During this episode of No Laughing Matter with Cuba Pete, he hosts National Basketball Hall of Fame, Spencer Haywood. They will discuss how COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on the value of trust when working to make communities healthier. Mr. Haywood has been working tirelessly to address this problem and will share some of the strategies and partnerships he has formed to promote change. They will discuss how a breach of “trust” has undermined the effectiveness of our healthcare system, public health and healthcare innovation. About our guest .. Spencer Haywood is an NBA Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist. Spencer was part of the Lakers 1980 National Championship team, but is also famous for successfully suing the NBA all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971 (Haywood vs. NBA) which opened the opportunity for basketball players to enter the draft without having to wait until four years after high school. Now a Las Vegas resident, Spencer is passionate about encouraging the black community to get vaccinated when they become eligible. He addresses the history of mistrust due to such instances as the infamous 1932 Tuskegee Study, but wants people to understand how important it is for the Black community to get the vaccine as the pandemic is disproportionately impacting them.
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Cuba Pete (00:00):
From studio way in Las Vegas. Welcome to Cuba, Pete, no laughing matter. We're going to talk tough subjects, how they intersect with different things in society. And particularly with us as medical educators and a new medical school, we're starting here at Roseman. And one of the things apart from this incredible guests we have, who I will introduce shortly is we need his advice as to what do we need to do to prepare the future workforce of physicians. It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce Spencer Haywood, who is an individual that has, I grew up watching. I'm not that much younger than you. Okay?
Spencer Haywood (00:47):
[inaudible]
Cuba Pete (00:48):
The youngest ever to receive an Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1968. And if you remember correctly in 1968 was one of those years that will stand in the history of this country. The murder of Martin Luther King of Bobby Kennedy. That was the year that Mohammad Ali, after declaring himself a Muslim was exiled for one year from boxing. This was a year where we had race riots, where everything was changing. This was a year where America was on the verge, I felt, of either falling apart or really getting much better. A time in history we're repeating now. This individual also changed the road for so many future basketball players, by his case, going all the way to the Supreme court to allow basketball players, to come into the NBA prior to four years after high school graduation. I think LeBron had to say, thank you. Didn't he?
Spencer Haywood (01:47):
Yes he did. He's about $200 million richer.
Cuba Pete (01:52):
The ring he's wearing is from the NBA hall of fame. He also has one that he keeps at home from when they won the NBA championship with the Lakers. And then he played with the Knicks. You also played in Italy, didn't you?
Spencer Haywood (02:07):
I played one year in Italy, but most of my career was in Seattle. We don't have a team anymore, but yeah, Seattle Supersonics.
Cuba Pete (02:14):
And now in his hometown community of Las Vegas, he is the biggest voice for making sure that black and Brown people get vaccinated because there's a deep history in this country of distrust towards my profession and what we have done. And if it weren't for figures like himself, we wouldn't be here. And I think one of the most fascinating things I read about you was your drive to get your mom out of the cotton fields and into a house. I just think that that is just tells everything about you.
Spencer Haywood (02:46):
Yes well, I was born in this tiny place called silver city, Mississippi. It ain't no city, ain't no silver. It was only cotton fields. We were sharecroppers and indentured slavery. My mom picked cotton from the time she was four years old. And so when we got, uh, when, when I got ready to leave there, uh, she told me to leave and go up North because there was no future there for me in silver city, because they had started the trail of insanity by putting young kids in jail. And then they, you are relegated to the farm. And so, uh, she, let me go up to Michigan. And when I went up to Michigan and I started playing for great, the first black coach in NCAA division one history Will Robinson. And, uh, the whole city of Detroit was like, you know, we got this guy from Mississippi and he's going to lead us to the Class A State Championship that had alluded the city of Detroit for 35 years.
Spencer Haywood (03:56):
And so we had all of the Motown people, Berry Gordy's, smokey Robinson, uh, the temptations, uh, in particular, uh, Melvin Franklin took a liking to me and they all watched over me during that period. It would be lo and behold, we did when the class, a state championship, and then I was off to college. And while off to being, being in college, I wanted my mom to see me play. And so I signed with the university of Tennessee and not thinking about, you know, I'm the first black down here or anything like that. And Adolph Rupp had just lost to Texas Western. And that was, uh, a total of, you know, I guess it was five blacks on that team. So he wanted me there and it was just
Cuba Pete (04:45):
Wasn't Pat Riley on that team?
Spencer Haywood (04:46):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (04:50):
That lost!
Spencer Haywood (04:50):
Yeah, Pat was on that team, of corse. And ended up being my coach, but definitely that came down the line.
Spencer Haywood (04:54):
But, um, so I ended up, uh, transferring from there to Trinidad state junior college. We, I became the, uh, the MVP of junior college, uh, and I, but I was just 19. I was 18, 19 years old. And so that year, the Olympic team was rolling around for the 68 Olympics. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanted to work with kiss and Harlem, which was a boycott, uh, Elvin Hayes signed his, uh, his pro contract and westbound sail port sign, their pro contract, making them ineligible to play. And then when we got down to, um, Albuquerque for the selection of the team, after we had played a number of games and selections, uh, they were cut. We had all of our players in there and they had the great Pete Maravich in that room. Um, Calvin Murphree, uh, all of those players.
