This Day in Black Sports History: February 22, 2007

This day in black sports history marks the fourth anniversary of the sudden and tragic passing of a man Larry Bird called “best I ever played with” and whom Earvin 'Magic’ Johnson lauded as “the best backcourt defender of all-time.”

These poignant words represent a mere microcosm of how respected Dennis Wayne Johnson was, and still is, throughout the National Basketball Association.

Born the eighth of sixteen children on Sept. 18, 1954 in Compton, Johnson, who lacked the size and talent to compete with his peers in high school, excelled on the street basketball circuit while working several odd jobs upon his graduation.

Johnson’s defensive skills and “rocket launcher legs”, which enabled him to snare rebounds against taller competition, garnered notice from the head coach at Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC), who encouraged Johnson to enroll at the public community college.

Johnson promptly quit his jobs and matriculated at LAHC, where he developed into a promising young guard, averaging 18.3 points and 12.0 rebounds per game as he led the team to a junior college state title.

At the end of his career at LAHC, Johnson accepted a scholarship offer to play at Pepperdine University, developing a reputation for tough defense and averaging 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in his only year in college.

Despite disciplinary issues at LAHC, where he got kicked off the team three times in two years, and with only one year of college basketball under his belt, Johnson was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 29th overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft.

After one season as a back-up shooting guard, Hall of Fame head coach Lenny Wilkens inserted Johnson into the starting rotation to play alongside Gus Williams, and the duo became a major part of the reason the SuperSonics would play in two consecutive NBA Finals against the Washington Bullets.

The Sonics wound up on the short end of the stick of a seven-game thriller in 1978, in which Johnson set the record for most blocks in Finals history for a guard (7).

However, redemption would come the following season as Seattle defeated the Bullets in five games. Johnson was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, averaging 22.6 points, six rebounds and six assists per game.

During his four-year stint with the Sonics, Johnson established himself as one of the best guards in the league, earning two of his five All-Star selections and two All-Defensive First Team honors.

Before the 1980-81 season, Johnson was traded to the Phoenix Suns, where he became a more versatile scorer while remaining a backcourt defensive stalwart.

In his three years as a Sun, Johnson averaged 17.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists, while leading Phoenix to the Western Conference Semifinals in two consecutive seasons as the team’s main scorer. This span would also see Johnson play in two more All-Star Games while being voted on to three consecutive All-Defensive First Teams.

Johnson’s next seven seasons were spent with the Boston Celtics, which he described as “a dream come true”.

As a playmaking point guard this time, Johnson was the engineer of a Celtics team that featured Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, and won two NBA Championships in three seasons (1984, 1986).

At the time of his retirement in 1990, Johnson played in 1,100 of a possible 1,148 games during his 14-year NBA career, and was only the 11th player in league history to amass more than 15,000 points and 5,000 assists.

On December 13, 1991, the Celtics franchise retired Johnson’s No. 3 jersey at the old Boston Garden.

However, Johnson would not live to receive the ultimate honor of being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, suffering a fatal heart attack on February 22, 2007. Johnson’s death was met with shock throughout the entire league.

Three years later though, Johnson would be posthumously elected into the Hall of Fame.

Among others, current Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge called him one of "the most underrated players of all time [...] and one of the greatest Celtics acquisitions", and one-time rival Bill Laimbeer called him "a great player on a great ballclub".

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.

This Day in Black Sports History: February 19, 1996

Seemingly lost among his colorful and controversial comments both during and after he retired from the game was the fact that Charles Wade Barkley was one of the greatest players in the National Basketball Association’s 64-year history.

Born and raised in Leeds, Alabama, Barkley stood at 5’10” and weighed 220 pounds when he failed to make the Leeds High School basketball varsity team.

But after growing six inches during the summer, Barkley earned a starting position as a senior, a year in which he averaged 19.1 points and 17.9 rebounds per game in the process of leading the team to a 26-3 record and a berth in the state high school semifinals.

Described by an assistant coach as “a fat guy who can play like the wind," Barkley was recruited by University of Auburn’s head basketball coach Sonny Smith, who would further along Barkley’s development into one of the most complete players to ever step on a basketball court.

Although he struggled to control his weight, Barkley led the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in rebounding in each of his three seasons at Auburn, ultimately earning him the nickname “The Round Mound of Rebound,” due to skills that belied his height and overweight frame.

In Barkley’s three year college career, he averaged 14.8 points on 62.6 percent field goal shooting, 9.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.7 blocks per game, all while playing center at an undersized 6’4”.

As a result, Barkley was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the fifth overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, a class that included Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and John Stockton.

Throughout his entire 16 year career, playing for the Sixers (1984-1992), Phoenix Suns (1992-1996) and Houston Rockets (1996-2000), Barkley would never have a season when he averaged less than 14 points and eight rebounds per game, as he would go on to post career numbers of 22.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game while shooting 54.1 percent from the floor.

Barkley’s banner year came during the 1992-93 season, his first season in Phoenix, when he was selected to play in his seventh consecutive All-Star Game, led the Suns to the NBA’s best record (62-20) and won the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

But Phoenix would fall short in their bid to win the NBA Championship at the hands of the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls, despite Barkley’s 27.3 points, 13.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, which included a triple-double in Game 4. This would be the closest Barkley would come to winning a championship ring.

However, nothing would stop “Sir Charles” from continuing to climb the ranks of professional basketball’s greats.

On Feb. 19, 1996, Barkley pulled down his 10,000th career rebound in a Suns’ overtime victory against the Vancouver Grizzlies, becoming the 10th NBA player to compile 20,000 points and 10,000 rebounds in league history.

By the time he retired in 2000, Barkley became a member of another distinguished list, ranking as one of only four players in NBA lore to have 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists (Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone).

With two Olympic gold medals, 11 All-Star selections and additional acclaim as one of the league’s all-time top 50 players, Barkley was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

In a 2007 issue of SLAM Magazine ranking NBA greats, Barkley was ranked among the top 20 players of all-time. The issue also featured an interview with Hall of Famer Bill Walton, who commented on Barkley's career.

Walton stated, "Barkley is like Magic [Johnson] and Larry [Bird] in that they don't really play a position. He plays everything; he plays basketball. There is nobody who does what Barkley does. He's a dominant rebounder, a dominant defensive player, a three-point shooter, a dribbler, a playmaker."

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.