Pre-NBA days

"So you wanna be a rock superstar, and live large
a big house, 5 cars..."
(Cyprus Hill Rock Superstar)

I've always enjoyed reading about the professional basketball leagues that were in existence before the National Basketball Association formed. Primarily the National Basketball League as it was more low key, grittier and made up of smaller city teams.

This was before the days of big arenas, million dollar contracts, worldwide league promotion, product advertising and commercialization.

The teams were owned by corporations such as Firestone and Goodyear but were not promoted or publicized at anything near the level that they are today. Teams were given a small budget in which to work with and professional sports had yet to become the money making business that it is now. Players were given modest salaries and their lives were not exactly lives of luxury and high class.

Players traveled by bus and played in small gymnasiums in smaller U.S cities in much the same fashion that musicians tour in. They would arrive in a city on the day of the game, play the game, then unwind afterwards (i.e. drink, gamble, etc.), go back to the crummy hotel they were staying in and get a little rest before hitting the road the next morning so that they could make their next small city destination later that evening.

These guys were treated somewhat like celebrities but in a much different way than players are today. They were more like a medium level of fame rock group that was touring the country. People came out to see their talents; which were shooting a ball in a basket instead of wailing on a guitar. They entertained people but they were not treated like kings like today's players are. The life of a NBL player wasn't all glamorous and high status. They were playing the game because it is what they loved to do and they enjoyed doing it as a job.

These guys stayed in cheap hotels, probably had to pay for their own food and other expenses on road trips, hung out together after the games and then did it all again the next day. It was an alternative lifestyle. Different than the working 40 hours a week, coming home to wife and kids lifestyle that was prevalent in society back then. This lifestyle probably appealed to many in the same way that the artist/rock star lifestyle appeals to people today. It was different and it was a way of rebelling against the system.

Athletes, back then, were more known for what they did collectively than who they were as individuals. People came to see them because they represented entertainment in the form of people playing a sport really well. They didn’t come to see certain individual players, or even necessarily certain teams, they came out to see a sport and athletic competition at a high level. They came to see a “show”. It could probably be said that professional athletes were "rock stars" before our culture even had rock stars.