Cuba Pete (05:52):
Wasn't it Pistol Pete Maravich?
Spencer Haywood (05:54):
Pistol Pete Maravichis. He was averaging 44 points a game.
Cuba Pete (05:56):
Really?
Spencer Haywood (05:58):
And he got cut.
Luther Brewster (05:59):
Oh, wow!
Spencer Haywood (06:02):
They cut him. And they cut Rick Mount and Rick Mount was averaging 39 and that's NCAA division one. Calvin Murphy was average in 33. So they got cut and I'm sitting there who they going to pick, you know? And they cut Tom Bullwinkle, who was our big center that was, you know, doing a lot of things. Dan Issel, all those players was there.
Cuba Pete (06:27):
And they kept you.
Spencer Haywood (06:27):
Yeah. They said, "Well, our first player pick is Spencer Haywood."
All (06:37):
[inaudible].
Spencer Haywood (06:38):
So the committee says, well, listen, you know, we're going to need your birth certificate. And I was like, okay. I think I signed an affidavit when I came up from Mississippi to go to high school in Michigan, let me call my mom. I called my mom and we had the Olympic committee on, on the line. And, they said, come on send, send us his birth certificate so we can like get a passport because we have to go to Russia, Yugoslavia. And we gotta go on down to Mexico city. She said, listen, the boy is right here under John 21 in my Bible because I was born by a midwife. So they wrote it in the Bible like the old days. So they said, well, can you send that Bible up, you know, right quick. And we'll, uh, certify that and we'll, uh, get him a birth certificate. She said, no, baby, that don't work like that.
Spencer Haywood (07:35):
This don't work like that.
Cuba Pete (07:36):
This was before photo copy
Spencer Haywood (07:37):
I know. So she says, no, somebody got to come down here because this Bible haven't left my side since I was four years old, and it ain't about to leave now. So we came down and took a picture of it and went down to the Jackson, um, vital statistic. And they said, Oh yeah, we got a record of him, but we didn't have, they didn't have the file of it because I was born by a midwife. And so we got the birth certificate and then we shot on over to Russia and to Yugoslavia, we played over there and we circled back into New York. And we played against the, this is the Olympic team, we played against the Knicks in a scrimmage and Willis Reed, beautiful soul. He came over to me, DeBusschere and all of them... David DeBusschere was recruiting me for U of D anyway. University of Detroit. So he was like, man, you guys are going to win it. And then we was like, the first time we had had some hope because Howard Cosell was writing about all of the, you know, like this team is not gonna win a damn thing.
Spencer Haywood (08:48):
So, so, so then we went down to Cincinnati to play against Oscar Robinson in the scrimmage game there. And that's when Oscar took us all aside, y'all going to win this thing. Then we get into Mexico city for the games. And there is this disturbance about, well, you know, who's going to boycott are you going to have any salutes or anything. We don't need that in this, in this environment, you're here as an American team, we've got all these other teams from worldwide. We don't need no trouble. And so, and stop you from having trouble. We were invited a very special guest. So the door creaks open Creek a little bit. And we were like, Oh man, that's Jesse Owens. And, and so John Carlos set up in his seat because, you know, track guys like Jesse Owens. So, and Jesse started talking to us about, you know, the importance of what we were doing, why we need to, uh, serve African-American communities as well as all Americans, because we are wrapped in the American flag.
Spencer Haywood (09:56):
We are the U S Olympic team. And so John said a little something that didn't ti- it kinda hit Jesse a little bit. And when he did that, uh, Jesse says, Hey, what if you had to run before Hitler? And we were like, Oh, he dropped the H man on us, he dropped the H man on us. So then all of us said, Hey, you know, we ain't got no problem. This is cool. And prior to him, uh, probably to him coming down, they had had a meeting with all of the greats, uh, Jackie Robinson, all of them about this. This was going to go on in the 68 Olympics. And so we just went on and played hard and worked hard. And then when it came down to Tommy and John's metal round, uh, and we got mad at John Carlos because he looked over as they was at the finish line.
Spencer Haywood (10:52):
And when he looked over the Australian passed him and we were like, John, we had one and two. So John get up on the, on the podium, they have their shoes off and they have the glove on. And we're thinking, man, brother's going to love this back home, bro. Y'all are right on with this. And lo and behold, the Olympic committee came here. No, you can't. We want you out of here. You need- expelled them from the, from, from, uh, from our area, commissary areas and everything, like get out and might not even give you a passport. So you can go back to America. And we was like, woah, so that was like so much drama. And then, uh, so after that we said, Oh man, what are we going to do? You know? Cause I'm not going to make a solution. My hands too big for the glove.
All (11:44):
Laughter
Spencer Haywood (11:44):
Charlie Scott jokes on the team with me, you know?
