Photo: Singer-athlete Paul Robeson, 1963 (AP Photo) / Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, May 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds) / Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali , Dec. 3, 2009 (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Many would agree that Craig Hodges’s career in the NBA was cut short because he was “too political” for the league and the times. His career lasted from 1982 to 1998. He was known as much for his champion playing as he was for his activism.
There was the time he tried to convince Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson to stage a boycott. It was June 1991 and right before the first game of the NBA finals between the Bulls and the LA Lakers. He wanted the teams to protest the Los Angeles Police Department police beating of Black motorist Rodney King three months earlier.
According to the book Hodges wrote, “Longshot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter,” Jordan told him he was “crazy,” and Johnson said: “That’s too extreme, man.”
Hodges wrote they he replied, “What’s happening to our people in this country is extreme.”
This was just one example of Hodges’ pushbacks against injustice.
Photo: Singer-athlete Paul Robeson, 1963 (AP Photo) / Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell at a news conference, May 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds) / Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali tours the new Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, Dec. 3, 2009 (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
