Milwaukee Bucks legend and Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson will be honored today with the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award at the 17th Annual Legends Brunch, which will be held in Toronto in conjunction with the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. The award, which will be presented by Timberwolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns and NBA legend Magic Johnson, will honor Robertson for his many contributions to the game of basketball, on and off the court. NBA TV will re-air the 17th Annual Legends Brunch today at 12 p.m. CT.
“Oscar’s contributions to the growth of basketball, not just in Wisconsin but throughout the country and around the world, are unparalleled,” Bucks President Peter Feigin said. “The entire Bucks family sends congratulations for this fantastic and well-deserved honor.”
“I’m thrilled to see Oscar Robertson receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “What made Oscar so special is that while he was always one of the most talented players on the court, he remained a team player.
Winning was most important to him, and he did whatever it took to help his team succeed, be it scoring, passing, rebounding or defending. That’s undoubtedly why that more than 40 years after retiring, he is still widely recognized as one of the best all-around players in the history of the game.”
Robertson played 14 seasons during his Hall of Fame career, leaving a legacy as one of the greatest all-around players the game has ever seen. The NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1961 and MVP in 1964, Robertson was a 12-time All-Star and led his teams to the postseason 10 times, including the 1970-71 campaign in which he helped bring an NBA Championship to Milwaukee. Robertson famously averaged a triple-double during the 1961-62 season when he posted 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game for the Cincinnati Royals – an achievement nobody has been able to match since.
Off the court, Robertson’s impact on the game of basketball was just as significant. He served as president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1965 through 1974, becoming the first African-American president of any national sports or entertainment labor organization. In that role Robertson fought to bring an end to the “reserve clause” in NBA contracts that bound players to a single NBA team in perpetuity.
In what ultimately came to be known as “The Oscar Robertson Rule,” the league agreed to a settlement with the players association in 1976 that paved the way for free agency in the NBA and contributed to the growth of the league. In 1992, Robertson, along with Dave Bing, Archie Clark, Dave Cowens and the late Dave DeBusschere, co-founded the National Basketball Retired Players Association and served as its president from 1992 through 1998.
For his achievements in both college and professional basketball, Robertson was named the “Player of the Century” by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2000. He is a member of the NABC’s Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, a two-time member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and a member of the International Basketball (FIBA) Hall of Fame.