Cuba Pete (11:49):
So we went in, and was playing. We got to the finals and then Howard Cosell comes again. What's going to happen now, you know, you're going to do something because the people in Detroit is going to be mad if you- black people are going to say, you need to do something. And I was like, I'm not doing nothing. Man, I just got my passport. And so, so in the meantime we had the boxing was coming around for the championship. So I said to George, George, what are you going to do? George said, I got secret for you.
Cuba Pete (12:22):
George Foreman.
Spencer Haywood (12:23):
George Foreman I'm sorry. The grill master. So George says I got a secret. So we go out and George knocked this Russian out and he kept telling us the whole Olympics that I'm going to put him down. He put him down and George whipped out the American flag. And I was like, yeah, George, that's beautiful. Because George was like, uh, in boy's hope in Houston, he didn't have, he just wanted to be the champion. And he didn't want no more trouble after we saw what had went on with Tommy and John. And then I came up for my gold and we won gold and they started calling off all this stuff that I did. I was like, did I?! Although he broke the record the all time record, in scoring and he set a new mark man he's um, he set a mark in field goal percentage 72%. He set a mark in rebounding. And I was like, huh? I did any of this? Cause I don't, you know, back then you didn't do stats and stuff, you know? And then it came around for them to put the gold medal on my neck. And there, I was like, Oh man, it hit me four years before I was in a cotton field picking cotton.
Luther Brewster (13:36):
Wow.
Spencer Haywood (13:38):
And so now here I am. They putting this gold medal on my neck as an American hero. I mean, I got so weak. My legs got weak and-
Cuba Pete (13:48):
on the world stage.
Spencer Haywood (13:49):
On the world stage. World stage. My legs got weak and so Charlie and Jojo White. Charlie Scott and JoJo white, they held me up a little bit. And then Bill Hosket came in and goes stand up man!
Cuba Pete (14:00):
Laughter
Spencer Haywood (14:02):
So I stood up and put the gold medal on and I just started crying, man. I was like, wow, America,
Cuba Pete (14:08):
where your parents there?
Spencer Haywood (14:10):
Oh, my mother never saw me play.
Cuba Pete (14:13):
You're kidding me.
Luther Brewster (14:13):
Wow.
Cuba Pete (14:14):
But she sure did a great, great job raising up a son
Spencer Haywood (14:18):
She build this, this, this character, they call Spencer Haywood. Yeah. That's, that's her work.
Cuba Pete (14:23):
You know, it's uh, uh, to, to meet a man of your stature and your stature, just not because of your athletic accomplishments, but what you do for the community and how you give back and how you don't quit is such a humbling and honor for me that, and I really hope you give us a lot of advice in the medical school, on what we need to do to produce the right doctors, because it's not just about science. It's just not about clinical excellence, which we expect to have.
Cuba Pete (14:52):
It's about understanding your own society. It's about dealing with the social determinants. It's about the ethics. It's about the compassion and the ethics and, uh, the, uh, Lou and I have been working together. Let me tell you a little about Lou. Do you know anything about Lou?
Spencer Haywood (15:05):
I want to know about Lou, tell me about Lou. He's a Knick fan I understand that. You're all right with me.
Cuba Pete (15:15):
The Knick fan, and Morehouse Grad. So those are the two things.
Spencer Haywood (15:16):
Oh, well, yeah. Yeah. Spike Lee and Samuel L.
Luther Brewster (15:23):
Edwin Moses.
Spencer Haywood (15:24):
Edwin Moses. That's right. Edwin Moses!
Luther Brewster (15:28):
Yes.
Spencer Haywood (15:28):
Track and Field.
Luther Brewster (15:28):
Uh huh.
Spencer Haywood (15:28):
Wow.
Cuba Pete (15:30):
He's from that off shore Island called Bronx.
All (15:31):
Laughter
Cuba Pete (15:35):
Lou and I have been working together for 15 years. We put together a medical school, in South Florida, Lou did his post-doctorate in community development at the university of London.
Spencer Haywood (15:45):
Okay.
Cuba Pete (15:46):
He worked for many, many years for John Lewis.
Spencer Haywood (15:50):
Okay.
Cuba Pete (15:51):
As a matter of fact, he was the only person that put together an entire program that was not allowed to go there. And that was women in politics because he was the wrong gender.
Luther Brewster (15:59):
I didn't put it together.
Cuba Pete (16:01):
He did that for John Lewis' wife.
Luther Brewster (16:03):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (16:04):
And, uh, uh, Lou was in a private industry in community and economic development in Harlem, Atlanta, Detroit, he was at the university of Michigan. He would have found-
Cuba Pete (16:16):
I don't that against you, but it's okay, I'm from the university of Detroit. So, well yeah
Luther Brewster (16:20):
So you might, you might know though. You might know
Luther Brewster (16:27):
Uh, Perry Watson.
Spencer Haywood (16:28):
Yeah.
Luther Brewster (16:28):
So Perry Watson is, uh, uh, good friend. His daughter is a good friend of, of our family. Uh, and, uh, and, Mr. Watson is, you know, incredible human beings.
Spencer Haywood (16:40):
Jewl.
Luther Brewster (16:40):
yeah. You know, and so, uh,
Spencer Haywood (16:42):
and also he coached at the university.
