'The Big O' still focusing on fundamentals

ORLANDO—Oscar Robertson has always valued fundamentals over flash. So please excuse him not joining the gush-fest over Blake Griffin’s recent mega-dunk over Kendrick Perkins.

“Everybody thinks that dunk was the greatest thing in the world,” Robertson said. “It was just two points. The kid’s a hell of an athlete. He can jump to the ceiling. But it was just two points.”

If you’re picturing an old man screaming at kids to get off his lawn and go work on their free throws, hit the pause button. This 73-year-old is Oscar Robertson.When he speaks, it’s worth listening. If for no other reason than he’s never cheapened his words by overusing them.

These days he’s using them to raise awareness of prostate cancer. Robertson could have died from it last year. It was caught in time, and now he’s spreading the gospel of annual testing.

He’s in Orlando this week for the NBA All-Star Game. Fans lined up outside a restaurant Wednesday to see and hear the mythical basketball figure.

Long before Oprah Winfrey, Oscar was the original Big O. He was doing triple-doubles before anyone even knew what they were.

30.8 points, 11.4 assists and 12.5 rebounds.

Those were his DiMaggio-like numbers from the 1961-62 season. In only his second season, he set an NBA record with 899 assists.

But that was 50 years ago. Could the Big O do it today?

“I don’t want to dignify that with an answer,” he said. “When anyone asks if Oscar Robertson could play today, it shows they don’t have knowledge of basketball. It’s basketball. If you have fundamentals, you can play.”

There’s that word—fundamentals. Learning the basics and doing them right.

Old guys always seem to get cranky about their demise. Robertson came along before the Look-at-Me mentality took hold. But even if SportsCenter had been around in 1961, making the top 10 plays would not have been The Big O’s concern.

He wanted to win games, not wow people. Any attention that came with success was almost unwanted.

“I lead a private life,” Robertson said.

We get a glimpse into it every 15 years or so. In 1997, he donated a kidney to his 33-year-old daughter, Tia, who had lupus. Neither one wanted to publicize it. Then Robertson thought about all the people who weren’t as lucky as Tia.

“I convinced her talking was the right thing to do,” he said. “Maybe we can help other people.”

With prostate cancer, Robertson had to convince himself. He’d been pretty good about getting regular checkups. Then he went about 18 months between tests. That was enough time to develop Stage III cancer.

“What do you mean?” Robertson told his doctor. “I have no symptoms.”

That’s the danger of prostate cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates 33,720 men will die of it this year. Already on the victim list are Merv Griffin, Telly Savalas, Frank Zappa and Earl Woods.

The shame is that prostate cancer has a 90-percent cure rate if it’s caught early enough. A quick exam and blood test are all it takes. By the time Robertson got his, the disease had spread beyond the prostate but not into the lymph nodes.

“Left alone, it can lead to death,” said Dr. Vipul Patel, an Orlando urologist. “Luckily in Oscar’s case we got there just in time.”

Patel performed a robotic prostatectomy on Robertson. In layman’s terms, that means he used high-tech gadgetry to remove the prostate.

Robertson raves about it. The surgery took an hour and he was home the next day. Then he had to fight his natural inclination not to talk about his problems.

If anyone appreciates statistics, however, it’s Mr. Triple Double. He saw the mortality figures and knew it was time to make a few more assists.

“That’s a funny thing about life. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re here for,” Robertson said. “You’re not just here to sleep eight hours a night and get up and eat breakfast.

“You’re here for a reason. Maybe this is the reason I’m here.”

Anyone who saw him play might think there were other reasons. Like winning an NBA title with the Bucks in 1971, leading the fight for free agency, or simply setting a standard no player has ever matched.

None of those seem as important to The Big O now.

“What he is saying will save hundreds of lives,” said Patel, who has started the International Prostate Cancer Foundation to battle the disease.

Pondering a rectal exam wasn’t exactly what all those fans showed up for on Wednesday. They brought basketballs and caps and pictures of the speaker in his glorious prime.

Robertson had just one request.

“All you guys who want autographs,” he said, “get your prostate checked.”
After all, it’s fundamental.