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2:11

Hello, everybody, and welcome back

2:14

to Crime and Sports. Yay.

2:17

Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed.

2:20

My name is James here with my co

2:22

host.

2:22

I'm Jimmy Lisman. Thank you

2:24

folks so much for joining us. We

2:26

are excited today for another We're

2:28

excited everyday crime in sports lives

2:30

lives lives to fight another

2:33

day, and it does

2:34

today. And

2:35

we have a really fun episode. And this is

2:37

a type of episode that we couldn't do in the old

2:39

format because -- Yeah. We couldn't

2:41

fill three hours with Idi, but the story is so

2:43

crazy. It needs to be told, and it's a

2:45

wild story. Before we get into that

2:47

very quickly, head over to shut up and give me murder

2:50

dot com, get your tickets for, live

2:52

shows, twenty twenty three, small

2:54

town murder live shows, first one's

2:56

up February tenth in Cleveland, February

2:58

eleventh, in Saint Louis and those are going

3:00

quick so quick as biggie

3:02

said, come on if you're coming, get those tickets

3:05

because they're not gonna be there for a

3:07

long time. Shut up and give me murder

3:09

dot com right now. Head over to

3:11

also patreon dot com

3:13

slash crime in sports is where

3:15

you get all the bonus material so

3:17

much bonus material. Anybody five dollars

3:19

or above, you get the whole back catalog and

3:22

so so thick, so over a hundred

3:24

fifty episodes and you are gonna

3:26

get of course, every other week,

3:28

two new bonus episodes, one

3:31

crime in sports, one small town murder, you

3:33

get access to it all. This week, which

3:35

you're gonna get, For crime and sports, we're gonna

3:37

talk about players attacking fans. Yeah.

3:39

Yes. That came up with Ty Cobb of

3:41

him having that during

3:44

that time period. It was a very common thing to

3:46

happen, and it just it kept happening.

3:48

And we've talked about the Vernon Maxwells and stuff

3:50

before, but we'll find some more some kind of

3:52

lesser known ones and talk about it when players

3:55

attack fans. And then for small

3:57

town murder, we're gonna talk about Nazis

3:59

on drugs. Hey. Hey. Hey.

4:01

Yes. What were the what the hell was wrong? When

4:03

we're talking Nazi Nazi's Germans in the

4:06

forties here in the thirties and forties and

4:09

what were they on? Obviously, we know the army

4:11

was on meth, but what was what were the leadership

4:13

on to come up with these fucking ideas? We'll

4:16

find out all about it because it is a wild

4:18

scene, speedballs, and all sorts of craziness.

4:21

It's crazy. Patreon dot com

4:23

slash grime in sports is where you get all

4:25

of that and more. The more is a shout

4:27

out. So you're gonna get a shout out at the

4:29

end of the show where Jimmy's gonna mispronounce your

4:31

name. Even though he he would love to

4:33

get it correct, he really would. But he's

4:35

tried real hard. He's certainly not going to, though.

4:38

So that said, let's get into

4:40

this. We have a wild show here because

4:43

this guy's nuts and one of the weirdest endings

4:45

we've ever had in the

4:45

story. Ever. Oh, tell me. We're gonna talk about

4:48

John Brisker -- Oh. --

4:50

BRISKER.

4:52

John Brisker. You've never heard

4:54

of him probably. Never. You might we

4:56

mentioned him a bit in the ABA bonus

4:58

episode we talked about because he is one of

5:00

the legends of the ABA in terms

5:02

of fighting. And -- I don't know. --

5:05

also, he's a great player, but he's

5:07

described as a by later on by

5:09

a teammate as LeBron James with an anger

5:11

problem. So if you can picture

5:13

that, he's a big stocky

5:17

good score who will just knock you out

5:19

for no reason. So Right. Imagine

5:21

that basically here. John Brisker,

5:23

his nickname was heavyweight champion

5:25

of the NBA. So that tells you

5:27

a lot right there. And ABA before that

5:30

than NBA. He's born June

5:32

fifteenth nineteen forty seven in

5:34

Detroit. He

5:36

is a ham tramp tramp.

5:38

How the hell do you say that? It's a part of Detroit

5:41

here. Ham Tramp. Tramp Michigan

5:44

is the high school he went to here.

5:46

Now he his brother said

5:48

it started early with the fighting. Yeah. His

5:51

Ralph, said he never backed down from

5:53

a good fight. He wouldn't necessarily instigate

5:55

but he wouldn't run away as a child.

5:58

He's a tough guy. Here

6:00

is an article from February of

6:02

nineteen seventy two, a little excerpt from

6:04

this article from Sport Magazine.

6:07

And this is a quote from John here because

6:10

he doesn't he he has teammates

6:12

later that go, I don't even know where he's from

6:14

or, like, if he had a family,

6:16

I don't know. Like, he didn't talk about that stuff

6:18

at all. So get Yeah.

6:21

To get kind of background on him

6:23

is is doesn't happen very often,

6:25

not easy. So he says, quote,

6:28

We moved fifteen to twenty times when

6:30

I was growing up, getting out

6:32

of places because we couldn't pay the rent.

6:34

When I started high school, I lived at the back

6:37

end of a project. There was a basketball

6:39

court fifteen feet from our door.

6:41

It was all dirt then. I had

6:43

a lot of things frustrating me so I

6:45

take my frustrations outside and get

6:47

rid of them shooting a basketball. That

6:49

makes sense. I used basketball to forget

6:52

living in that place. I knew by then

6:54

there were better things that other people had

6:56

nice things. I'd ask myself, why can't

6:58

we have them? If the world is so

7:00

stingy, so corrupt that they could put me in that

7:02

little bought in the project and make me stay there.

7:05

Man, the projects the project is

7:07

a trip. My whole life was that lousy

7:09

project in school. I'd go from the

7:11

project, to school, to a job,

7:13

and back to the project. I got to ask

7:15

and if there wasn't something else. So

7:18

-- Yeah. -- that's his he realized

7:20

early that the world is very difficult because

7:22

-- Yeah. -- he had it be very difficult for him.

7:25

So As a kid, that hurts because, like,

7:29

you either look at it in a way of, like, you

7:31

there's nothing else. There's just this

7:33

horrible shit -- Yeah. --

7:35

or what's why are we

7:37

so? Why are we why is it us?

7:39

Why do we have to deal with that? Yeah. And

7:41

when you when you hear about other ops schools

7:43

he had to overcome here, like, what was wrong

7:46

with his mom and stuff like that. Like, you go,

7:48

Jesus Christ. Yeah. He would go, why me?

7:50

Why does he why is my life suck? What

7:52

I do? Yeah. Which would explain maybe

7:54

why he didn't talk about his background too much

7:56

to his friends or tell.

7:58

guy later on who has a lot quotes about him

8:00

because he wrote a book. A guy named slick Watts was

8:03

a player with Seattle Supersonics

8:05

when when when he was on there. John,

8:07

He said, quote, I never heard too much about

8:09

his background. His mom, his dad, his brothers,

8:11

and sisters. He never went into that. Very

8:14

private around his teammates a lot of the times,

8:16

not some of them that he was close to would

8:18

be different. But now mom,

8:20

her name is Ernestine. She

8:23

raises three children, which there's

8:25

Ralph who's the younger brother and then there's John

8:27

who's the second child, and I believe he has a sister,

8:30

an older sister. So he's

8:32

from west side of Detroit. His

8:34

mom is partially

8:36

paralyzed, so she doesn't get around

8:38

real well at all. Did she have

8:40

a stroke? Do we know? I don't

8:42

think we ever find out exactly what happened

8:44

to her, but she's partially paralyzed. Her

8:46

husband took off when John

8:48

was five. So, you know, old

8:50

enough to remember him taking off. And

8:53

she sold old clothes and did

8:55

odd jobs to keep money coming

8:57

in it.

8:58

There's no 401K in

8:59

that? No. There really isn't. Jesus.

9:02

He started working eight hours a

9:04

day John did from the time he was eleven.

9:07

Eight hours a

9:08

day from the time. Eleven.

9:11

Eleven. And this

9:12

isn't the twenties. This is the sixties. You

9:14

know what I mean? Like, it's the late sixties.

9:17

For the Idi sixties with a fifty

9:19

thermos of coffee is an

9:21

eleven year old.

9:22

337. I got a long shift tonight. See

9:24

if I can pull a double. Got a got a

9:26

go. I'm gonna see if I can pull

9:28

a double here, you know, and get some overtime.

9:31

He caught an ammonia at a car

9:33

wash, And then at one

9:35

point, so he stopped doing the car wash. And

9:37

then he

9:38

car wash in Detroit.

9:39

Yeah. He was in the yeah. He was working at a car

9:41

wash. We're

9:41

gonna catch pneumonia though. That's so he

9:44

became a janitor in a bunch of

9:46

buildings. So he would he'd go to school at

9:48

the day and then at

9:48

night, he'd do janitorial work.

9:52

Around basketball. Turn in his keys and

9:54

sit down -- That was it. -- and then sit down and learn.

9:57

Did this until he's eighteen. Jesus.

9:59

And this makes a lot of

10:01

sense. He says, quote, I feel like I missed a part

10:03

of my childhood.

10:04

Yeah. I'd say so. The part the

10:06

part when you come home from school and don't do a

10:08

janitorial job for eight hours when you're

10:11

twelve, that part

10:12

337. The

10:13

part where you don't have to do taxes.

10:15

Holy shit. He's like, mom, I

10:17

gotta work out. Jesus Christ, I

10:19

I my w two's aren't here

10:21

yet. This is ridiculous, Bob.

10:23

They've lowered head of of head of household

10:25

for Christ said. Lucky for him. He's

10:27

big because he turns out to be 652

10:29

fifty. He's a big dude, big strap and muscular

10:32

guy. I mean, he looks like a modern NBA player.

10:34

When you look at his picture, as you go, oh, that guy looks

10:36

you could plant him right in today's

10:38

game and he would look

10:39

exactly, you know, like he belongs.

10:41

He does not. He's not like an out of shape. Guy

10:44

from back there in

10:44

the fold. Yeah. Yeah. He said,

10:47

I lied about my age, and I had to

10:49

keep switching jobs because they'd find

10:50

out. So

10:52

-- Shit. -- he was big enough to be able to go,

10:54

yeah, I'm sixteen. And they go, yeah, sure. But then

10:56

they go, oh, you're twelve. You can't work here

10:58

until eleven o'clock at night. That's not allowed.

11:02

So -- To your mom. -- well then he

11:04

said they tried to take us away from my mother

11:06

one time, but she got out of the hospital

11:08

and she struggled. I look at her now and

11:10

think how easy it would have been for her to just

11:12

quit and give

11:13

up, but all three of us went to college. So

11:16

Yeah.

11:17

I see what he's saying, but what

11:20

Yeah. How

11:21

how easy would it be to quit and what do you

11:23

what do you do? Yeah. Just so aside,

11:25

what do you do, I mean, quit and give up blimp

11:27

into the street and get into the car.

11:29

Like, what? Put yourself on an ice

11:31

block in the lake Michigan and

11:34

just I I don't know. To get the

11:36

bus schedule and just crawl into Fifth Ave

11:38

or whatever the busy street is into truth. Not

11:40

sure. Yeah. Whatever the hell that is. Yeah. I don't

11:42

know how you quit, but yeah. He 337

11:45

John is extremely athletic his

11:47

family his whole family's athletic as we'll talk

11:49

about at the end of this too. He first

11:51

started boxing a bit because he's

11:53

a fighter. And but he

11:55

realized that he was just really good

11:57

at basketball. So he started

11:59

playing basketball more. Yeah. He's got a gift. I mean,

12:02

the guy as much as he's a fighter,

12:04

the problem is he's remembered only

12:06

as a fighter because he fought so much. But

12:08

then you look at some of his games and some of

12:10

his stats and you go, holy Idi. Like, if

12:12

it was good. If he wasn't a fighter, this guy would

12:15

be remembered as a an amazing score,

12:17

like a top tier guy. So

12:20

He said in Detroit, if you're tough enough,

12:22

they name playgrounds for you. That's

12:25

what that's what he said. And

12:28

actually years

12:28

later, the playground he played in between

12:31

the high school and some parks, some shitty little

12:33

playground

12:33

-- Mhmm. -- they named the the court after him

12:35

eventually the city did. So Idi

12:39

Yep. His mom had a stroke. That's what happened

12:41

with her sterilization. Yeah. He said

12:43

the government wanted to take us kids away from

12:45

her, but she went to work and raised us. He

12:48

actually in high school played with

12:50

Rudy Tom Jonovich. Is that

12:52

right? Yes. Isn't that interesting? Rudy

12:55

t was a tough son of a bitch. He was. He's

12:57

the guy who got hit real hard. Oh, yeah.

12:59

He got Idi

13:01

real

13:02

hard. Yeah. Fuck his whole face

13:04

up and he's like, maybe a

13:05

whole lot.

13:05

Maybe coaching is better for me. Yeah.

13:08

I

13:08

almost explode. If if not for skin.

13:10

He would have exploded --

13:11

Yeah. -- booty's face. His whole head popped

13:13

up. His hair went poof in that little thing.

13:16

The skin's the only thing that held it together.

13:18

Yeah. And also spent Or Haywood was

13:20

there too. Spencer Haywood will be an ABA

13:22

star and then end up going to the Lakers later

13:25

on. Mhmm. Spencer Haywood,

13:27

he'll he'll make a great episode too. We'll do him eventually.

13:29

He's one of these guys that had all

13:31

the talent in the world and just did

13:33

so much coke. He fucked it all up. It's

13:35

one of those guys -- Got it. -- strange. One of those guys where

13:38

you go, no, you're just he could have

13:40

been could have been one of the greats, everybody

13:42

says. Mhmm. So he said they used to drive

13:44

by a buick dealership and boast

13:46

about buying a buick ELECTRA when

13:49

they turn

13:49

pro. When they turn

13:51

pro, I'll be buying that buick a lecture right

13:53

there. Can't wait.

