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 Born
in 1942, Robert Earl Love
(nicknamed Butterbean after his
favorite food) grew up in poverty as
one of fourteen children in rural
Louisiana. As a child and throughout
his early life he was unable to do
what most of us take for
granted--speak. He had a severe
stuttering problem. There were long
periods which he could not speak at
all, as well as times when he just
stumbled his way through...>>>
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To escape from his embarrassing
speech problem, Love dreamed of one
day becoming a basketball star. Not
having the financial resources to
afford a basket or basketball, young
Bob nailed a coat hanger to the side
of his grandmother's house and used
his imagination, and what an
imagination it turned out to be.
As he grew to a six-foot-eight high
school senior, Bob's dreams of being
a great athlete became real. He was
the first player from Southern
University in Louisiana to be named
to the All-America Team by the
National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics. After
college, Bob played for the
Cincinnati Royals basketball team
and was later traded to the
Milwaukee Bucks and then to the
Chicago Bulls.
Bob Love rose through the ranks and
became one of the top players ever
to play the game of basketball. He
played with the Chicago Bulls for
eight seasons from 1969 to 1976 and
was a three-time NBA All-Star. For
seven straight years he was the
Bulls leading scorer and is the
second highest scorer in Bulls
history behind only Michael Jordan.
His life was unstoppable until...he
hurt his back. His playing days were
over. The doctors told him he would
never walk again, and his wife left
him, taking all their belongings
saying she did not want to be
married to a "stutterer and a
cripple." Unable to speak, Bob tried
for seven years to find a steady
job. In the early 80's he hit rock
bottom. He took a job busing tables
and washing dishes at Nordstrom's in
Seattle, Washington, at $4.45 an
hour.
Days, weeks, and months went by. It
was the most humiliating and
embarrassing time of his life.
Former players and their children
would see him cleaning tables, and
Love recalls overhearing people
whisper things like, "Hey, that's
Bob Love...used to be a great
basketball player...what a shame."
Those whispers made Bob stronger. He
endured for over a year-and-a-half,
and one day, one of the Nordstrom
owners said he was doing a great job
and offered to help him with his
speech problem. Finally at the age
of 45, he found a speech therapist
who helped him learn to speak
without struggling. Bob worked as
hard on his dream of being able to
talk as he had worked on basketball.
In 1992, he received a call from
Steve Schanwald, the Bulls vice
president of marketing and
broadcasting. The fans still loved
him and they wanted him back. Would
he consider a job as director of
community relations? After all those
years, he was finally coming home.
He promptly accepted the job and
dropped down to his knees and gave
thanks. Bob is now the Community
Relations Director for his former
team, the Chicago Bulls. Bob was a
new man.
The mid-'90s have bestowed some
happy times upon Love. On January
19, 1994, his famous number 10
jersey was retired before a sellout
crowd at Chicago stadium.
>>>
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