Luther Brewster (16:48):
I was just about to say! That's why I wanted to bring it up. Exactly. Exactly. So we have strong ties there.
Luther Brewster (16:53):
We worked at the university of Michigan. We definitely, uh, show deference to U of D.
Cuba Pete (16:59):
I don't think you should mention university of Michigan anymore.
Luther Brewster (17:00):
You mentioned it!
Spencer Haywood (17:03):
I just did a show with Jalen Rose. We just did a piece for his ESPN show and you know, another university of Michigan, Southwest Detroit boy, cause uh, Perry know me from all of the, all of us grew up together in Detroit. We played against each other in high school, but Perry know us from, we came up with, to play Southwest Detroit. We were Southeast and Southwest and I think it was, and we pulled down the basket bef- in a warmup Dunking and high school. So is like these dudes,
Cuba Pete (17:38):
Laughter
Spencer Haywood (17:40):
These dudes are nerve-racking.
Luther Brewster (17:42):
Solid to the earth though.
Spencer Haywood (17:43):
Yeah
Cuba Pete (17:45):
His daughter, His wife, they're all just incredible.
Spencer Haywood (17:47):
We still do every year we play the Jalen Rose golf tournament at the Detroit country club together in Detroit every year. Yeah. Yeah.
Luther Brewster (17:58):
So how do you, how do you go through all, all of those experiences to find yourself years later still talking about trust in the black community?
Spencer Haywood (18:09):
Well, let me just tell you a little bit of, if we have time, can I tell you a little bit about my case?
Luther Brewster (18:15):
Sure.
Spencer Haywood (18:16):
The case that went to the Supreme court. What happened was, uh, after my sophomore year, my mom back had went out because she had been picking cotton and, and just the back end went out. So I was like in desperate need because my family was in dire straits in silver city, Mississippi where it ain't no silver and it ain't no city [inaudible].
Spencer Haywood (18:42):
So here I am, uh, Hannah Storm, the broadcast on ESPN. Her father said, you know, we didn't get Kareem in the draft. We need someone else to save the ABA, the American basketball association. So they recruited me and all of the ownership of the ABA said, look, we want this young guy. And if he can get five points, I mean, seven points and maybe five rebounds the gamut will work, we can get Julius Erving cause Julius and all those guys were saying, man, I want to go pro I want to play, I'm playing with shackles on, up in here in the college bracket. And so, uh, so I played that year and I was the MVP, the rookie of the year, leading scorer, leading rebounder and MVP of the all-star game at 19. And I was, averaging not like these baby numbers, I was in 30 and 20.
Cuba Pete (19:36):
Wow.
Spencer Haywood (19:38):
And so the NBA says, we in a fight with the ABA, let's go get Connie Hawkins. They went and got Connie Hawkins because the two franchises that were, uh, expansion was Phoenix suns. And the Seattle supersonics, the Phoenix suns with Jerry Colangelo went and got Connie Hawkins from the ABA. And then they came after me to just, just destroy the ABA. And so when I signed with Seattle, I walk out on the floor and they said, the announcer came on, ladies and gentlemen, we have a illegal player on the floor. Number 24, this game is under protest. And I was like, Oh wow. I knew it would be. But because I was still, I had one more year left in college because before I came along, you had to wait four years after your high school class had graduated before you could go into the pros of making any money for yourself.
Spencer Haywood (20:38):
And so then the next 10 days I had to sit down because of the injunction. Then I got an injunction against them for the rights to play. I play the next 10 games on the protests, uh, playing in Chicago one night, Chet Walker, uh, because he had told all of the older players in the league that these, if this young guy win this case, you guys are gone. Cause it's going to be young guys, come in and take your place. So, so Chet Walker said, I hurt my ankle and I'm suing him in Chicago. He and the Chicago bulls sued me for $600,000.
Luther Brewster (21:17):
Oh wow.
Spencer Haywood (21:18):
Then the case maneuvered it's way, all the way up to the Supreme court. And when it got there with uh, Thurgood, Marshall was just doing the verbal, the talk about, you know, this is kind of wrong, that what we are doing, putting this young man through this, his family is in dire straits.
Spencer Haywood (21:37):
And we have, uh, we don't, we allow tennis players to go into the pros when they are qualified hockey players to go when they're qualified.
Cuba Pete (21:47):
Baseball.
Spencer Haywood (21:47):
Baseball when they are qualified, but not when basketball because they, uh, the basketball and football, are the two revenue sports. So I want to rule in Haywood's favor, favor, uh, under the Sherman antitrust act. And that says that you cannot deprive an American from making a living, especially if you want them to go to war.
Cuba Pete (22:11):
Yeah.
Spencer Haywood (22:11):
And so on and so forth. So that's how I won that case. And that case has produced nearly $31 billion in players revenue. Because an example, you take a guy like LeBron, James, who didn't go for any years in college, he got four years extra on his legs, four years extra on his career. And he's making say 50 million a year. So it's $200 million.
Cuba Pete (22:39):
Almost like you.
Spencer Haywood (22:40):
Yeah.
Luther Brewster (22:41):
That extra $50 a year is really helping me out... Startin out early.
