Elgin Baylor, the Los Angeles Lakers’ first superstar, among the first in an emerging National Basketball Assn., and a fixture on the L.A. basketball scene for the better part of half a century, has died of natural causes in Los Angeles.
https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-03-22/la-me-elgin-baylor-lakers
Man, I grew up listening to Chick Hearn rave about Elgin Baylor and Jerry West and all those heartbreaking losses to the Greenies. I was a Wilt fan back then so rooted for Golden Stats and then Philly until he came to the Lakers.
I grew up as a rebel who wouldn’t root for the home town team. As a kid in Wisconsin, I hated the Packers and Braves, rooted for the Cardinals and Yankees, moved to LA at 12 and rooted for the Cardinals and Warriors, then Sixers and finally Lakers. When Bill Walsh took over for 49ers , I then switched to them.
Today, Lakers, Yankees, 49ers, and UCLA Bruins, even though I have degrees from CSLA and UCR and at times went to USC, UCLA, UCSD, and NYU. Funny how we all pick our teams or they pick us. LOL I do believe we are whom we root for.
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Just read a piece about him on CNN. Seems when he was in the Army he had this side gig playing pro ball with the Lakers. Averaged 38/19 in 48 games. Uh, yeah. There is no GOAT, folks, just the best player YOU saw play. He was an even better person, carrying himself with dignity, enduring racism all of his life. And he was named after his dad’s watch, dependable and accurate:).
Good info, John. Elgin was Dr, J and MJ and Kobe and LeBron before any of them. First guy to really play the modern game, one handed shots, above the rim. And only 6 ‘5″