13:54

Wait. Wait. Do I have my Oh,

13:56

man. I'm gonna get my buick. As all the young

13:58

boys do, we all sit

14:00

in dream about our future and a buick

14:03

I'm gonna get me a bunch of hot women and put

14:06

them in my buick and drive away. You

14:08

can see me in my

14:09

sable. Oh, they're gonna love it. That's

14:11

a mercury, actually. But

14:13

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Mercury. That's a bug that's

14:15

a bug Save. There you go. Yeah.

14:17

The bug electric, a deuce in the quarter.

14:19

They call it the deuce in the quarter model.

14:21

He said we had to fight our way throughout

14:23

Detroit. And that was what he said.

14:26

But it's he was on a team with

14:29

with Rudy Tom Johnovich Spencer Haywood

14:31

was on a different went to a different school.

14:34

So he hung out with them, but, you know, there

14:36

was didn't they weren't on the same team. He

14:39

a lot of colleges recruited him,

14:41

Brisker, actually, yeah, because he was a big deal.

14:43

He's a great player. And he thought

14:46

about going to Michigan State which is

14:48

-- Mhmm. -- kinda where you go if you're from Detroit,

14:50

you know. Yes. Kind of a lot of those guys end up at

14:52

Michigan State. He passed it all

14:54

up to go to what college you think.

14:57

Was he gonna pass up the hometown powerhouse

14:59

for? Debris. Almost

15:04

Toledo. Yeah.

15:07

Not not yeah. Not

15:10

North Carolina or, you know, UCLA

15:13

that lead TALITO, which

15:15

he regretted later, he said. I'm sure.

15:18

He said, quote, Toledo made me

15:20

the best offer, car, apartment wardrobe,

15:23

Oh, that's why he went. Because

15:25

back

15:25

then, it was just open. Yeah. You

15:27

know, and and he's

15:28

a he's a kid from the projects.

15:30

You you

15:30

gave me the the essentials that to

15:32

run a life. Yeah. I'm going. Our apartment

15:34

wardrobe, some cash in your hand. Yeah. Sounds

15:37

great. And I play basketball and fuck college

15:39

girls for the next three

15:40

years. Sounds four years. Sounds terrific.

15:42

You're gonna give me food,

15:45

shelter, and clothing. Yeah.

15:47

Yeah, man. I don't have those.

15:50

He said they offered him all that. He

15:52

said, man, I asked, where do I sign?

15:54

I didn't care what school it

15:55

was. It was like, I'm getting all that

15:58

shit. Great. don't care where it is. But when

16:00

I got

16:00

fascinated what desperation will do for a

16:02

person, man. Yeah. Well, he just didn't know. And he

16:04

said, but when got there, I saw people

16:06

against me because of my color. I

16:08

hadn't experienced prejudice before

16:10

and I started asking questions, I didn't

16:12

get any answers. I changed then.

16:15

I got hostile. I wanted to know why couldn't

16:17

live in this world too. I'm still asking.

16:20

So yeah, he said in high

16:22

school, there was no

16:24

racial Idi, which is super

16:26

weird in, you know, because it was

16:28

earl it was right, but it was before all the

16:30

think about this. He's born in forty seven.

16:33

So he's in high school in, you

16:35

know, sixty three, sixty four. This

16:37

is before the riots in Detroit. Mhmm.

16:39

You

16:39

know, the late sixties. This is before all that.

16:42

So he said this is the boom

16:43

of of the auto industry that -- Yeah.

16:45

-- this is a big deal. This looks great. 337 it

16:47

would be him, Rudy and Spencer

16:49

Haywood riding around in the car. And if you don't know

16:52

who any of those guys

16:52

are, two of them are big black guys and one of them is

16:54

a big white guy. And they are

16:56

just hanging out together, which seems

16:58

fine. But back then, it got it

17:00

was he said that that was normal for him and

17:02

then he got to Toledo and it was everything

17:05

everybody's kinda separated racially. And he

17:07

didn't like that at all. And he was like, what the fuck is

17:09

this about? Because, you know, he was just used

17:11

to Detroit, these black guys, white guys. We all go to

17:13

the same school. We play on the same team,

17:15

whatever, you know. Let me just think

17:17

about this. It was different. Yeah. He said he never

17:19

never thought about it before. But in his

17:21

sophomore year, Toledo was twenty in

17:23

one. And ranked number ten nationally.

17:26

Is that right?

17:27

Yeah. Well, think about Rudy too was a good NBA

17:29

player too. Yeah. And he went there too.

17:31

He went to Toledo also. I think yeah. I think

17:33

he ended up there too if I'm not mistaken. So

17:37

he he later

17:39

on, though, he kinda became less of

17:41

the focus of the offense when they got a big center,

17:43

and he was upset with racial

17:45

conflict. But he he didn't just

17:48

play basketball,

17:48

Jimmy. He played football in a sophomore

17:51

year.

17:52

For a college

17:53

for college? Both then. Yeah. And

17:55

he hadn't played football in high school.

17:59

That's that's a whole new world for us. That's

18:01

how beastly athletic he is and just

18:03

a big We believe

18:03

he's a big I mean, you don't get in his way.

18:05

He will run you the fuck over, so it makes sense.

18:08

But You

18:08

got a scholarship for basketball, but you're

18:11

also like football. Oh, if that's not

18:13

enough. You know what else he does? Is

18:15

he the janitor? No. He's not the janitor.

18:17

That's a good guy. I was gonna say. I'll

18:20

give you a hundred guesses and you'll never guess

18:22

it. Janitor would have been my first guess too.

18:24

Yeah. He plays the tuba

18:26

in the band. What?

18:29

The

18:29

tube. He's

18:30

a gifted musician too. I

18:32

mean, he plays I don't know. seems

18:34

hard.

18:34

Only a few buttons though. Right? Seems like half

18:36

of it is carrying it, half of the two, but we'd be

18:39

carrying a wielding that thing around,

18:41

not bumping it into other people in the in your

18:43

marching

18:43

band. That would

18:44

be part of it. So tired. I played the

18:46

the tub. Yeah.

18:48

Half a block of the 337. Playing.

18:50

Yeah. Man, the walking is Just as

18:53

a pole.

18:56

Idi a lot, though. It's just I Idi

18:58

forty. It's like, you know, it's

18:59

been heavy. Four arms are killing me.

19:03

Real heavy. So

19:05

the basketball coach didn't want to offer

19:07

him didn't want him to play basketball to play

19:10

football or play the tuba. You just play

19:12

basketball he's like that. I'm gonna play football

19:15

and the tuba. He actually

19:17

got offers for tryouts

19:19

from three NFL teams as well

19:22

because of his size and athleticism. Back

19:24

then in the sixties, Teams

19:26

were looking for athletes. And athletes

19:29

elite athletes didn't go to the NFL.

19:31

It's not like it is now. That the

19:33

NFL and this is if you can trace this

19:36

and a bunch of the guys from back then have talked

19:38

about it. It's a big kind of an open thing.

19:40

In the late sixties when they started drafting

19:42

for Vietnam -- Right. -- that's

19:44

when they start football started

19:46

getting elite athletes. Before

19:49

that, they played baseball. But

19:51

baseball, if you get signed to a professional

19:53

contract when you're eighteen out of high school and then

19:55

go, you can be drafted into the army and go

19:57

to Vietnam. 337 if you go to play football

20:00

and you're in college for four years, you're

20:02

not you can't get drafted. So

20:05

a lot of the guys played football to not

20:07

get drafted into Vietnam. So that's

20:09

how that's how football all

20:12

that that athlete stream ended up

20:14

starting to go to football instead of

20:15

baseball, and it's just contained knew ever since then.

20:18

Wow. That's absolutely Yeah. A lot of the guys

20:20

said that I could have played football or baseball. Didn't

20:23

wanna get drafted and go to

20:24

NAM, so I played football. That's a lot of guys ended

20:26

up in the NFL. So when we

20:28

celebrate in February, we're

20:31

basically every when we have the Super

20:33

Bowl, we're just basically celebrating the

20:36

thank God for Vietnam. Thank

20:38

God. Yeah. That if the Vietnam

20:40

was the best thing to happen to the NFL ever.

20:43

Literally was because that's what they

20:45

do to colleges would go to these kids

20:47

and go listen, I know the royals

20:49

are looking at you. You know, I know the

20:51

Yeah. know you're getting looked at by the Tigers,

20:53

but you go there and you can get drafted.

20:55

You'll be in a in a, you know, be in a rice

20:58

patty -- Me too. -- tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. That's I

21:00

mean, you could be that aware as if you come

21:02

play with us down at Alabama. Idi

21:04

four years and four years. Boy, I'll water probably

21:07

be over. We'll probably 337 gonna be trapped in people

21:09

in four years, and you'll be in the

21:10

NFL, pal. That's

21:12

337

21:12

that's the fetch. Keep your guts on

21:14

the inside. That's if

21:17

you're a scared teenager? Yeah.

21:20

Sounds good to

21:21

me. Yeah. I mean, keep your guts

21:23

on the inside and let's fuck them up. Idi,

21:25

We're gonna fuck up your brain, not your guts. Oh,

21:28

I see. That's what we're gonna do. You won't remember your

21:30

name, which you you know that you weren't shot

21:32

in a in a

21:32

jungle. So that's gonna

21:33

Oh, y'all be scrambled, but let's wait thirty

21:36

for thirty years for

21:37

that to to show up.

21:39

Absolutely. Baseball always

21:41

had the advantage of they give

21:43

you money. So if you're some eighteen year

21:45

old kid in the city or a Farm Boy or some

21:47

shit like that and they come you come you and go, I'll give you

21:49

a ten thousand dollar signing bonus. You go Holy

21:52

shit boy and you sign right up. But

21:54

if you're gonna spend that money in Vietnam

21:56

on on hookers on your R and R

21:58

rather than you

21:59

know, in this doing what you want. In four

22:02

years, do whatever you want. Yeah.

22:03

Yeah. So that was the thing. So and then they would

22:05

offer the guys all sorts of stuff. Do you come here?

22:07

We'll give a few bucks. We'll give you a wardrobe apartment

22:10

and all that shit. We'll give you food food

22:12

water and shelter. Yeah. And no one will

22:14

shoot at you. Not on purpose

22:15

anyway. I mean, maybe at at Texas because

22:17

that guy shot from the belt. You never know, but

22:19

-- Idi

22:20

-- also depends on how racist you

22:22

get in Toledo. Yeah. You never know.

22:25

So he actually there

22:27

there was a an issue on the team

22:29

where there

22:32

the coach suspended a black player

22:34

and Brisker got mad. And

22:36

he said Nichols, meaning

22:39

who's the coach? Nichols was from Toledo,

22:41

when the black and white thing got into the papers,

22:43

I was the villain because he came out and said

22:46

because he said it. He was mad. He

22:48

said he had the bright idea the

22:50

black players were a separate group. That

22:52

was the split. And I fought him over that

22:54

because we'd always been together as a team, but

22:56

it got to the point where my hair was falling

22:58

out and I developed an

22:59

ulcer. Oh, Mike. It's

23:01

causing him so much anguish

23:03

and anxiety. He was put on the bench and there

23:05

was racial stuff and he because he was put on the bench

23:08

because he was talking in the papers. And

23:10

so, yeah, he said he was just totally

23:12

fucked up in the head. Hair's falling out. Hair's

23:14

falling out. He averages, let's see,

23:16

his freshman year, whereas fourteen

23:18

points a game is

23:20

a sophomore year, fourteen point nine points

23:22

a game, and we're talking shitloads of rebounds

23:25

too. Nine and a half rebounds in his freshman

23:27

year. Okay. Six point eight in his

23:29

sophomore year. So he's doing very

23:31

well. Then he doesn't play very much in his junior year.

23:33

He only plays in six games because that's all this

23:35

shit's going on here. So

23:38

he he's doing everything like that,

23:41

playing his stuff, he's starting to get moody,

23:43

starting party a little bit more. Yeah.

23:46

And he he settled most of

23:48

Idi. A lot of it was the the racial

23:50

stuff got him very

23:51

mad. Rudy Tom

23:53

Johnovich said he got a little frustrated at

23:56

that time.

23:56

Yeah. And you could tell. He

23:59

said this is Brisker's quote,

24:01

his full quote here. In the summer of

24:03

sixty eight just before my senior year,

24:05

I was informed by the coach that I would have to do

24:07

everything that he wanted or I wouldn't play ball

24:10

for him again. I couldn't do that, so I

24:12

told him I didn't need him. Even if I couldn't

24:14

play basketball for him, I was talented

24:16

enough to do something else. And oh,

24:18

but he led the football team in receptions that

24:21

year as a receiver. So

24:24

that's that's

24:26

crazy.

24:28

That's an athlete. Engine

24:29

being so good.

24:31

So athletic that you can just

24:32

And then you wedge that giant frame into

24:35

a tube. Is the tube the one that goes around you?

24:37

I I don't know if it goes around you, if you're hanging off

24:39

the front of you. Yeah. America seems

24:41

like it was

24:42

all right. Crawl through.

24:43

Right? think that's the tuba. It's huge the

24:45

tuba. Yeah. It's like it's like a

24:47

brass chella. It's a gigantic fucking

24:50

glove glove glove glove glove glove glove glove

24:52

glove. That's gotta be a tool, I think. Right?

24:54

They're They seem too they probably come

24:56

in different sizes too, as to. Lizzo

24:59

plays it. I would assume. I don't think she

25:01

plays the flute. Oh. She might

25:03

play the

25:03

tube, but too. I don't fuck a no.

25:05

The tube was yeah. The little the kind of

25:07

cradle. Yeah. What's the giant fucker that

25:09

you got a wedged.

