Wayne Embry remembers the shock and sorrow that swept through the Boston Celtics when Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated hours before Game 1 of the 1968 Eastern Division finals. That April 5 game in Philadelphia, a day after King’s death, almost didn’t happen. “Our immediate reaction was we will not play the game,” said Embry, who spent the day of the game wrestling with his grief in the hotel room he shared with Don Nelson. “Players were just shaken, all the emotions you can probably think of. We just thought ‘We will not play the game.’” Eight of the game’s 10 starters were Black, including Bill Russell, one of the most vocal athletes during the civil rights movement.
Tag: Martin Luther King
The Memphis Grizzlies stand squarely in …
The Memphis Grizzlies stand squarely in opposition to racism and injustice. We condemn all acts of racial violence. It is engrained in our culture and part of our ethos, and we are going to build on established initiatives in our community. With Memphis’s history as a backdrop, the Grizzlies have been the host and facilitator of some powerful discussions on the Intersection of Race and Sport in conjunction with the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Game. In the coming days, we will be collating and posting videos from the most recent forums and symposiums. Created in partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum, we hope making these meaningful sessions available will serve as a way to further educate and inform through the words and experiences of our Sports Legacy Award recipients and members of the NBA family. We will also will be working with the National Civil Rights Museum to facilitate and amplify conversations specific to this moment in time.
