The Nate Archibald Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Friday, November 26th, 2004
The transition to major college basketball is complicated by poor grades; Archibald, for all of his effort in the classroom, lacks both proper focus and effective study habits. He enrolls at Arizona Western Community College with an eye on joining Worsley at Texas Western, and is hit with culture shock. It is his first extended stay away from home, and away from the concrete jungle that is the South Bronx. It is his first time on a college campus. He is homesick, two time zones away from his family, and unsure of his capacity to succeed in the classroom. Once again he ponders whether school is right for him, once again he reflects on Floyd’s words, and once again he decides to stick it out. Gradually, things get better; he enlists the aid of on-campus tutors, who help plan study sessions and prepare for tests. He becomes an active participant in the class. He makes friends.
And then, there is basketball.
He hits the hardwood with the same passion as that young child in Patterson, a rocket man outracing everyone on his way to the hoop, a human projectile hurtling his way through another 30 point performance. The team’s results are equally impressive; Tiny and his mates win 35 games while only losing one, doing so by scoring points in bunches and drawing gasps on nearly every play.
While Archibald spends his lone season at Arizona Western, Willie Worsley – all 5’-6” of him – is busy making history with legendary coach Don Haskins and the rest of his Texas Western hoops team. The Miners, starting five African-American players, meet Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats for the 1966 NCAA men’s basketball championship. Rupp’s Runts, as they are affectionately called, are all 6’-5” or shorter. They are also all white. Archibald watches on television as history is made, the first time an all-black lineup wins an NCAA title, and he finds himself dreaming again – dreaming of playing with Worsley, of orchestrating a fast break that drops jaws and leaves opponents in its wake. This time, he is prepared. He has, quite literally, done his homework, and earns a scholarship to play ball at Texas Western – newly minted as the University of Texas at El Paso.
Three seasons at UTEP bolster Archibald’s fledgling reputation as the rare point guard who can score and distribute the basketball. He averages more than 20 points-per-game, no small feat in Haskins’ defense-oriented system, and proves equally adept at chalking up assists. The NBA takes notice, especially after a series of college All-Star Games in which Tiny more than holds his own. The clincher is the 1970 Aloha Classic, in which the diminutive guard scores 51 points and piques the interest of Cincinnati Royals head coach Bob Cousy, himself an NBA hall-of-famer known for his backcourt wizardry with the Boston Celtics. Cousy meets with the 6’-1”, 160 pound Archibald before the game, talking basketball and swapping stories of their childhoods spent growing up in New York. A mutual admiration develops as the hoops legend, who hails from Queens, bonds instantly with his South Bronx counterpart.