25:10

I have no idea. Idi looks like yeah. It looks like

25:12

steam pipe for an old

25:13

building.

25:13

Yeah. It's like

25:18

a stupid instrument is what it is. It's like some sort

25:20

of weird exhaust system. Yeah.

25:24

You're playing Hold on.

25:26

Play the harley pot. That's what I play.

25:29

Idi

25:30

not gonna play the Harley exam.

25:32

Yeah. I play custom parts. That's

25:36

So Giant wind horn. That that's what I'm

25:39

gonna look up instrument. Okay. And

25:40

then you you keep telling me more. And we'll do

25:43

I wait till you get to the bottom of this I don't know. I don't really

25:45

think that. I don't think the instrument matters to be

25:47

honest. And even if you bring it

25:49

up, forty five people tweet us about it anyway.

25:51

So why why waste the time of the show? Someone will

25:53

tell us later.

25:54

Great point. It's a awful horn. I don't know.

25:56

Yeah. Everyone will tell us

25:58

anyway. So he still

26:00

wanted to play basketball Brisker. Okay.

26:03

He said every day for two weeks

26:05

after football practice at three PM,

26:07

I would go to practice with the freshman basketball

26:09

team at seven PM. Doing both was

26:11

a hell of a strain in my

26:12

body, but that's how badly I wanted to play.

26:15

Yeah. Coming from college football

26:17

practice to go do basketball practices

26:19

and and you can't do both of those the same

26:21

day. That feels very tiring. Holy

26:24

shit. So he

26:27

he said he's on the bench and everything like

26:29

that, and that's when he said developed and ulcer

26:31

started losing his hair. He said

26:34

and he has hair. So Idi like he goes bald

26:36

after that. He ends up growing it back. He

26:38

said, like, a pregnant woman though. Yeah.

26:40

Just got too many hormones or something. Yeah.

26:42

Too many vitamins coming in. He said

26:44

at the same time, other things started to go

26:46

badly. My grade average took a dive,

26:48

I decided to quit the team and it became

26:51

a big controversy. It was played

26:53

up as my not being able to make it academically,

26:55

when was actually the coach and me not making

26:58

it in any way. I didn't feel that

27:00

staying at Toledo would be worthwhile. The

27:02

only thing I could have accomplished was to hurt somebody

27:04

and ruin myself. Jesus. While

27:07

I still had my pride and self respect,

27:09

which they couldn't strip me

27:10

off, I left. Yeah.

27:11

I think you can't take my pride. Yeah.

27:14

He did that. So he got a job.

27:16

He worked a bunch after that. Mhmm.

27:18

His work, and I assume he's gen doing janitorial

27:20

work. There's some sort of -- Mhmm. To

27:23

of the like. And then he ends up in

27:25

the Philadelphia's Brisker League

27:27

in the summer. This was a big

27:29

deal back then. This was a summer league that

27:31

pro guys would come play in this league. Like, it

27:34

was a it was -- Yes.

27:36

-- a basketball league that was played outdoor.

27:38

I believe it was outdoor. Some of

27:40

the games were out door, but it was like a hardcore

27:43

summer basketball league back then. And

27:46

like I said, pros would come to stay in shape because

27:48

that's where the good games were. Young

27:50

guys, this is where you get seen, scouts

27:52

came here. It was a big deal.

27:54

And John played in this league and does

27:56

a great job and really you

27:59

know, gets a lot of attention. Yeah. Well, the

28:01

other thing is you get a lot of pro players coming

28:04

and seeing you. Next thing you know, they go back

28:06

to their teams and they're like, hey, there's this

28:08

kid that plays here and there. I this motherfucker

28:11

is bad. I saw him doing this and that and then, you know,

28:13

you get drafted. And that's what happens in

28:15

nineteen sixty nine. He doesn't

28:17

he's not in the regular NBA draft.

28:20

He gets drafted in the first round

28:22

by Philadelphia in the supplemental draft.

28:24

Left. Mhmm. Now NBA draft,

28:26

though, first round, number one pick

28:28

nineteen sixty nine

28:29

Jimmie. You might actually get

28:31

it. Coreem

28:33

Abdul Jabbar.

28:34

Yes. Alright. So I said you might

28:36

actually get it because you guess him a lot. Idi

28:38

sixty nine, sixty nine. After

28:40

that, he used CLA till Milwaukee

28:43

Uh-huh. --

28:44

and we told the story about him in the ABA

28:46

in the bonus episode by Lou

28:47

then. Right? Yeah.

28:48

was Lou Elsunder at the moment. He almost

28:51

ended up in the ABA, but they they

28:53

fucked it up full stories on Patreon. So

28:55

-- Right. -- he's also John

28:58

Brisker is also drafted by the

29:00

pic Pittsburgh Pipers at the

29:02

time. Who were the no. That

29:04

is a 337 basketball team.

29:06

Baseball. What a fucking baseball

29:08

team?

29:08

I don't know. was looking for a curveball in the

29:11

story. I don't know. He plays football and basketball.

29:13

Is it really a sports He

29:15

signs with the Pittsburgh Piper's a hockey team.

29:20

Like, what? The first professional

29:22

cornhole. We didn't even know he could skate, but apparently

29:25

he never skated before, but he's so good

29:27

and athletic. He just puts skates on and muscled

29:30

them into the ice and He doesn't

29:32

so much glide on the ice as he makes himself

29:34

a trail. He really just makes

29:36

himself a divot all the way through. So

29:40

he the papers also draft

29:42

him, and he ends up signing with the ABA

29:44

because the NBA didn't offer

29:46

him shit for money. So -- Oh. -- ABA

29:49

offered a few more bucks not much.

29:51

So he ends up in the

29:52

ABA. He's gotta kinda prove himself Now

29:55

the Pipers were the defending champions

29:57

when he got drafted. So

29:58

that's great. That's great. But their team

30:00

completely fell apart when they at this

30:02

point because they won the title 337 didn't make any

30:04

money, so they started selling off their players and

30:06

shit. Okay. So that's the kind of team they

30:08

were. They go twenty nine and fifty five

30:10

in his rookie year there. That's not good.

30:13

No. Couple different coaches. It's kind

30:15

of a mess. John, though,

30:17

twenty one points a game Twenty

30:20

one points, five point seven rebounds,

30:22

one point seven assists out of the small forward

30:24

spot, and sometimes powerful. Sometimes

30:27

power forward at 652, he plays too.

30:29

Yeah. I mean, he he plays twenty eight

30:31

point two minutes

30:32

game. He's he's in it, man. He's in

30:34

it. You get that out of a rookie. That's a

30:36

fucking tremendous deal. Yeah. Yeah.

30:38

And and back then too, you would get that out

30:40

of rookies, guys were would be the MVP. A

30:42

rookie in in the

30:43

337. They've got these dominant, especially

30:46

a center could come in and dominate because there was

30:48

not a lot good

30:48

centers. The NBA when

30:51

they started competing salary

30:53

wise with the ABA, the first and

30:55

foremost thing they did was lock down centers

30:58

because back back then

31:00

the game was all post. So -- Yeah. -- if

31:02

they took the centers, that was it. They were the NBA

31:04

was

31:04

screwed, which in the end, Idi up

31:06

playing, but You're playing against the team with

31:08

a good center and your center's garbage. Now

31:11

you've got AAA shooting guard

31:13

as your double team and that's mismatch all

31:15

day. You can just dominate on you. Well, then you

31:17

get you get guys wide open. If you have

31:19

a center who knows how to kick it out, you got a

31:21

lot of problems and and when it comes to that.

31:24

So fighting becomes his main reputation

31:26

though. Okay. And mind you, twenty

31:28

one points, five point seven rebounds, one

31:30

point seven assists per

31:31

game. Yeah. It's outstanding as

31:34

rookie in any league here.

31:36

But fighting

31:37

ABA award points for fighting. Did

31:39

you get, like, No. But if he did,

31:41

if he did, he'd average forty three a game.

31:43

Forty three points a game. He would have

31:45

been, like, by, like, killing it.

31:48

Way above anybody else. If

31:50

you're like me, my health and fitness are

31:52

two things I am extremely passionate about.

31:54

And my favorite source for accurate fitness and health

31:56

information is the Mindpump Podcast.

31:59

The hosts are funny, entertaining, and they're

32:01

always there with the most up to date and applicable

32:03

fitness and health information. If you're

32:05

looking to lose fat, build muscle, or

32:07

improve your health, search Mindpump on

32:09

your favorite podcast app and give them a

32:11

listen. That's Mindpump wherever podcasts

32:13

are found. He he knocked

32:16

out a guy named Sam Smith in Kentucky

32:19

who played for the Kentucky Colonels who was a

32:21

big giant guy and he just

32:24

fucking knocked them out cold

32:26

on the

32:26

court. That was his original reputation

32:29

in the ABA was made from that because he was

32:31

a

32:31

much big your guy, and John just knocked the fuck

32:33

out of him. Oh,

32:34

shit. Knock out. Oh, yeah. They said the

32:37

the guy looked just like Joe Lewis too. His

32:39

face So it was funny. Look like a giant Joe

32:41

Lewis, the boxer. He they said Smith,

32:43

the big guy swung twice, and then

32:45

Brisker swung once and knocked him the fuck

32:47

out. So Chounded

32:50

with one punch. Yep. He's

32:52

obviously out of the game. And they said after that,

32:54

everybody said, oh, don't fuck with John Brisker.

32:57

That's That's a bad

32:58

news.

32:59

took two, gave one, and he's still standing.

33:02

No Idi. of his coaches said

33:04

Brisker had three talents, shooting, rebounding,

33:06

and fighting. He

33:09

said, no one ever knew which order they'd

33:11

appear from day to day is the problem. You never

33:13

knew it, John. And then

33:15

Spencer Haywood said John was LeBron

33:18

James with an with anger issues. That's

33:20

telling that's some serious shit I know,

33:22

but that's who he was. That's the kind of

33:25

something that they don't tell you Idi expletive.

33:27

That's the kind of expletive you were looking at. I

33:29

assume motherfucker would be the Probably. Yeah.

33:31

Detroit or Yeah. That's the kind of

33:33

motherfucker you were looking

33:35

at. Sounds right about it. If you've ever heard Spencer

33:37

Haywood, that's what he that's what he would have said.

33:39

Well, Andrew, not Andrew. Jesus

33:41

Samuel. Yeah. Samuel l Jackson,

33:43

not Andrew Jackson at all.

33:46

Very different people.

33:49

337 I would pay to hear

33:50

bet they both don't like each other. I would pay

33:52

to hear Samuel Jackson dressed down

33:54

Andrew Jackson. That would be hilarious. That

33:57

would be the funniest fucking thing in the world. We'd have

33:59

to obviously take him up. He's been dead for several

34:01

hundred years. Almost two hundred

34:03

years. But

34:03

still, I feel like I would like would enjoy

34:06

it. 337 out like a hat on him in a military uniform.

34:08

I'd love to if we could reanimate, I

34:10

wanna see his face. Happen. Yeah.

34:13

He would absolutely hate it. I know that much.

34:18

He would certainly hate it. So

34:21

and we talked a little bit about A couple

34:23

of these guys in the or at least Warren

34:25

Jabali in the ABA bonus episode,

34:28

but the two biggest toughest guys were Warren

34:30

Jabali and John Brisker in the whole ABA.

34:32

That was how it was. Brisker

34:35

was was killing We'll tell you more of his

34:37

stats, but he's he's does very

34:39

well. He

34:42

Brisker, everybody

34:45

it's

34:45

weird. People like him, but then they're scared

34:47

of him so they're close. It's hard to get they don't wanna

34:50

get close to him.

34:51

Yeah. It's a it's an interesting thing.

34:53

A guy named Billy Knight says going

34:55

to college at the University of Pittsburgh and

34:57

playing on the team, I got to see a lot of ABA

34:59

teams and got to know guys like

35:01

Connie Hawkins and John

35:02

Brisker. Those got Connie Hawkins is amazing.

35:05

He's a legend. As you know, being

35:07

a Jonestown. Yeah. And as a

35:09

career being robbed from him, all of everything.

35:12

Oh, yeah.

35:14

What a nice person? Well, yeah.

35:16

The

35:16

ABA saved him. The ABA was

35:18

the he went to the ABA and was

35:20

just the dominant player in the ABA

35:22

and that's when the NBA and the whole thing went through

35:24

the court and he ended up going he got

35:27

he really did well. He went to the NBA,

35:29

got a huge contract, and got a big

35:31

settlement also for them keeping

35:33

him out for all those

35:34

years. Because He would

35:36

come to our school so much.

35:38

Really? He like, schools in in Oh,

35:40

amazing. would he would come.

35:42

It's amazing. Every year, it felt like

35:44

he was there to give a speech about staying

35:46

in the school and then What a

35:48

guy? That's a fucking he is a he

35:50

he was an amazing player. Like, incredible

35:53

player. People who just the way they talk

35:55

about him when he was younger, he was, like, you know,

35:57

just beyond amazing, especially

35:59

for a big guy like that. So

36:02

he said those guys used to work out with us at

36:04

the Pitt Fieldhouse. The first time I played

36:06

game against Brisker, he just turned

36:08

toward me and busted me in the mouth. Some

36:11

college kid, he's just playing a pickup game with.

36:14

He said, I mean, for no reason, he just

36:16

punched me in the mouth and stood there waiting for

36:18

me to do something about Idi didn't do

36:20

anything. He just scared me. You

36:23

you think there was no reason? Yeah.

36:26

What was the result? I'm sure that was

36:28

the wrease. Yeah. Afterwards, I bet you played them

36:30

a little softer. You weren't quite

36:32

boxing them out so hard. Get that out of stock.

36:34

Idi well that day. Yep. Mac

36:37

Calvin, who is a really good guard in the a really

36:39

good ABA guard. He was great. I think he played the

36:41

NBA before and then went to the ABA. He

36:44

said John Brisker scared everybody. Even

36:46

the guys on his own team were frightened to the guy.

