Hooping it in Durham, NC

In the spring of 1978, I moved to Durham, North Carolina. My reasons for having done so seem dubious in retrospect. It was not unlike when I went to Lexington, Kentucky the year before. Both were southern college towns—the University of...

Me and the Chaps

Me and the Chaps

I was a student at Hill Junior High School in 1967 when the American Basketball Association was formed. This would be of no consequence had the Dallas Chaparrals not been a member of the league. I was an enthusiastic supporter from the start...

My 1982 trip to Seattle

Six years after college graduation, I was washing dishes at the Capital Oyster Bar in downtown Austin. Not exactly on the fast track to the top, was I? Some kind of change was in order, so I quit my job and took a long drive—4,200 miles...

Helping Roland, or trying to

I encountered Roland Wood in the summer of 2005. I was driving my old Mazda south on San Jacinto Boulevard in central Austin and was zooming by when I caught sight of him: a big black guy slouched over in a wheelchair. Downtrodden people are...