Spencer Haywood (22:48):
So that case was just significant because I took a stand and I was ostracized for years for it because you know, you can't Sue the league and.
Cuba Pete (22:58):
right.
Spencer Haywood (23:00):
and you know not pay no price. So I was that guy and the three of us that was in court at similar time at the Supreme court was Muhammad Ali, Curt Flood and myself.
Cuba Pete (23:09):
Oh, wow.
Spencer Haywood (23:10):
Yeah. And I was like,
Luther Brewster (23:12):
So all of that was going on at the same time.
Spencer Haywood (23:13):
Yeah. And I was playing and trying to play basketball at the same time. And I was young, but I, I believed in what I was doing. And I knew that it was going to help athletes period to save themselves. And right after that, of course, Julius Erving, George Gervin, all of the players who said, Hey, I got to go, I got to go play pro.
Luther Brewster (23:35):
I never even put the connection. Cause Julius Erving left UMass early.
Spencer Haywood (23:40):
Yeah.
Luther Brewster (23:40):
that, so he wouldn't have been able to do that.
Spencer Haywood (23:41):
He wouldn't have been able to do that.
Luther Brewster (23:42):
Wow
Spencer Haywood (23:42):
None of them. And so isn't it ironic, that uh, the greatest player? Well, maybe the second, I don't know. But Michael Jordan.
Cuba Pete (23:53):
wouldn't have.
Spencer Haywood (23:54):
would not have been able to play for the bulls at that bull's time. If they had won that lawsuit against me.
Cuba Pete (24:01):
Koby Bryant,
Spencer Haywood (24:02):
Kobe Bryant. All of them.
Luther Brewster (24:03):
Yeah. Shaq.
Spencer Haywood (24:05):
Shaq, Barkley. You name them to you.
Cuba Pete (24:07):
Boy. I remember the ABA I'm uh, from Miami.
Spencer Haywood (24:11):
Yeah. Floridians.
Cuba Pete (24:12):
The Miami Floridians.
Spencer Haywood (24:13):
Yeah, man beautiful ball.
Cuba Pete (24:17):
Oh yeah... [stammering]
Spencer Haywood (24:18):
red white and-
Cuba Pete (24:19):
Ball girls in bikini's around the...
Spencer Haywood (24:21):
Exactly.
Cuba Pete (24:22):
But the funniest thing was, they were so bad. If you paid for the high school game before their game, you could stay for the pro games.
Spencer Haywood (24:31):
Yeah. That was, that was early basketball.
Cuba Pete (24:33):
It was a white and orange ball wasn't it?
Spencer Haywood (24:36):
No white and red, white and blue,
Cuba Pete (24:38):
red, white, and blue. Yeah that was it.
Spencer Haywood (24:39):
You can, if your shot is off you say, Oh man, I know what I gotta do. I gotta put more spin on it.
Luther Brewster (24:44):
Cus you could see it
Spencer Haywood (24:45):
cus you could see the rotation. Yeah. I can see what it's going to bounce off the end. And they had, um, that's what, you know, what happened though? When the merger took place with the NBA and the ABA and he took on the four teams from the ABA San Antonio, I think. And um, I don't know the teams right now, but they took everything from the NBA, took everything that we were using in the ABA and to the NBA, except the ball. The three point shot All of these things, were ABA, The style of play today,
Luther Brewster (25:19):
shot clock, wasn't shot clock?
Spencer Haywood (25:21):
Shot clock everything. Yeah.
Luther Brewster (25:22):
Wow.
Spencer Haywood (25:23):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (25:25):
Of all the moments Of such important history that you have been a part of, which is the one that sticks most out with you?
Spencer Haywood (25:32):
the one that sticks most, it's a tie between, uh, the Olympics and my winning of the gold medal and the feeling of the emotions of 68. And also my trails through, uh, the, uh, to the Supreme court because it's paved the way to so many at that time, it was just usually it was used for predominantly by African-Americans to come into the league because we didn't have the economics. And now it's used by all of the players from Europe everywhere. And we have three players that are up for MVP that are from Europe, you know, European players.
Luther Brewster (26:13):
Right.
Spencer Haywood (26:14):
And so, uh,
Cuba Pete (26:15):
the ones that I can't pronounce their names.
Spencer Haywood (26:18):
Luka Dončić.
Cuba Pete (26:20):
I try. My name is Pedro Jose Greer of all combinations, actually, when.
Spencer Haywood (26:26):
Alright, I'll say the Greek freak.
All (26:30):
inaudible
Spencer Haywood (26:30):
And, um, what's the big boy from Denver? My old team, uh,
Luther Brewster (26:36):
with the V.
Spencer Haywood (26:38):
no, no, no. It's uh, guys, what are you doing? You don't know. Okay. Oh, I can't think of his name, but anyway, he's up. And um, so I look at all of my stuff that I have done over the years in my playing career, up to 14 years in the NBA, I also was married to Iman. I brought her.
Cuba Pete (27:02):
Oh really?
Spencer Haywood (27:03):
Yeah. I was, we were married.
Cuba Pete (27:03):
Oh really?