36:48

He had a perpetual chip on his shoulder

36:51

I was a guard so he didn't pay much attention to

36:53

me. He liked to pick on the big guys. Yeah.

36:56

That's the kind of guy he is too. Brisker will go.

36:58

Who's the toughest guy on that team? Oh, good. I'm

37:00

gonna punch him tonight. Like, every

37:03

prison in You say every game was day

37:05

one of prison for the sky. Like, gotta

37:08

make my reputation. Prison

37:10

prison orientation. Yep. I

37:12

I'd game day. Every fucking

37:14

game. Every game. He Charlie

37:17

Williams, another guy here from the ABA.

37:19

He said there was a real contradiction to Brisker.

37:22

He was an exceptionally talented player

37:24

with a good long range jump shot. Almost

37:26

downtown Freddie Brown like Range. He was a

37:28

great player too, downtown Freddie Brown.

37:30

He was vicious under the basket and got

37:33

more rebounds than a six foot five guy

37:35

should. He had good all around basketball

37:37

skills and really was an excellent player.

37:39

But his personality was something else.

37:41

Say something wrong to the guy or at least

37:43

that he thought was wrong, and you had this feeling

37:46

that John would reach into his bag, take out a

37:48

gun and shoot you. Jesus Christ.

37:53

In training camp, if John sensed there

37:55

was a guy who might take his job, the

37:57

rookie was in trouble. John would physically

37:59

take that player apart. The guys on the

38:01

other teams are just scared of him, and the guys

38:03

on John's team were very leery of him.

38:07

He's The yeah. He's just just a wildcard.

38:09

Oh, he'll punches. He'll knock you out. Being a teammate

38:11

means nothing in terms of whether

38:14

you'll get punched or not. Piss him off.

38:16

He's punching you. I want you to

38:18

win, but me too. Yeah.

38:20

I'm gonna win on this team at

38:22

the same time as we win. He

38:24

said, quote, being a fighter is a part of

38:26

my game, 337 it ruins

38:28

any evaluation of me as a player.

38:30

I come on the floor, everyone expects a

38:32

fight. That's not right. I just protect

38:34

what I am and I don't back off.

38:36

Okay.

38:37

337 not everybody's fighting every game. That's the

38:39

difference. You have to, you know,

38:41

there's Does he do you think that's

38:43

from Just from childhood,

38:46

like, because he had to scrap to and fight

38:48

to

38:48

survive, like, yes. He does that as

38:50

an adult too. He's got the real as he doesn't

38:52

have to anymore. I don't know if it's that or,

38:54

I mean, it's also a matter of, like,

38:57

if you're growing up if you're growing up

38:59

with a lot of other kids around and your mom's, like,

39:01

something's wrong with her and shit. The other kids might

39:03

say something and then you gotta fucking beat them

39:05

up. So, you

39:05

know, you you might feel like he's always defending

39:07

a lot. I'm not sure. And he's just angry.

39:10

Yeah. Yeah. He's definitely angry. He's

39:12

mad. Dick Tinkham, who's

39:14

a an executive in the league there

39:16

in the NBA. Dick Tinkham.

39:18

Yeah. We talked about him lot in the ABA

39:20

episode. That's a bad name. So many

39:23

guys, unfortunate dick names back

39:25

then. So many. Jesus.

39:28

He he says, quote,

39:30

the legendary Brisker story was

39:32

that in one of its training camps, Pittsburgh

39:34

brought in an ex football player who was supposed

39:36

to control Brisker. The football player

39:38

was supposed to get into a scrimmage with Brisker,

39:41

and the first time Brisker stepped out a line,

39:43

the football player was supposed to flatten him.

39:46

There. I'm gonna keep him under control. Well,

39:48

the two guys started going at then

39:50

the football player said, the hell with

39:52

you, I'm going to get my gun. And

39:56

that do this with me.

39:57

And Brisker said, quote, if you're getting a gun,

39:59

then I'm gonna go get my gun.

40:02

I don't do. No. We're gonna have a shootout

40:04

out on the court. Then the two guys

40:06

ran off the court in different directions presumably

40:08

to get their guns. The coaches

40:10

took one look at all that and called off

40:12

practice before somebody got killed. That's

40:15

People locked the doors. That's the 337,

40:17

though. That's fucking amazing. John

40:20

Vanik, who was an official. He said

40:22

one time I was officiating a Pittsburgh

40:24

game, and Brisker was late coming onto the floor

40:26

for the second half. Turned out that he

40:29

had a fight in the dressing room with one of Idi

40:31

own players.

40:33

It's just constant. Steve Jones

40:36

here. Another guy, he says, quote, Wendell

40:38

would fight any while. This is about this

40:40

is about -- No. Wait. -- when yeah. This

40:42

is about Wendell Laddner, who's a big Hillbilly.

40:46

Total Redneck guy who could barely talk

40:48

and did a commercial and couldn't say tortilla.

40:55

We talked about it. Yeah. He said they

40:57

said Wendell would fight anyone Idi his

40:59

and pro game, we played Denver and wendled

41:01

that in with Wayne Heights Tower, and right

41:03

away Heights Tower backed off. He just didn't want

41:05

any part of Wendell. The next day we went to

41:07

Pittsburgh back when the Condors had John

41:10

Brisker who was the meanest guy in the league.

41:12

Before the game, Brisker your said to me, I

41:14

hear you've got this tough white kid on your team.

41:17

And that's how good the grapevine was.

41:19

Wendell was the league for only two games and

41:21

a ready word was out on him. I told

41:24

Brisker Ladner can fight. I wouldn't mess

41:26

with him. And Brisker said, we'll find out tonight.

41:31

Someone else is tough. I'm a fighter. Don't worry.

41:34

I can't wait to see it. That's

41:36

fucking crazy. So he said Pittsburgh

41:38

had a bad team and a very selfish team.

41:41

Brisker was out there shooting the ball every time

41:43

he got it, trying to get his thirty. Once

41:45

Brisker got his thirty points, he decided

41:47

it was time to go after Wendell. John

41:49

threw an elbow at Lattner who didn't pay any

41:51

attention to it and just ran down to the other end

41:53

of the court. The next time down the court,

41:56

Brisker threw another elbow and Laddner

41:58

went crazy. It became more like

42:00

two bulls trying to gore each other than a

42:02

basketball fight. Those are just two

42:04

big strong, rough guys. In their

42:06

next game, they got into a fight at the jump

42:08

ball to start the

42:09

game. 337 eventually

42:12

they learned that neither guy could beat the other.

42:14

They just

42:15

scraped to a draw every time. Oh my god.

42:17

So Another Rudy

42:19

Marsky said, Wendell was crazy. He'd

42:21

stick his head into Brisker's dressing room

42:23

and yell, hey, John, we're gonna go at it now

42:26

or after the

42:26

game. And then they'd laugh, then they'd laugh, go

42:28

into their dressing room, and then fight on the court.

42:31

So it was just like

42:32

I wanna do it now. It was like giving them a show. Wasn't

42:34

it wasn't hard feelings. Yeah. At all,

42:36

it was just like What we do? We fight.

42:39

Yep. So, yeah,

42:41

Jack McMahon who was a coach for

42:43

the Condors when they turned from the Pipers

42:46

to the Condors, he said,

42:48

quote, nobody would get in his way about

42:50

Brisker. If he got fouled, he'd get

42:52

up and punch the guy who fouled him. Wow.

42:55

Imagine that in the in the game. Imagine

42:57

the Braun James gets valve, gets

42:59

up, drills James Harden right in the fucking

43:02

forehead, just

43:02

pow, knocks him down. That'd be wild.

43:05

337 Well, keep going every time.

43:07

The difference between that league and this league is that

43:09

they're playing to actively

43:12

draw fouls now. We're there that -- Yeah. -- they're

43:14

they're playing to actually score buckets.

43:16

Now it's a bullshit strategy of

43:18

winning at the foul line. It's fucking ass

43:21

and I. So now it'd be like That'd

43:23

be instigating now. Yeah. Watching

43:25

Chris Paul stand up and punch

43:26

somebody. The pow, the ABA

43:28

that was a rougher game. They said you'd

43:31

have to be you'd have to really knock somebody

43:33

down to get a foul. Like, there was you weren't

43:35

tapping somebody's wrist and get a foul on that.

43:37

I think that doesn't happen. They weren't just Justin,

43:40

the guy that he got in a fight with, stepped up

43:42

to the line to take his technical foul shot,

43:44

so he was at the line with nobody else

43:46

around. So when you're all alone at the

43:48

foul, I insulated. Just in that, brisket

43:50

bolted onto the floor and punched him in the back

43:52

of the head.

43:55

Got my money's worth is what he did

43:57

there. And his teammates

43:59

said he was a really nice person. Do

44:01

anything for kids. That's

44:06

all it takes.

44:07

That's what it is. He's nice to be kids.

44:09

He's a shit. As long as you go

44:11

to the burn unit and hand out teddy

44:13

bears, you're an

44:14

Idi. over there, sign a couple of basketballs,

44:16

take a couple of pictures, and you're a great guy. Doesn't

44:18

matter what the fuck you do. Holy

44:21

shit. So seventy seventy one seasony

44:24

averages thirty nine point one minutes a game.

44:26

So a lot in house. Twenty

44:29

nine point three points a game.

44:32

Almost a point a minute. Nine point

44:34

seven rebounds. So he's averaging essentially

44:37

thirty and ten. Why don't we know

44:39

who he is? With three assists a game as

44:41

well. That's ridiculous. That's those

44:43

are silly numbers. Those are Those

44:45

are, you know, peak LeBron numbers. Those

44:47

are -- Yeah. -- really good numbers, not

44:49

bad. So he one

44:52

game in Salt Lake City in the Utah

44:55

Stars, they held a John Brisker

44:57

intimidation night. They called

44:59

an official night where

45:01

six of the state's professional fighters,

45:03

including ex middleweight champion Gene

45:05

Fulmer and his brother Don sat at

45:07

court side. Actual boxer.

45:10

They brought in boxers to do that. Brisker,

45:13

you know, didn't give a shit obviously here, but

45:15

they said they thought it was

45:16

fun. And it was

45:17

very funny. So

45:19

yeah. His coach

45:21

said Jack McMan, John intimidates

45:23

people. He goes to the basket like no

45:25

one I've ever seen. Guys run away.

45:28

It's like a parting of the seas. In twenty

45:30

years, I've never seen that before. Mhmm.

45:32

Most guys go to the rack trying to get fouled.

45:34

He goes to the rack. If you foul, he's punching

45:36

you. So -- Yeah. -- if you get the fuck out of the way

45:38

when he goes to the rack, essentially. That's

45:41

that works. One game in New York in

45:43

with against the Nazi had a huge, huge

45:45

day there. He loved playing in New

45:48

York. He was thought it was the greatest thing in the

45:50

world. They played a a doubleheader

45:52

one day at Madison Square Garden. Not

45:54

the same teams, but two four different teams

45:57

played doubleheader. It was a big deal for

45:59

the ABA trying to you know, get

46:01

out to a bigger market. That's when they had the Miami

46:03

remember we talked about the Miami Floridians ball

46:05

girls. They made a big deal and the press

46:08

came. And so They

46:10

said for three Brisker wasn't

46:14

that great. He was shooting a lot, not doing so

46:16

much. But then in the fourth

46:18

quarter, he just went

46:20

off. Turn it on. Turn Idi He

46:22

made nine straight shots, including two

46:24

three pointers in there. Wow. Just was on

46:27

feet with six for twenty four coming into the fourth

46:29

quarter. Then made nine straight,

46:31

including two threes. The last three

46:33

pointer tied the game at 109109

46:35

at the end of regulation. Going

46:37

to overtime. Yep. So they

46:39

went to the guy well,

46:41

the on the three pointer, it was blocked

46:44

is the weird part. Tom Washington,

46:46

the guy who blocked it, said I couldn't understand

46:48

it. He recontrolled the ball after

46:50

I blocked it and shot it a second time, and it

46:52

went it was a Swiss That was that idea.

46:55

With three seconds left. Yeah. Wow.

46:57

He caught it and fucking shot it again. Mhmm.

46:59

Somehow reset himself and shot it again,

47:01

which is Idi goddamn wild. So

47:04

he loved the garden. He said New York fans

47:06

are a lot different than Pittsburgh fans. You

47:08

know why the Knicks are so good? Because at the time

47:11

they were good, everybody. I know they haven't

47:13

been for decades, but they were

47:15

they were really good in the early seventies. They

47:17

are inspired by the fans. It makes you

47:19

feel good to play before real fans. Even

47:21

though they are from New

47:22

York, they recognize good players. I

47:24

don't know what that means. I guess, on other

47:26

teams.

47:27

Despite those asshole New Yorkers. I mean,

47:29

even though and I obviously don't very

47:31

much. I think they're alright. He said

47:33

after we were on five in a row, we were expecting

47:36

two or three thousand fans to come out, but

47:38

we barely had a thousand. Idi becomes

47:40

disappointing to play just before

47:42

the concessionaires in Pittsburgh. Yeah.

47:44

So he goes here. It's fun. And

47:47

nineteen seventy one seventy two He

47:49

plays forty two point one minutes a

47:51

game that year. Jesus, twenty

47:53

eight point nine points, nine point one

47:55

rebounds, four point one assists. He's

47:58

incredible. That's really good. Really

48:01

good. He's he's lot different

48:03

than he was before. Idi Tom

48:05

Johnovich who's been playing in the NBA comes

48:07

to visit him in Pittsburgh in nineteen

48:10

seventy one. And he said he

48:12

was totally different. He said, quote, he was wearing

48:14

a dish geeky and talking about going to Africa.

48:17

He said it just yeah. He totally got

48:19

into, like, the whole black power movement. Yeah.

