 How important was it to have your hero be an African-American player rather than a white ball player? It had nothing to do with it. I can tell you that this is funny because I've had enough time to think about this stuff. My favorite basketball player growing up was Elton Baylor. He was just up the street in Seattle playing for Seattle University. My other favorite along that period of time was also Oscar Robertson. And the other one was Will Chamberlain.