Spencer Haywood (27:06):
[laughter] Yeah. Iman and I were married for 11 years. we have a daughter and a granddaughter. And I brought her family from East Africa because they didn't, you know, it was, it was war in Somalia and throughout that area. So I brought those people all over to, to my home in New York. And, and now they are great citizens of America. And we had, uh, a good run at our marriage and stuff. So, uh,
Cuba Pete (27:33):
Do you only have one child?
Spencer Haywood (27:34):
We only had the one child. Yeah. But I had-
Luther Brewster (27:37):
Do you have one child total?
Spencer Haywood (27:37):
Huh?
Luther Brewster (27:37):
Do you have one child total?
Spencer Haywood (27:39):
No, I have four daughters now I have one daughter there and three more with my wife, Linda.
Cuba Pete (27:46):
Well, you're lucky cause I have two, one's a boy and one's a girl. But the problem is if you have a, a, a, uh, an older daughter and a younger son, you think you dropped your son on his head the maturity level is day and night.
Spencer Haywood (27:59):
Well, to tell you why I'm here and why I see the movement that we should do in terms of medicine is my young daughter had the experience of seeing me visit my psychiatrist because I had issues that was buried from Mississippi. So on, I needed to get it out. And years ago when I was married to Iman, she was like, you got to go see a psychologist. And I was like, [scoffs] that's for white folks.
All (28:35):
Laughter.
Spencer Haywood (28:35):
So I go in and, And I see it, see him and we just kicked it off. And I was like, Well, I found a home. Yeah. I can let all of this out, man. Where was you when I was playing? I could've escaped all of these problems.
Spencer Haywood (28:52):
And so my young, my next to youngest daughter would go, she liked to go with me to this stock dissolvent. And so lo and behold, when she got to college and started studying and everything, she wanted to be a psychologist. And now she's a doctor she's 30 years old in New York city as a doctor.
Cuba Pete (29:13):
Congratulations.
Spencer Haywood (29:14):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (29:14):
Congratulations,
Spencer Haywood (29:15):
Man. So I have another doctor in education, which is, uh, Lincoln university,
Cuba Pete (29:20):
Your mother looking down and seeing her grandkid as a doctor. I mean, that's, my father was the first one in our family to finish high school. And for him to go to my grandkids or his grandkids, graduations,
Spencer Haywood (29:31):
it's powerful.
Cuba Pete (29:32):
It's extremely the power of education itself, but you brought up the issue of psychiatry. That's one of the biggest problems we have in this country is appropriate behavioral health for all populations. The, Uh, I'm a liver specialist but I train a Hepatologists. And I was doing an interview, Uh, yesterday, or the day before about the rise in alcoholic Liver disease admissions in the hospital. I said the problem isn't the alcoholic liver disease, the problem is the social determinants of health that they might, they don't have a job. They can't pay their rent. They're depressed, they're anxious. And we live in an alcoholic society.
Spencer Haywood (30:10):
Exactly
Cuba Pete (30:10):
I mean, for goodness sakes, I was shocked the first time I went to CVS and saw that they had a great liquor store at a pharmacy.
Spencer Haywood (30:18):
Yeah. Well it's everywhere. I mean, it was around Detroit. I mean, it's just everywhere. You can't get groceries, you can't get food, but you can get some alcohol.
Cuba Pete (30:28):
You sure can.
Spencer Haywood (30:30):
Yeah. Yeah.
Cuba Pete (30:30):
And so there's, there's a lot of things... What we're going for. We want that first-generation college kid. We want the kid, the first one that goes to college to go to our medical school. At the last institution that he and I were founding faculty at 75% of our students only got accepted into our school. 55% of our students were African-American and Hispanic, only 5% of American medical students are black or, and only 5% are Hispanic.
Spencer Haywood (30:58):
I know.
Cuba Pete (30:59):
However, every graduating class we had, they had the highest scores in the entire state of Florida. We kicked university of Miami, university of Florida, Central everybody. And so we throw away talent in this country, so we want to.
Spencer Haywood (31:11):
throw it away.
Cuba Pete (31:13):
So we want to develop a pipeline in these communities. That's I believe, you know, I, I, I look at my father and I say, wow, he was so smart and so talented. And if it wasn't for him coming to this country,
Spencer Haywood (31:26):
yeah.
Cuba Pete (31:27):
He would have never gone to- finished high school or gone to college, but we don't give those opportunities anymore.
Spencer Haywood (31:32):
Yeah. But there is a way perhaps that we can do that. Um, um, I, I look at this year alone, we have 25% of African-Americans because they see that the disparage,
Cuba Pete (31:50):
Oh, it's horrible.
Spencer Haywood (31:51):
This separation of like, uh, what's going on in that community with the COVID and everything. So we have 25% of the doctors now, uh, guys who, uh, girls and guys who are enrolling into medical school are black
Cuba Pete (32:06):
In this country?
Spencer Haywood (32:07):
In this country.
Cuba Pete (32:09):
They're applying,
Spencer Haywood (32:10):
they're applying.
Cuba Pete (32:11):
They're applying.