48:21

And, like, not so much the Panther

48:23

thing, like, the, like,

48:26

kinda Africa movement. He got into

48:28

that sort of thing. So October

48:30

thirteenth nineteen seventy one. This

48:33

is during the world series, by the

48:35

way, there's a world series game

48:37

going on here. And in Pittsburgh.

48:39

So this is fucking wild.

48:42

He ends up he gets arrested when

48:45

he refused to get out of a a taxi.

48:48

That stopped. He got it's a world

48:50

series game and the taxi was reserved.

48:53

Oh. A bunch of the taxis. There was an area

48:55

for reserved taxis that were

48:57

there, you know, for for players, for media,

48:59

for whatever the fuck. He just hopped

49:01

in one of them and was like, take me here. And

49:03

the guy said, can't, it's reserved. Sorry.

49:06

And he said, well, I'm not getting out. You're

49:08

fucking you're taking me there. And

49:11

he ends up being there ends up a

49:13

cops end up coming and there ends up being a

49:15

large brawl between

49:16

him, the taxi cab driver, and

49:18

several cops. What

49:20

do you get charged with their loitering? Well,

49:23

he faced Idi arraignment on charges of

49:25

salt and battery disorderly conduct and

49:27

resisting

49:28

arrest. Yeah.

49:28

Those are them. Those are

49:29

the ones that you get after the fact.

49:31

Yeah.

49:32

We'll drop loitering and Idi you with these. Take

49:35

those instead. And two of the cops end up in

49:37

the hospital for a couple of days

49:39

after this. He didn't take

49:41

make the team bus trip back to Wheeling

49:43

West Virginia where there they were playing

49:45

the Dallas Chaparrales that night, Jesus

49:48

Christ. And at an exhibition game.

49:50

The coach said we sent him home and told him to get

49:53

some sleep because he was bruised. His ankle

49:55

was banged up and he was obviously beaten.

49:57

That's what team spokesman said,

49:59

according to the Condors

50:01

here, Brisker attended the world series

50:03

game where the pirates beat the Oriels five

50:05

to one. Mhmm.

50:06

With a woman friend it is, I believe this

50:08

is his future wife. He'll get married to her

50:10

next year. Michelle is her name. He

50:13

he this is from the newspaper. He

50:15

and the unidentified white woman left

50:17

the game early. I didn't need to be said probably.

50:20

The woman is fine. So

50:22

that Brisker could catch the team 337 in

50:24

plenty of time. So they left the game, wanted to

50:26

go get the bus. He waited thirty minutes

50:28

for a taxi, then climbed into the first

50:30

one that pulled up by the press gate. John

50:33

said this is from the team. John said the driver

50:35

refused to accept him as a passenger. The

50:37

driver claimed the cab was reserved and told

50:39

Johnny had to get out. Brisker claimed

50:42

the driver had no right to refuse transport

50:44

to an orderly passenger to

50:47

to their destination because it's taxi drivers

50:50

ACTICALLY HAVE TO TAKE PEOPLE. SO

50:52

THE DRIVER CALLED THE POLICE AND SEVERAL

50:54

POLICEMAN FORCibly EJECTED JOHN

50:56

FROM THE CAB. He said they

50:58

they hit him and called him a black bastard.

51:01

K? That's

51:02

right. Yep. Now he's now he thinks

51:04

as they say that he's doing this

51:06

because I'm black because they're certainly doing

51:08

this. Yes. Idi feels like it is because

51:11

that should be a hate crime. And Idi and

51:13

it only got a bad And cab drivers

51:15

back then too are pretty notorious for

51:18

picking and choosing white people. Yes. I mean,

51:20

they might have been looking for some dorky press

51:23

guy at the press gate. But at the same time,

51:25

it might have been somebody called the cab

51:27

also for them and they were gonna come outside

51:29

now he took it. who we don't know what happened.

51:31

We have no idea. So the police,

51:33

this is the here's the two versions now. We'll give

51:35

you. That's the team version. Okay?

51:39

The police said that and then we'll give you

51:41

Brisker's exact version. The police

51:43

said that Brisker and a woman companion were

51:45

arrested outside the stadium and taken to headquarters.

51:48

The woman companion was not charged. They

51:51

said patrolman Howard Trojannowski

51:54

and Rudolph SABLOW. I told you

51:56

you gotta put they put a fucking We

51:58

got one Pollock every every one

52:00

of these Midwestern cities. We need a Pollock

52:03

in a Guinea. Where are they? Come on.

52:05

What do you guys? Hey, Rudy. You come here. We're putting

52:07

you with Trojannowski. Come on.

52:09

Yeah. You used to learn to get her now. Get

52:11

me the car

52:12

too. It's not problem with

52:13

it. Take it up with the with the local. It's

52:15

not my best

52:16

place. I'm sorry. That's city ordinance.

52:18

I don't know what to tell you. It's one Pollak and one

52:20

Guinea. That's what they told

52:21

us, and that's what we're doing now. I don't know.

52:24

Get out there.

52:26

So Good enough for the image. I don't get it.

52:28

I don't

52:28

understand it personally, but you know what? We're

52:30

gonna go with it. Okay. Idi

52:33

every Midwestern Idi. That's

52:35

how they all are. So Trojannowski was

52:37

reported in good condition in

52:39

the intensive care unit afterwards.

52:43

Jesus. Those words don't go together. After

52:46

suffering, not only beatings,

52:48

but attack of chest pains too, he gave

52:50

put him into heart attack care. Oh,

52:53

Jesus. So a stadium guard

52:55

at the time said, quiet, quote, it was the

52:57

greatest fight I ever saw.

53:03

I was here for Ali. I was

53:06

here for George Forman. I've seen it

53:08

all, man.

53:09

They didn't have they didn't fight two people.

53:11

So this was better. I saw Rocky Marchiano,

53:14

Joe Lewis. Idi was nothing compared to this way.

53:16

This was a bra.

53:18

This was two cops and one giant fucking

53:20

basketball player duking it out.

53:23

He scared the cops. So bad the man had

53:25

heart palpitations. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was an

53:27

intensive care for Christ's sake.

53:30

So they're talking about him. He's gonna face

53:32

charges for this. They actually decide

53:34

to press charges on him. It took -- Yeah.

53:36

-- there was a delay of a month because

53:39

the legal proceedings came to halt after

53:41

This is amazing. Necessary papers

53:44

were never forwarded to the district attorney's

53:46

office from the magistrate's court. The actual

53:49

formal filing was never forwarded. Never so

53:51

I don't know if that guy was just a that's like a fan.

53:53

was like, I will keep his thing back here.

53:57

The papers were nowhere to be found,

53:59

but then they showed up yesterday morning and

54:01

officials promised quick

54:02

action. So they just popped up. Somebody hid them,

54:04

I think. Someone put them

54:05

under something. Oh, there they are.

54:08

So, yeah, they said that's how they're

54:10

how they're going about it. Well,

54:13

he said, quote, if I knew how it was all gonna

54:15

work out, this isn't after the fight and

54:17

everything. This is funny. If I knew

54:19

how if I knew now, how

54:21

it was all going to work out, I'd have jumped

54:23

and asked them to drive drive the wagon

54:26

downtown. But it he basically,

54:28

he said, If I knew how this whole thing would've went,

54:30

I would've skipped the fucking cab

54:33

and just jumped in the police wagon Idi said, take

54:35

me to the station and none of us have to deal with

54:37

all this shit. It would've been

54:38

easier.

54:39

Think his legs are that guy's going to the hospital?

54:41

Yeah. Three people are out going to the

54:43

hospital. He said, but I wanted clear

54:45

that I didn't hit anyone. If I had,

54:47

there wouldn't be any doubts that I had.

54:51

I just tried to tell them that I wasn't a

54:53

criminal and to talk things over.

54:55

They wouldn't listen when they tried to handcuff

54:58

me, I just tried to shake them off,

55:00

which was apparently throwing

55:03

them around like a fucking like

55:05

a wrestler with two managers or something.

55:07

Yeah. To the point where a

55:09

stadium security guard said, it was

55:11

the greatest fight I ever so fucking said.

55:14

Just shaking him. And he didn't even

55:16

throw a punch according to him. So that's pretty

55:18

funny. At

55:20

the Seventy one all star game.

55:22

This is Van Vance here. He

55:25

says, Brisker intimidated

55:27

the whole league. Meaning that the ABA,

55:29

it was at the nineteen seventy one

55:32

All Star game. And after it was over, I saw

55:34

Brisker wandering through the stands. I

55:36

said, John, who were you looking for?

55:38

He said Jack Dahl, who was the commissioner.

55:41

I said, why do you want the commissioner? He

55:43

said, I want my all star money right now.

55:46

I'm gonna shake him off. I'm gonna shake

55:48

that money out of his hand. He was still

55:50

in his basketball shorts. Look wandering

55:52

through the stands. The game was that close to just

55:55

just ended and he's like, I want my money for

55:57

playing in it. So he

55:59

said I want my All Star money right now.

56:02

Dolph came by just then and Brisker

56:04

said I want my three hundred dollars. Doll

56:06

started to say something and Brisker repeated,

56:08

I played in the game, I get three hundred

56:10

dollars for being in the game. I want

56:13

my three hundred dollars. Brisker

56:15

had that look about him, so Dolph just

56:17

took out his wallet, peeled off three one

56:19

hundred dollars bills, and handed them over to Brisker.

56:22

Never mind. There's

56:25

paper okay. Here you go.

56:27

This is about to tell him, like, well, you'll get it until

56:29

on your next check of

56:30

the book. Yeah. I played excuse me.

56:35

He's not talking. My partner-in-law. No

56:39

more work. No. No. No money.

56:41

It's gonna be punching her money. Those are the two

56:43

things that could happen

56:44

here. So that's so

56:46

funny. Idi fucking great. With

56:48

the commissioner of the league, this isn't even like

56:50

-- Right. -- right to

56:53

his

56:53

face. Right to his face

56:54

about No. No. No

56:56

more talking. Imagine

56:58

Rashid Wallace walking up to David Stern

57:00

in the stands after an All Star game

57:02

in nineteen ninety seven and be like, I want my

57:04

All Star money now and stern being like, it's

57:07

on your check. Fuck that shit. Stern.

57:09

Stern.

57:09

Stern when I steal it money off. Wow.

57:14

That year, he had back to back scoring nights

57:16

of fifty three and fifty points in two different

57:18

games. So that's he's a great player.

57:22

The Condor's general manager said

57:24

I thought he was a hell of a competitor and the

57:26

best player we ever had. I

57:28

ever had. Connie Hawkins would be the best they

57:30

ever had. He said, I thought he was a

57:32

star player. He played great. I never

57:34

had a problem with him. He played hard

57:36

for me.

57:38

Makes sense.

57:39

Probably told me to say. Yeah.

57:41

Otherwise, he's gonna hit me. I'm pretty sure.

57:43

337 he knows where I live, so I invited him to dinner

57:45

one night. Idi terrified of them.

57:48

They were saying how at the time basketball really

57:50

didn't have the structure to help

57:53

guys out who had any kind of problem. If

57:55

a guy I mean, not that I

57:57

don't know if he had a problem or not, but let's say

57:59

he went to a team and he said, I think I have an

58:01

anger problem. I'd like to go to a therapist for a

58:03

while. Back then, they'd go, oh, John's

58:05

crazy, and they'd make plans to get rid

58:07

of him when his contract was up. You know what I'm saying?

58:10

Whereas now, they'd be like, oh, alright. Yeah. Go to

58:12

a therapist. Here's a guy. Yeah. The team

58:14

has five of them pick one, whichever one you want.

58:17

Idi it's a different type of thing. One guy

58:19

said John was the kind of guy who if

58:21

you talk about that kind of thing, let's have

58:23

a round table talking it out. Shoot.

58:25

We might have to fight John ourselves at

58:27

Spencer Hayward. So he's like the team didn't wanna talk

58:30

to him about it because then we got fight him. Like,

58:33

someone else he needed to have it himself

58:35

or his mom needed to yell at him or some shit because

58:37

it wasn't working. Another

58:39

player said, I had a taste of fear with

58:41

him, but I respected him because he always

58:43

took time with me. It's a teammate of

58:45

him of his one of the

58:47

coaches, Tom Nasaki said,

58:49

I think John had a lot of mean Jonestown,

58:52

in his body. Yeah. He said

58:54

once he said, one of his

58:56

players would warn him around around

58:59

him that he John's in his Dracula bag.

59:02

In other words, he's acting like a vampire. Yeah.

59:05

He's angry. Now he did get knocked out

59:07

good in one game, which is pretty funny. Tom

59:09

N'Sealke says this, quote, when I was

59:12

coaching Dallas, We were on a nine game

59:14

losing streak and we went into Pittsburgh. Before

59:16

the game, I got a telegram from our owner,

59:18

Bob Folsom, and while I was opening

59:20

it, I was afraid that I was getting the ziggy.

59:22

Meaning he's getting fired. He said, instead,

59:25

the telegram said, just want you to

59:27

know that we're behind you and we and we think

59:29

you'll get things turned around. Which

59:31

means we thought about firing you when we

59:33

decided not to, so get your shit

59:35

together. Yeah. That's what that means in

59:37

sports. Yeah. Otherwise, you don't need a

59:39

vote of confidence if you're just doing fine.

59:42

I know I'm doing fine. What do you mean? He

59:45

said, so had great feeling going into the

59:47

game because he's a moron and doesn't know manager

59:49

speak, obviously. He

59:52

said the Dallas GM was Bob Brisker

59:54

and he used to let me keep a checkbook. So

59:56

if a guy played a great game, I could give him

59:58

a couple hundred bucks as a bonus right on the

1:00:00

spot. Oh, that's cool. So

1:00:02

with all that going on, I wanted to do something

1:00:04

dramatic to end our losing streak. Brisker

1:00:07

had just been kicking our ass all year,

1:00:09

I mean beating the hell out of us. So

1:00:11

I told the team the first guy in this room

1:00:13

who who Brisker will get five hundred

1:00:16

dollars. 337 gang.

