well, we’re thinking about drafting some people, and you’re one of the guys we have in mind.” And when he said that it was like blowing smoke at me. I didn’t really pay that much mind. The next thing I know, he was coaching and I was one of his players. But Cooz, and I tell people Bob Cousy was like my step-dad, because he gave me the chance. He gave me a chance to play where none of the experts thought I could play in this league, and I only played for fourteen years in this league. So he gave me a chance, and I owe a lot to that. A lot of guys get drafted, don’t get a chance to play, and what he told me, he gave me the basketball and said this is your team. At a young age. And I’m shocked again. He said this is your team. I want guys to run, get ‘em in transition, and I’m like, are you talkin’ to me? So I had to accept that responsibility early on, and I wasn’t ready for it. I don’t know how I did it, but I wasn’t ready for that. You’re talking about a guy that’s twenty, twenty-one years old, and then you hand him the ball and tell him to run a professional team? I wasn’t ready. Later on he said I did pretty well, even though he said, “You didn’t say anything to the guys.” I said, “Coach, I was a silent player. I didn’t have to talk about what I had to do.”
BC:
So obviously you accomplished an awful lot during your time in the league. Three times All-NBA, six-time all-star, All-Star game MVP, Hall of Fame, 50 Greatest Players, only player to lead the league in assists and scoring in the same year, world championship. Out of all that, or maybe something else, as a player, what is it that you’re the proudest of?
NA:
Winning an NBA championship. Because early on when we were in high school, at one point somebody asked me that, and at one time I was just glad to be on the team. But after I got on that team, I knew it was time for me to take somebody’s minutes, because I got hungry. It wasn’t like I was satisfied. The hunger was still there. And when I got to college, it wasn’t like I thought about winning an NCAA championship, because I knew I couldn’t do it by myself, but I wanted to go there to find out what it was. And just being around those guys, and learning from those guys helped me to make that adjustment at UTEP. Being part of an NBA championship team is a lot different. I was just glad to be there, and they put the ball in my hands. This is your team -- again -- this is your team. Just to get that championship, and a lot of guys probably had a much better career, and I tell kids this: I was fortunate and lucky that I got a chance to play early on. And I tried to make the best of it. I was disciplined in certain ways, and I had to make adjustments in my game. Sometimes you had to be not the star, and I don’t know if I was the star, but I had to be a role player, and you have to accept your role. But I was just glad to be in that realm where I could say that I was part of that championship run.
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