Spencer Haywood (32:12):
Okay, well, I don't know the history, but I know they are applying, but this is a new day. And, and how can we do something? Is I was the chairman of the board for the NBA, retired players for years. And, and we used to look at things that we could do that enlighten the communities and do things. And this would be one that I think we can do with the retired players. I'm no longer the chairman, but I have a voice, and I also have a voice with the NBA. The NBA's working very close with me with all the things that I do in my foundation. And so there's a possibility when we, when we bring kids, girls, and boys to camps, basketball camps, Barkley, and all of us and stuff, we can start steering them.
Cuba Pete (32:58):
We would love that. And we would love that. And Dr. Cheryl Brewster, the real Dr. Brewster not this one, but the, uh, she's in charge of our pipeline program. And we think that we are so driven by the inequities that occur, that we're the only medical school that the very senior level, we have a senior executive Dean for diversity inclusion and equity.
Spencer Haywood (33:21):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (33:22):
And if you look at our, uh, the, uh, the composition of our team, the six of us that came out here, three of the six are black, I'm Hispanic, two are foreign born. I mean, I'm counting Canada, but that's.
Spencer Haywood (33:35):
yeah. That's Canada.
Cuba Pete (33:36):
Yeah. What the hell?
Spencer Haywood (33:39):
We're close to Canada, you know, in Michigan you know we're like next door so it don't count.
Cuba Pete (33:44):
And, uh
Spencer Haywood (33:45):
You from Canada? No.
Cuba Pete (33:46):
No, he's Hawaiian.
Cuba Pete (33:53):
[laughter] And, uh, W we w the opportunity here in Vegas is not an opportunity we had on the East coast, East coast is anchored down with tradition.
Spencer Haywood (34:02):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (34:02):
Here we have a blank sheet of paper.
Spencer Haywood (34:04):
Blank
Cuba Pete (34:05):
A t- with a team of six brilliant. I mean, Lou is really one of the most brilliant people I have ever met in my life. I met him 15 years ago when we were starting a new medical school, and I was making a presentation, how, you know, uh, at risk communities hate universities, because we've never done anything for them.
Spencer Haywood (34:21):
Okay.
Cuba Pete (34:21):
And so we're going to go in there. We're going to stay in perpetuity. We're going to become dependent on the community. As a matter of fact, in the communities of color that we're going to work in. There's an old saying in medicine, that the patient is the best teacher, people from these communities, excuse me.
Spencer Haywood (34:36):
Is that yours or mine?
Cuba Pete (34:36):
Yeah I don't know how the hell these things work
Cuba Pete (34:40):
People from these communities, people from these communities teach our students. We're going to make them faculty members.
Spencer Haywood (34:47):
Oh, wow.
Cuba Pete (34:48):
And you know, and the, and it's going to be, if we need to have faculty and students that look like the neighborhoods we're going into.
Spencer Haywood (34:58):
Yeah.
Cuba Pete (34:59):
We want to be at the most at-risk schools. Why is that? Because we want that kid to say, wow, they look like me.
Spencer Haywood (35:07):
Count me in on this I'm loving this because I was an at risk kid. And I didn't, I didn't have no opportunity. And the city of Detroit just took me in. And that's why I have the feeling of always giving. I have to always give. my mom used to always tell me when I was growing up, you didn't listen well, but she said, baby, always have your hands out and open. You give a lot, but you receive a lot into your heart. So, that's my process.
Cuba Pete (35:37):
You don't know what an incredible honor it is to sit here and talk with you, sir. It really is.
Spencer Haywood (35:42):
It's a pleasure because, I deal in divine order. I mean, I'm supposed to be right here at this time and space.
Spencer Haywood (35:51):
And, uh, and then, because.
New Speaker (35:53):
...says also, you're going to speak for medical students.
Spencer Haywood (35:56):
Huh?
New Speaker (35:56):
I said, the divine order also says, you're going to be there speaking to our medical students.
Spencer Haywood (36:00):
I'd love to.
New Speaker (36:00):
Oh, we would love to have you there.
Spencer Haywood (36:01):
Yeah.
New Speaker (36:01):
we really would. And we're thinking of putting together a group to advise us on what we need to do, because listen, my profession has not gotten it right. We have incredible disparities. You know, we don't have the diversity in medical school we need, or in education or in the workforce. So we need folks from the outside to tell us, this is what you need to concentrate on. This is what you need to look at. This is what you're not doing from the perspective of me, the patient.
Spencer Haywood (36:32):
Yeah.
New Speaker (36:33):
You know, we have to have doctors that are humble. We have to have doctors that are compassionate, just not getting straight A's, you know, you could be clinically excellent and not be a great research scientist. That's great. We need a clinician. We need to take care of people. We need to serve people. That's what our job supposed to.
Spencer Haywood (36:53):
Yeah. But you guys are in such a unique position with the state of Nevada. And this is like new, it's like a brand new canvas. You got, you can work with this canvas to create and make it what you want, because you have a lot of people coming here in droves, but they don't have things. We don't have like a big medical school here.