1:00:18

A bounty. Yeah.

1:00:19

The states were fucking

1:00:20

federalized for the price. This has been going on forever

1:00:22

and ever ever. Oh.

1:00:24

Letty Chappell said, how about starting

1:00:26

me? I'll do it. He didn't give a fucki one to

1:00:28

five hundred bucks. The guy said I normally

1:00:30

didn't start Lenny, but if he wanted to go out there and

1:00:32

get a piece of Brisker, that was fine with me.

1:00:34

I figured that brisket would go up for a layup

1:00:36

and or rebound and Lenny would nail

1:00:38

him. 337 just as the ball went up for

1:00:41

the opening jump and everybody was looking

1:00:43

up at the ball, Lenny Chappell just

1:00:45

Brisker. He he

1:00:47

punched Idi out during the jump ball. Brisker

1:00:50

was looking at the ball. He was looking up. He didn't even know

1:00:52

it was coming. The guy just gave him. Fucking sucker

1:00:54

punched him. He said, if

1:00:56

you think about it, that's the best time to get a

1:00:58

guy. No one expects it. Everybody's

1:01:01

looking up including the officials. Nobody

1:01:03

even saw Brisker get hit. He was just

1:01:05

out flat on the floor and guys were running

1:01:07

over

1:01:08

him. Nobody even saw what happened to call

1:01:10

a foul.

1:01:11

He guy

1:01:12

didn't even get in trouble for it because they didn't see

1:01:14

Because there's only two awesome.

1:01:17

He said after after the game, I gave Chappell

1:01:19

his five hundred dollars and we won the game.

1:01:21

From that point on, there was a five hundred dollar

1:01:23

bounty on Brisker's head. If he ever

1:01:25

started up talking or shoving somebody, the

1:01:27

first player on my team to deck in would get five

1:01:29

hundred

1:01:30

dollars. So it's

1:01:32

the kind of guy we're dealing with here.

1:01:35

This is pretty awesome. Fuck. June

1:01:37

nineteen seventy two, he is cleared

1:01:39

of all criminal charges in his taxi incident.

1:01:42

Is that right? Yep. The judge ruled

1:01:44

that he was innocent after hearing the case

1:01:47

without a jury. It was just a little judge, a little

1:01:49

bench trial. The taxi driver Alfred

1:01:51

Isebo testified he went to

1:01:53

stadium to pick up a fair who had ordered

1:01:55

a cab and while stopped

1:01:58

in the traffic near gate a,

1:02:00

Brisker entered his cab and refused to leave

1:02:02

when he told him it was reserved.

1:02:04

So he said the patrolman who

1:02:07

were called, testified they arrested Brisker

1:02:09

after he ignored their Otter's sleeve the cab.

1:02:11

He finally left the cab, refused to enter

1:02:13

a police van, Brisker said when the official

1:02:16

officer tried to force him into the van, he braced

1:02:18

himself against the door frame to prevent

1:02:20

injury on the van steps. He said

1:02:22

he did not intend to resist arrest. And

1:02:26

they found him innocent. Fascinating.

1:02:28

I don't think they brought in the security guy

1:02:30

who said that was the greatest fight I ever

1:02:32

saw in my life. It's

1:02:34

from what he described. He tried to brace

1:02:37

himself in a cop, like, slipped and fell.

1:02:39

And then that's not what was described.

1:02:41

Heart attack. Yeah. I didn't hear

1:02:43

shaking him a little bit either after

1:02:45

that, so that's pretty funny.

1:02:46

Thinking about shaking him off at all? Not at

1:02:48

all. Seventy two seventy three,

1:02:51

the NBA is looking to really

1:02:53

pick the carcass of the NBA. So

1:02:55

if they can plug players out, they're gonna do

1:02:57

it. And they they pick John

1:02:59

Brisker out the NBA, and the

1:03:01

Seattle Supersonics signed him

1:03:03

to a six year one million

1:03:05

dollar

1:03:06

contract. Oh, my. In seventy

1:03:08

two, which was enormous money.

1:03:10

Like crazy. Yeah. Killing it. So

1:03:13

one seventy five a year or something like that.

1:03:15

It's killing it. Yeah. Fucking crushing it after

1:03:17

that. The one eighty a year or some Idi. one

1:03:20

seventy five. You see, is seventy two

1:03:22

seventy three Seattle here. They suck

1:03:24

also, by the way. That's why they're looking for guys

1:03:26

from the ABA. They are twenty

1:03:28

six and fifty six at year. Yikes.

1:03:31

Idi in other words. And one of their

1:03:33

coach's names is Buckey Buckey

1:03:35

Buckeywalter.

1:03:35

337 would

1:03:38

you do that?

1:03:38

Come on, man. Don't call yourself Buckey. That's

1:03:41

not your first name.

1:03:43

No. Yeah. You better not be.

1:03:45

Now Then the coach

1:03:47

halfway through the season is Tom Nasalke,

1:03:49

the guy who had the five hundred dollar bounty on

1:03:51

Brisker's head. Now he's Brisker's

1:03:53

coach. Yeah. Which is interesting.

1:03:56

And Nasdaq said, I ended up coaching

1:03:58

Brisker in the Seattle of the NBA. He

1:04:01

asked if there was really a bounty on

1:04:02

him. He had heard about Idi. laughed. I

1:04:04

think he felt honored. I

1:04:06

would. Yeah.

1:04:08

Yeah. By the time I got to Seattle, Brisker

1:04:10

had really started to slip. We were playing

1:04:12

in Portland and Brisker had missed the morning practice.

1:04:15

I always had a rule that if you didn't make the morning

1:04:17

shoot around, you didn't play that night. We played

1:04:19

that night and it was a close game. I didn't

1:04:21

use Brisker and with three seconds left

1:04:23

in the game we were down by two points. I

1:04:25

was drawing up a pick for someone to take a

1:04:27

shot when Brisker said, Tom, I'll hit

1:04:29

that shot for you. Oh, I

1:04:32

looked at him. I thought maybe I'd show him

1:04:34

up or

1:04:34

whatever. But if he wanted to take the last

1:04:36

shot of the game after having sat there all night,

1:04:38

I let him. How

1:04:39

about that? What? So if he wants to

1:04:42

take the shot totally cold and with the least chance

1:04:44

of making it of anybody on our team, I figure I'll

1:04:46

let him fuck the game

1:04:47

up. What a weird coaching move. But

1:04:49

I guess You know

1:04:50

what? This is a good idea. I

1:04:51

guess

1:04:52

at that point, you'd have an upper hand on a player,

1:04:54

though, if they're -- Yeah. -- acting

1:04:57

Yeah. And also the

1:04:58

Big of itself.

1:04:59

In in strategy, the other team, that's

1:05:02

the last person they think is gonna take the shot.

1:05:04

Yeah. Yeah. They they probably think they're putting him

1:05:06

in as, like, a block or a pick guy, you know, a

1:05:08

guy to set a pick. He'd be the perfect guy to set

1:05:10

one. He said, I yeah,

1:05:12

I'd let him I put Brisker in and sure enough

1:05:15

he cranked it. He had that kind of ability

1:05:17

and that kind of self confidence. But at

1:05:19

this point, Brisker had started to get into

1:05:21

drugs Idi just messed up his whole career.

1:05:23

One night he'd score forty for me the next

1:05:26

night he had nothing. That isn't an exaggeration.

1:05:28

But when he was in the ABA, I think they're putting

1:05:30

him in as like a block pick, guy, you know,

1:05:32

guy to set a pick. He'd be the perfect guy to set

1:05:34

one. He said I yeah.

1:05:37

I let him I put Brisker in and sure enough

1:05:39

he cranked it. He had that kind of ability

1:05:41

and that kind of self confidence. But at

1:05:43

this point, Brisker had started to get into

1:05:45

drugs and Idi messed up his whole career.

1:05:48

One night he'd score forty for me the next

1:05:50

night he had nothing. That isn't an exaggeration.

1:05:52

But when he was in the ABA, he was a hell of

1:05:54

a player. So, yeah,

1:05:57

seventy two seventy three with Seattle,

1:05:59

twelve point eight points of game, four point

1:06:01

six rebounds. So, basically,

1:06:04

production cut in half. Think the money

1:06:06

gave him the ability to do more drugs? Yeah.

1:06:08

Absolutely. Doing him in the Idi. Right? Yeah.

1:06:11

But not to this extent. And he said too, he

1:06:13

said he got fat and happy. And

1:06:16

and he said it was easier for him to be

1:06:18

sullen and pissy because he had an

1:06:20

easier, like, an an something to nestle

1:06:22

into afterwards.

1:06:23

Into it. So Yeah. So, yeah,

1:06:25

Idi does that seventy three, seventy four, twelve

1:06:27

point five points a game, you

1:06:30

know, four point two rebounds. So

1:06:32

it's just not the same.

1:06:34

He does do a lot of fighting, though. Oh.

1:06:37

This is from slick Watts' tales from

1:06:39

the Seattle Supersonics, a book.

1:06:41

He said it was John Brisker. This is

1:06:43

seventy three seventy four. It was Watts'

1:06:46

rookie season. He said it was John

1:06:48

Brisker and Joby Wright, a star player

1:06:50

from Indiana University. Brisker

1:06:52

was the top dog in practice throwing his

1:06:54

weight around. Joby was six foot nine,

1:06:56

two hundred fifty or so, a very big

1:06:59

strong guy. One day in practice,

1:07:01

they got into a serious confrontation. Back

1:07:04

in those days, the big superstar player

1:07:06

controlled practice. We had three.

1:07:08

Because they were all the million dollar guys. It was Brisker.

1:07:11

I think Spencer Haywood was on this team and one

1:07:13

other guy. In practice, those

1:07:15

three wanted it their way, which means

1:07:17

don't foul me. Don't foul the stars.

1:07:19

My big thing was to hack a guy's hand

1:07:22

or arm in practice, but when I used to see

1:07:24

them, I'd go the other way. Okay.

1:07:26

So on this day, Brisker was throwing his weight

1:07:28

around, and Joebi wouldn't get back. Nobody

1:07:31

would get involved because he was so strong.

1:07:33

When Brisker hit him, he caught him with a

1:07:35

right hand and you could hear his jaw break.

1:07:38

Jesus Christ. Everything

1:07:40

was dead still. You talk about afraid.

1:07:43

Everybody was afraid. Joby

1:07:45

grabbed his jaw and said, man, you broke my

1:07:47

jaw. He also had four of his teeth

1:07:49

loosened. We had to call the ambulance.

1:07:52

It was about two or three weeks in practice

1:07:54

before anybody bumped Brisker again.

1:07:56

Joby ended up getting his jaw wired and

1:07:58

then he was cut later that

1:07:59

year. I think that fight ruined Joby's

1:08:01

career.

1:08:02

I didn't say so.

1:08:03

Yeah. Fuck them all up. Made them a, you know,

1:08:05

sketchy Yeah. Jumping. Make

1:08:08

it

1:08:08

make you think for sure every time. Yeah.

1:08:10

He said John Brisker could be so nice,

1:08:12

but sometimes something snapped in him.

1:08:14

I remember one day in practice, I blocked a

1:08:16

shot from behind, and he turned around and slapped

1:08:19

me. And he liked

1:08:21

me. That's what this guy said.

1:08:23

He immediately apologized, but I

1:08:25

said,

1:08:26

no. No. No. I'm sorry. Never

1:08:27

blocked. No. I blocked. Did block your

1:08:29

shot. I didn't wanna get into a scrap with

1:08:32

John. John was the man. I was just

1:08:34

happy that he did not break my jaw. So

1:08:36

I did not argue, I did not shout, just

1:08:38

apologized and moved on out of the way.

1:08:41

After practice, he took me to lunch and again

1:08:43

apologized for the way he reacted. I

1:08:45

reassured him and my jaw, John.

1:08:47

It's no problem. Good.

1:08:49

It's okay. You didn't fucking try to kill

1:08:51

me. So he said if there

1:08:53

was one thing learned from those two incidents with

1:08:55

Brisker, I knew that was safe

1:08:57

because he was on my team. The second

1:08:59

most memorable fight of my life was when we were

1:09:01

playing in Phoenix against the great Pat Reilly.

1:09:04

That's coach Pat Riley and Paul at Yale

1:09:06

La Jolla, just about everybody

1:09:08

on the floor started fighting. The seven

1:09:10

foot two Tom Burelson took off

1:09:13

across the floor like Batman and

1:09:15

dove on the entire crowd. That was a

1:09:17

fun fight. That sounds awesome. I

1:09:19

wanna see that. Riley

1:09:21

wasn't as he is today with slick backed

1:09:23

hair and cool clothes. Back

1:09:25

then, he had long hair in a mustache. He

1:09:27

came off the bench trying to be tough, and

1:09:30

Burlston just dove over his head,

1:09:32

knocked him into the crowd. Now when I see

1:09:34

Pat on the sideline, I just smile and think back

1:09:36

to that fight. What a difference? I

1:09:38

was smart. I always got behind Brisker

1:09:40

when a fight broke out. Yeah.

1:09:43

I would do. Ever since Brisker showed me

1:09:45

that he was the man by breaking Jovi rights

1:09:47

jaw, I got behind him, and I knew

1:09:49

no one was coming to mess with Brisker. I just

1:09:51

tied behind him until the fight was over.

1:09:54

It'll be not a lot of traffic in this area

1:09:56

here, probably.

1:09:58

So I'm good over here. Smart

1:10:00

Howard's way out and I respect That

1:10:02

is a yeah. He's, like, in an old western

1:10:04

movie. He's the guy, like, hiding behind the bar, the

1:10:06

bar, drinking a bottle, and another guy dives over,

1:10:08

and he's, like, how are you doing, And he gives him wanna

1:10:10

sit. He's like, sure. The cowards are

1:10:12

under a table. Under a table. Yeah.

1:10:15

She's like, oh, boy, that's crazy out there.

1:10:18

So he and Michelle have a daughter,

1:10:21

Mijani, who was born February

1:10:23

eleventh nineteen seventy four. So

1:10:26

now he's got a young young daughter

1:10:28

to think about. The next year,

1:10:30

though, Idi seventy four seventy five, he only plays

1:10:32

in twenty one games. Only thirteen

1:10:34

point one minutes a game, seven

1:10:37

point seven points, one point

1:10:39

six rebounds. It all falls apart.

1:10:42

And that is because of

1:10:45

the whole Joby ride the whole Joby ride incident

1:10:47

with a broken jaw. That

1:10:49

was only four days in a training camp. Mhmm.

1:10:52

And,

1:10:54

essentially, Bill Russell's the coach, by the

1:10:56

way, the legendary Bill Russell, his

1:10:57

Seattle coach that point. Yeah. And

1:11:00

he did not like Brisker

1:11:02

doing shit like this. So

1:11:05

they said some teammates member that Joe Be

1:11:07

right through a punch, others said it was Brisker.

1:11:09

But in the end, Brisker was the one that got in

1:11:11

trouble for it. Watts

1:11:14

says, quote, about right. He hit

1:11:16

the ground like a bag of potatoes. Brisker

1:11:18

walked off. Ain't nobody say

1:11:20

shit. The gym was like a funeral.

1:11:23

Ambulance came, Russell told everyone

1:11:25

to go home. His teeth fell out on the

1:11:27

floor Spencer Haywood said, I was like,

1:11:29

oh, shit. Russell

1:11:31

said, alright, we have to tone John down.

1:11:33

Idi an understatement.

1:11:34

Lost. Lost. Lost. Fuck.

1:11:37

Yeah. Haywood said

1:11:39

that Russell had Jim Brown Mhmm.

1:11:42

He made Jim Brown come talk to him. Because

1:11:44

Russell Russell's legend and Jim Brown's

1:11:46

a legend and I I assume they have each other's phone

1:11:49

numbers. Just Hey. Yeah. Hello. Legendary

1:11:51

amazing fucking greatest player going.

1:11:53

Yeah. Me too. Great. Cool. High five.

1:11:56

Gonna do me a favor. So

1:11:59

he said, this is fucking

1:12:01

funny. They they he came over to hang out with

1:12:03

to talk to Brisker. And Spencer

1:12:05

Haywood said, then two motherfuckers ended

1:12:08

up being buddies and playing chess all the time.

1:12:11

They were two of the same kind of characters. I

1:12:13

know this shit sounds out there. But talk

1:12:15

to the other players. They'll tell you the same thing.

1:12:17

Right. So the

1:12:18

Brisker pals. They became broadening

1:12:20

mates rather than I'm gonna tone this guy down.

1:12:22

He was like, this guy's pretty cool. Because

1:12:24

Jim Brown's a lot of the same way.

1:12:26

Yeah. Jim Brown didn't take shit from anybody.

1:12:29

That was how he was. So that's probably

1:12:31

why Russell game brought him in. But

1:12:33

And Jim Brown was into the --

1:12:35

Exactly.

1:12:35

-- freaking movements. Exactly. So that makes sense.

1:12:37

Oh,

1:12:38

you know what? I like this. Yeah. I like you.

1:12:40

You wear the shiki too, r's match.

1:12:42

What dates? Yeah. Let's trade hats. So

1:12:45

they Watts

1:12:47

says that, quote, Oh,

1:12:49

yeah. He well, this is another shot

1:12:51

blocked shot. He said I blocked a shot

1:12:53

one day and his response was to knock the shit

1:12:55

out of me. He

1:12:58

said, slap me like a baby and I took off.

1:13:00

I didn't fuck with John. I had a red

1:13:02

dovey doberman and I used to call him

1:13:04

Brisker when he got started and to get

1:13:06

mad at the other dog. So

1:13:10

the team though says after these

1:13:12

few games, Bill Russell says he can't put

1:13:14

up with him anymore. And they give him a

1:13:16

they come to an agreement on a buyout of

1:13:18

his contract.

1:13:20

Yeah. Because even the corrections that I'm making

1:13:22

to -- Okay. -- fix him he's

1:13:25

he's falling in love with

1:13:26

it. It's not good. He's making

1:13:28

friends with it. So he here's

1:13:30

the deal. John leaves and they give

1:13:33

him fifty cents on the

1:13:34

dollar, the remaining money in this contract.

1:13:36

A hazy.

1:13:37

A hazy. Which still, like, half a million

1:13:39

dollars So he's

1:13:40

still in front. So that'd be great. Great.

1:13:42

Fuck it. They also

1:13:44

hold him and send him he's still

1:13:47

property of the team. So they send him to the

1:13:49

Eastern basketball league, which is like a minor

1:13:51

league deal to, I guess, to

1:13:53

kinda Humble and I

1:13:56

would suppose. And Brisker tells

1:13:58

the Philadelphia Enquirer, quote, I gotta

1:14:00

grow up. I know that now. Attitude

1:14:02

is very important to me. I'm gonna turn

1:14:04

my whole life around. I've been carrying a big

1:14:06

chip, felt it was me against the world.

1:14:08

I got a bad rep, but now I'm gonna live it down.

1:14:11

Mhmm. -- he's gonna do that. He

1:14:13

gets sent down to the Hamilton Pat

1:14:16

pavers of the Eastern Basketball

1:14:18

Week.

1:14:19

What the fuck?

1:14:21

Yeah. He said, Russell said I had to

1:14:23

go down and work on my defense.

1:14:26

Worked a far cry from the

1:14:28

Supersonic. I would say, that's not

1:14:30

work on my defense. It's work on not punching

1:14:32

teammates in the face, you know. Now

1:14:35

his John's brother Ralph, said

1:14:37

he was upset with the whole scene in Seattle.

1:14:39

He was dealing with different type of people.

1:14:41

He became more cynical and distant. They

1:14:45

ended up trading him. The

1:14:48

the eastern leagues ended up trading him,

1:14:50

but still Seattle owned him. And

1:14:53

to the Cherry Hill rookies. What

1:14:57

the fuck? Yeah. That's that's what he ended

1:14:59

up with. They said that

1:15:01

he came in, he did it. They

1:15:04

said the first night in practice, he was working

1:15:06

harder than anybody else. You

1:15:09

know, there was that. He said, one

1:15:11

difference though, he said the floor was all fucked

1:15:13

up here. Idi wasn't a good NBA floor.

1:15:16

John said there was a hole of the floor. I stepped

1:15:18

in and felt this shooting pain in my lower

1:15:20

back. Yeah.

1:15:22

Can't do that. Yeah.

1:15:24

The floor should be I mean, the court

1:15:26

should be intact. Right? We're gonna

1:15:28

Well, at least intact. At least the court

1:15:30

be intact. That's minimal

1:15:32

Like, that's not Yeah. Even in a shitty

1:15:35

playground court, there's no holes in it usually.

1:15:37

I mean, there might be a crack over there watch out

1:15:39

for, but halls actual holes.

1:15:41

That seems like a bit much. It caused

1:15:43

nerve damage for Christ's sake. He started

1:15:46

having back spasms and shit from that.

1:15:48

He had to ride the general manager

1:15:50

drove him to Allentown the next night and said

1:15:52

he had to stop periodically so John can

1:15:54

get out and stretch because he was so fucked

1:15:56

up. So he gets into the game,

1:15:59

misses his first three shots, then

1:16:01

hits fifteen to thirty seven from the field

1:16:03

and sets a league record with fifty one points

1:16:05

and eleven rebounds and five assists. Okay.

1:16:08

So he seems to be okay. Not

1:16:11

bad. He said that I The

1:16:14

general manager said there were people standing

1:16:16

and yelling at the end. He came out and they

1:16:19

announced he had forty three points. This is when

1:16:21

they took him out. They took him out so he could get

1:16:23

an ovation because, you know, take him out early.

1:16:25

But the crowds started yelling for fifty. They

1:16:27

wanted the coach to put him back in to get fifty.

1:16:30

So Hal put him back in and he got eight

1:16:32

and a

1:16:32

half. He got eight and a minute and a half. It was

1:16:34

incredible. He got it. It was fifty

1:16:36

one. Brisker said funny. They

1:16:38

send me down to concentrate on being a defensive

1:16:40

guard, but Greer needed a scoring

1:16:43

forward. Same old thing, you know. Two different

1:16:45

things pulling and tugging at me. Well, I'll just

1:16:47

try to do both. So nineteen

1:16:51

seventy six, he's enjoying his life.

1:16:54

Got money. They buy a hundred and

1:16:56

twenty five thousand dollar home in a nice

1:16:58

neighborhood, which back then was a was

1:17:00

a nice house. That was a real house. A real

1:17:02

nice house back then, especially in Seattle. That wasn't

1:17:04

expensive back then. And also

1:17:06

a brand new Mercedes. Oh.

1:17:09

Living the life. They decorate the house

1:17:11

with African artifacts. He

1:17:14

buys a restaurant as well. Uh-oh. Looking

1:17:16

for a way to lose that money quickly. Yeah. It's

1:17:19

it's called the heritage. And he renames

1:17:21

it

1:17:22

though. What do you call it?

1:17:24

New heritage. So What

1:17:27

is this?

1:17:29

Louisiana. New Howard. It's new heritage. Fuck

1:17:32

you. It's different now.

1:17:35

And he hires his brother Ralph to

1:17:37

manage it.

1:17:38

Okay. So this is gonna work out great.

1:17:41

So the money is just pouring out

1:17:43

after that. I mean, it's just it's a restaurant It's

1:17:45

bleeding. So he was

1:17:47

going losing all his money, but wasn't telling

1:17:49

anybody he was going Brisker quickly. So

1:17:52

Rudy Tom Gianovich said he was in

1:17:54

good spirits and really proud of the place.

1:17:56

He said he visited the restaurant. He was playing

1:17:58

for the Rockets, and they came to town, he came in to see

1:18:00

him. He said it was

1:18:02

impressive. They had entertainment and everything.

1:18:04

They had like bands and acts and, you

1:18:06

know, like a restaurant. Whole thing. 337

1:18:08

eventually, as Ralph Brisker put it

1:18:10

quote, The IRS padlock the doors.

1:18:12

We owed twenty thousand in taxes. Oh,

1:18:15

shit. So the taxes fucking

1:18:17

got them good here. So Ralph

1:18:19

went back to Detroit to be a salesman,

1:18:22

his John stayed in Seattle.

1:18:25

Now he does go home to Detroit for nineteen

1:18:27

seventy six Christmas. Yeah.

1:18:29

Spends Christmas to seventy six in Detroit.

1:18:31

And Ralph said

1:18:33

he seemed to be pretty jovial he wasn't

1:18:36

too upset. He was just concerned about his

1:18:38

future. Okay. Clearly. Yes.

1:18:40

So June of June of

1:18:43

nineteen seventy

1:18:43

seven, he buys the Carlton Hotel

1:18:47

in

1:18:48

Seattle. Seattle? Yes.

1:18:50

He buys a hotel, which I don't know

1:18:52

if that seems like a good move or not, but

1:18:54

But

1:18:54

you see those board up frequently though?

1:18:57

Yeah. They you need to have a lot of capital

1:18:59

to put into a place like that. That's the thing. It's

1:19:01

it's tough to really hard to have like

1:19:03

a mom and pop hotel that you buy.

1:19:05

Yeah. You know, that's difficult. So

1:19:08

November nineteen seventy seven, he wants

1:19:10

to play for Seattle

1:19:11

again. Think he's gone broke, and that's the problem.

1:19:13

I am so tired of chasing the American

1:19:15

dream by buying and selling businesses.

1:19:17

This is crazy. Buying -- thinking

1:19:20

businesses. -- them so much better at scoring

1:19:22

thirty points.

1:19:24

So Can't punch your way out of an IRS

1:19:26

deck. Yeah. Tell that agent to come

1:19:28

over. We'll have a little chat with him. So

1:19:31

the Sonics are getting their asses kicked

1:19:33

lot during this period too. And there

1:19:35

are chance that say, sign John

1:19:37

Brisker, sign John Brisker in the in

1:19:39

the crowd. They want him bad. And he

1:19:41

said he'd like to come back. And the

1:19:43

Sonix coach, Bob Hopkins,

1:19:47

said he wants Brisker back too.

1:19:49

Mhmm. But the owner, Sam Schulman,

1:19:51

said that he does not wanna sign him at all.

1:19:54

No interest. Brisker said

1:19:56

he'd come back and play for as little as seventy

1:19:58

five thousand dollars. He doesn't care. He just

1:20:00

wants to play. He said and

1:20:03

the coach said if I had my desire, I would

1:20:05

probably have had him on the team a long time ago.

1:20:07

I think John would be a great attraction. I

1:20:09

think he would add immensely to what we need.

1:20:11

And so they said that Brisker

1:20:13

was cut from the team because of personality conflicts

1:20:16

with Bill Russell. He said I have ten

1:20:19

pages of impropriety committed when he

1:20:21

was with us. That's the owner, Schulman. He

1:20:23

said there was not a coach he could get along with.

1:20:25

He caused dissension. So

1:20:28

Schulman did say that if Hopkins really,

1:20:30

really wants Brisker that bad, he

1:20:32

would bend to his wishes eventually. He

1:20:34

said he just, you know, may he's hoping

1:20:36

that they can all come to an agreement and not have

1:20:38

to sign them. He said Brisker

1:20:41

Brisker said I've always had high hopes of coming

1:20:43

back to the NBA and playing for a coach

1:20:45

like Hopkins. There's a lot I could do in pro

1:20:47

basketball, and I'm sitting here not doing

1:20:49

anything. And for what? I know for what.