Cuba Pete (37:17):
We, we, the what's that saying here, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. We want to make it so that what happens in Vegas, the world gets to know
Spencer Haywood (37:24):
The world to know that's a great slogan. You should take it over to [inaudible]. That is, that is a great slogan right there, because the old one, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Yeah. That's like, uh
Luther Brewster (37:32):
It is truly a pleasure to have you, um, it's, it's incredible that, you know, uh, the thing that stood out when we saw the potential of you coming was your, uh, obsession with getting, uh, the black community to trust healthcare again. And so I think that there's no greater perfect alignment with what we're trying to do than that. So, uh, I want you to kind of see this as the introduction to a very long and fruitful relationship and supporting one another and what it is we're trying to do.
Spencer Haywood (37:32):
Okay. I would love to, because you know, it's such a disparity right now. We lookin at, with this COVID.
Cuba Pete (38:25):
The disparity was there before, what COVID did was rip the top off
Spencer Haywood (38:28):
The top off of it, but right now we're going to need people to go and get the vaccine.
Cuba Pete (38:36):
Oh, if you have the opportunity to get the vaccine, get it, get it, get.
Spencer Haywood (38:41):
It is so important.
Cuba Pete (38:42):
It really is.
Spencer Haywood (38:43):
It is so important. It is life and death, you know, and, and with African American communities. And I know with Hispanic communities and other Asian communities, there's this superstition that, you know, they gonna do something to me, man please, you know?
Cuba Pete (39:01):
Well, that's based on history.
Spencer Haywood (39:03):
I know it based on history, we talking about the Tuskegee experiment, all of these things, but yeah, and you know,
Cuba Pete (39:09):
Right now look at what's going on and you need to trust us.
Spencer Haywood (39:12):
You got to trust now you have to really trust. I trusted you. Uh, I was at your university. I had my first vaccine at Roseman university and, and I have my second one coming up.
Cuba Pete (39:26):
Get ready it knocks you down.
Spencer Haywood (39:26):
It knocks you down.
Cuba Pete (39:28):
The second one, it was funny. I did fine the day of, uh, uh, of my second vaccine the next morning, every joint in my body hurt. And I looked at my wife. I said, it must be because I'm old. She goes, you had the vaccine yesterday. [inaudible],
Spencer Haywood (39:42):
Take an Advil let's go.
Cuba Pete (39:42):
And that took care of it.
Spencer Haywood (39:42):
Yeah. But some people that don't knock 'em down, you know.
Cuba Pete (39:42):
The majority of folks who doesn't.
Spencer Haywood (39:42):
Yeah. That's what I'm saying.
Cuba Pete (39:42):
And in fact.
Spencer Haywood (39:42):
But we don't want to give them the idea
Luther Brewster (39:54):
Right. Right.
Cuba Pete (39:55):
Oh come on, It's like half a day. You take an Advil. You do great.
Spencer Haywood (39:58):
No they waiting for an excuse.
Cuba Pete (40:03):
This is important because it not only protects you, it protects your family and your community.
Spencer Haywood (40:08):
Oh my God.
Luther Brewster (40:09):
Exactly.
Cuba Pete (40:10):
There was that one case I was reading it about, uh, about a week ago, a woman who got COVID, but she was embarrassed to tell her family and everybody in her family died. And that that's the importance of this. I mean, at this time science is working.
Spencer Haywood (40:24):
Yeah. My niece is on, is in the hospital in intensive care at this time, with COVID. Yeah.
Luther Brewster (40:31):
Oh, wow.
Cuba Pete (40:32):
What is her name?
Spencer Haywood (40:33):
Huh?
Cuba Pete (40:33):
What is her first name?
Spencer Haywood (40:35):
Her first name is Sherry. Yes sir, Sherry Haywood. And, and, and also, uh, I'm a survivor of COVID, you know, I, um, I just was fortunate. I did the right thing. My wife stayed in one room area of the home and I stayed in another area. I survived it. And, um, it, ain't nothing to play with.
Cuba Pete (41:01):
It's not. And the other example, he's given you, even if you have been exposed to COVID, that doesn't mean you have immunity. You need to get the vaccine.
Spencer Haywood (41:10):
Oh, that's all, all of my, my specialists, doctors and NBA doctors, you don't even need a vaccine now. You got like 90 days of me and I'm like, yeah, sure. But I'll tell you one thing, let it come up, come on, get me right. I did the measles vaccine as a kid. I did, I did all these vaccines and, and, and, you know, like being married to an African, you go to the African countries that have not had vaccines. And so on. You just see, Oh boy, polio, different things.
Cuba Pete (41:48):
Uh, I think the lesson here is if you take your vaccines, you could win an Olympic gold medal.
Spencer Haywood (41:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:55):
And be an NBA.
Luther Brewster (42:00):
And marry a supermodel. Joe, take us home.
Cuba Pete (42:06):
Mr. Haywood. It's been an honor to have you here, sir. And I look forward to working with you.
Spencer Haywood (42:10):
I'm looking forward to it.
New Speaker (42:12):
This is Cuba Pete, from studio way in Las Vegas. It's no laughing matter. We talk serious topics, but don't forget to have a smile on your face, especially when you come across others. It's so important. Thank you. Thank you.