1:20:52

It's because I wanna play here in the

1:20:54

city for these fans. That's why he's sitting

1:20:56

there. So February of

1:20:58

nineteen seventy eight, he

1:21:00

has to sell the hotel Yeah.

1:21:03

He sells it, I believe, back to the old

1:21:05

owners if I'm not mistaken. He's

1:21:07

facing lawsuits and unpaid utility

1:21:10

bills and has to sell

1:21:12

the downtown hotel, which was at fifteen

1:21:14

fifty two Jefferson Avenue. If you're a Seattle

1:21:16

person, maybe you can know what hotel is there now.

1:21:19

But he said, they

1:21:21

said the supply of natural gas,

1:21:23

water, and electricity will continue

1:21:25

to the hundred and eighteen room hotel and

1:21:27

its occupants because the ownership's

1:21:30

gonna transfer. So the utility companies

1:21:32

have allowed made a deal to allow them

1:21:35

to shut it all

1:21:35

down.

1:21:36

The basic bills of of

1:21:38

until he couldn't afford that. The electric.

1:21:40

Yeah. Right. Things like that. The Brisker

1:21:43

said the situation that has erupted calls

1:21:45

for our immediate attention. That's what

1:21:47

he said. So no shit. So

1:21:51

they end up the because Washington

1:21:53

natural gas had shut the the gas

1:21:55

off. So the mayor the mayor

1:21:57

had to come in and go, can you please turn the

1:22:00

gas back on? It's a hotel. We can't have

1:22:02

tourists coming into town and going, when you go

1:22:04

to Seattle, they don't have fucking heat.

1:22:07

Please.

1:22:08

Lovely place. Coldest shit. Coldest

1:22:10

even in the room. No. No. Even in the room. Terrible.

1:22:12

Jesus Christ. I'm just damp. Cold.

1:22:15

The company's director of governmental affairs

1:22:18

said Brisker owes more than sixteen hundred

1:22:20

dollars in gas bills dating dating back to

1:22:22

September. That's a lot from the aspect

1:22:25

then. So the

1:22:27

company officials agreed to turn

1:22:29

the fucking shit back

1:22:30

on. He also owes seventeen

1:22:33

hundred eighty dollars in back water and electrical

1:22:35

charges.

1:22:38

Five times and utilities. Yep.

1:22:40

And then the Carlton former

1:22:42

Carlton owner Clifford Troske sued

1:22:46

Brisker a Brisker's company in

1:22:48

an attempt to repossess the building who

1:22:50

sold the whole he sold the hotel to Brisker for

1:22:52

two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.

1:22:54

That's a deal. But alleged that Brisker

1:22:57

neglected the operation and failing to pay

1:22:59

the utility bills among other things. Yeah. They probably

1:23:01

had bugs too. So Yeah.

1:23:04

They said they showed up and that's what's

1:23:06

going on here. They were trying to

1:23:08

trying to make this work out. So

1:23:11

he says I've had to pay large sums of money

1:23:13

just to keep the hotel going. The sale

1:23:15

of the building is imminent. So -- Mhmm. --

1:23:17

it's fucking happening. But they said

1:23:20

Brisker was still fucked. Because

1:23:22

he faces several pending lawsuits from

1:23:25

different things, from business stuff,

1:23:27

mutual of Seattle, Inc. Sued Brisker,

1:23:30

alleging he owes twenty one thousand three hundred

1:23:32

dollars in real estate commissions related

1:23:35

to his purchase of the Carlton. At

1:23:37

least three other suits are pending against him in

1:23:39

connection with the purchase of a nineteen seventy

1:23:41

five restaurant, the new Heritage

1:23:44

House which is, of course, closed now --

1:23:46

Right. -- in nineteen seventy five. He's

1:23:48

being sued by two Seattle businessmen who

1:23:50

sold in the restaurant for allegedly failing

1:23:52

to make the payments on the restaurant that

1:23:54

he bought from them. He didn't even pay

1:23:56

for the place before he closed it. No.

1:23:58

Just not making any money. Also faces

1:24:01

suits filed by a former employee who

1:24:03

seeks unpaid wages wages

1:24:05

and an artist who said they were not paying

1:24:07

for painting a mural at the restaurant as well.

1:24:10

Oh my god. Jesus Christ.

1:24:12

This is a fucking mess. What a disaster.

1:24:15

So February twenty seventh nineteen

1:24:17

seventy eight, he has another daughter.

1:24:20

Here with a new woman, Rashad

1:24:24

is her last name. She was Melvus

1:24:26

Diane Williamson and changed her

1:24:28

name. So they have a daughter.

1:24:31

March of nineteen seventy eighty officially

1:24:33

loses the hotel. Uh-oh. Officially

1:24:36

loses it. Yeah. Instead, it's

1:24:39

he said I've got a real headache on my hands.

1:24:41

That's no

1:24:43

fucking shit. He owed all sorts of money.

1:24:46

He said they have issue they issued Apparently,

1:24:48

they issued eviction notices to the tenants.

1:24:52

Brisker had eviction just issued eviction notices

1:24:54

to old people who live there as like their

1:24:56

hotel. They live,

1:24:57

like, in their apartments, their home. Yeah. So the new

1:24:59

owners, like, we had to pull all those back. It's

1:25:01

a fucking mess big

1:25:02

deal. So later in nineteen

1:25:05

seventy eight, his wife, Michelle, not the

1:25:07

woman he just had a baby with

1:25:08

Mhmm. --

1:25:08

but a different his first wife, she

1:25:11

divorces him.

1:25:12

Okay. Probably because he's got a kid. With

1:25:15

another woman, I would assume. Yeah. That'll do it.

1:25:17

That'll do it every time. They don't like that usually.

1:25:19

That'll certainly fuck your relationship. They

1:25:22

usually don't care for that when he pull that kind of

1:25:24

shit. So he also made several

1:25:26

of his first several trips to Africa

1:25:29

with Udi Gray, Nigerian Emongray.

1:25:32

So he started going to Africa. He

1:25:34

returned from one of the

1:25:35

trips, and he was talking about buying a soccer

1:25:37

team there. No.

1:25:40

No. Stop.

1:25:41

Do something -- Yeah. -- do

1:25:43

something, like, not fun.

1:25:45

It'll be better. Figure out how to do, like,

1:25:48

smoothing and paving and Idi. Like, that'll make

1:25:50

money. You know? That's

1:25:52

that's what makes

1:25:53

money. It's not fun. It's not sexy, but that's

1:25:55

where you make body. Shit like that. He,

1:25:57

like, went out and enjoyed himself doing

1:25:59

things. And he was

1:26:00

like, I should get in this business. I love

1:26:02

this.

1:26:03

Yeah.

1:26:03

This is fun. I'd like to own this. He's

1:26:05

like, park two, but I don't know how to

1:26:07

get the fuck out of it though. I like basketball. I

1:26:09

should just buy a team. Now

1:26:12

Michelle was objecting to these trips,

1:26:14

which is one of the sources of friction in the

1:26:16

relationship. Mhmm. She had filed

1:26:18

for divorce in seventy seven charging

1:26:20

that John physically abused

1:26:22

her.

1:26:22

No shit. According to divorce papers,

1:26:24

Michelle said she's now deaf in her

1:26:26

left ear as a result

1:26:28

of a beating she received from

1:26:30

John.

1:26:31

Oh my god.

1:26:32

Quote, he bounced me around the wall

1:26:34

and threw me on the bed he smothered

1:26:36

me with a pillow until I couldn't

1:26:38

breathe. Yeah.

1:26:40

Yeah. That sounds terrible.

1:26:42

Jesus Christ. So In the divorce

1:26:44

settlement, he is required to pay seven hundred

1:26:46

dollars a month in child support plus

1:26:49

all plus all post high school educational

1:26:51

expenses. So he

1:26:53

moves in with Kalila Rashad.

1:26:56

That's the woman's name here. And

1:26:58

they live together and they have a

1:27:00

baby together. He is saying

1:27:03

at this point that he wants to establish

1:27:05

an importexport business in Africa.

1:27:08

K? So one there, one here.

1:27:11

So where do you hear who he gets hooked up with to

1:27:13

try to do this? So his

1:27:15

seven year old daughter, he still got

1:27:17

the seven year old daughter from the first marriage

1:27:20

here. Yeah. I

1:27:22

guess there's a there's a suit

1:27:24

against him for child support

1:27:26

saying that he didn't pay two thousand

1:27:29

four hundred fourteen dollars in child support

1:27:31

and all this other shit. Mhmm. Either

1:27:33

way, he ends up going over there. He calls

1:27:36

Rashad, his girlfriend from Africa,

1:27:39

four times in nineteen seventy eight. He goes

1:27:41

over there and calls her The

1:27:43

last call she received from him in Africa

1:27:45

was from Campala Uganda on

1:27:48

April eleventh of this

1:27:51

year. So his mother,

1:27:53

Jonestown and Ralph, the older I

1:27:55

don't know why I thought out Ralph was the younger brother,

1:27:57

but he's older. October. He they

1:27:59

said that he they'd heard rumors

1:28:01

that he's in Uganda with Amin

1:28:04

because this is during Edi Amin's reign of

1:28:06

fucking terror down there. He's hanging

1:28:08

they're saying he's hanging out with idiocy talking

1:28:11

about investing in diamonds. So

1:28:13

That's Yeah. Or being a nurse Mary

1:28:15

or there's all sorts of different rumors going

1:28:17

around. So the family

1:28:19

just hears where the fuck is he. He just

1:28:22

after April eleventh, nobody hears from him anymore

1:28:24

over there. Everyone's like, we're where

1:28:26

the fuck is he. So his family

1:28:29

actually goes to the state department in

1:28:31

the FBI SA, can you fucking look into

1:28:33

our guy here? Find him. So

1:28:35

they told the Brisker that they were unable

1:28:37

to find evidence that he even entered

1:28:39

Africa. They don't know whether he got

1:28:41

there or not. Because

1:28:42

it's easy to do this. If he was hooked up with

1:28:44

Amin, he could have came in quietly, we don't know.

1:28:47

So Idi crazy. His brother

1:28:49

said John told me he bought some land

1:28:51

there, not in Uganda, but in Nigeria.

1:28:53

He said it was something to have after his

1:28:55

pro career an investment type thing.

1:28:57

Mhmm. So he

1:29:01

he left before nobody ever heard from him again.

1:29:03

He left in March seventy eight to go to Uganda.

1:29:06

With Ben Taylor who's a friend of his from

1:29:08

Seattle. He said he was going to lay

1:29:10

the groundwork for an importexport business that

1:29:12

he hoped would get his money situation

1:29:14

turned around. Now, Rashad,

1:29:17

his girlfriend, said he was having a bad time

1:29:19

with creditors, etcetera. This was sort

1:29:21

of his last try. She

1:29:24

said he said last time

1:29:26

she talked to him on April

1:29:27

eleventh. He said he would send for us.

1:29:30

He loved me. He loved the baby.

1:29:32

His last try, the guy is thirty.

1:29:34

What are we talking about? That's what I'm saying. He's

1:29:36

fucking third. It's his last trip. They're acting like

1:29:38

he's like fifty eight. He's gonna be just

1:29:40

he's gonna break down and go live in the y

1:29:42

after this and just, you know, he's

1:29:45

thirty.

1:29:46

Live on talking about. Live on thunderbird and

1:29:48

mad dog or something like he's thirty years old.

1:29:50

This is How how

1:29:51

hard do you have to fail to your

1:29:53

last shot? Yeah. Is it thirty?

1:29:55

He's like a he's like a years worth of credits

1:29:58

away from college degree,

1:30:00

like, he's got a lot going for

1:30:02

him. He's got a good name. He can go to Detroit,

1:30:04

people know who he is, Pittsburgh, people know who he

1:30:06

is. Those are all good

1:30:07

things. Jesus. Something fucking try.

1:30:10

Open up a janitorial service where

1:30:12

you're in charge, damn it. You're in charge

1:30:14

now. Yeah. Hire other eleven year olds to

1:30:16

do this. So

1:30:19

Spencer Haywood, there's a lot of different

1:30:21

rumors and here's some different rumors from

1:30:23

different players. Haywood said

1:30:25

that Brisker visited him in New York in

1:30:27

the mid seventies, and he's pretty

1:30:30

sure he showed him a picture that he

1:30:32

took that John took with Idi Amin.

1:30:34

But he's not a hundred percent positive. Uh-huh.

1:30:37

Tom Burelson, one of his ex teammates,

1:30:39

said he went to Uganda and was

1:30:41

as a mercenary 337 he was fighting

1:30:44

over

1:30:44

there. That's another room.

1:30:46

The

1:30:46

answer he's got guns. What's happening? Both.

1:30:48

He throws the guns down and starts punching.

1:30:51

Spenser Haywood again said, people put the rumors

1:30:54

out that he was caught up in that coup in

1:30:56

in Uganda because I didn't mean

1:30:58

got overthrown after a while here. And that

1:31:00

was the that was during all of this. So

1:31:02

they were saying, was he fighting on Amin's

1:31:04

side as a mercenary and got executed and

1:31:06

thrown in the ditch somewhere? Holy

1:31:09

shit. They don't know. So they

1:31:11

have no idea. Time goes

1:31:13

by. Seattle papers

1:31:15

every couple months or so bringing up, hey, where the fuck

1:31:17

is John Brisker? We still can't find him. No one can

1:31:20

find him. Try to keep pressure on the

1:31:22

state department. There's

1:31:24

one story that says that Brisker

1:31:26

went to Uganda and became a bodyguard

1:31:28

for Ediamine. And that

1:31:30

he was killed when it means government

1:31:33

was toppled in April of seventy nine.

1:31:35

But then why would he stop calling after April