Walter Kennedy
From Hoopedia
(June 8, 1912 - June 26, 1977)
Served as NBA Commissioner from 1963-1975
J. Walter Kennedy was an overachiever who served as NBA Commissioner for 12 years before retiring in 1975. He presided over a period of unprecedented growth for the league. Under his leadership the NBA doubled in size, evolved into a major sport that rivaled baseball and football, and became a big business. Kennedy was an energetic and commanding man who brought a mix of political savvy, public-relations sense, and business acumen to the league, and he guided its rapid rise to prosperity. As the NBA evolved from a motley collection of basketball teams into a major entertainment empire, Kennedy was the person who had to address its growing pains. "We went through the hammers of hell," he told the Arizona Republic in 1975.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the league struggled to cope with the emergence of the rival American Basketball Association, the advent of free agency, and a host of other issues. Kennedy found himself spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with legal matters. "I am not quite sure that all changes in basketball during the last 12 years have been in the best interest of the NBA," he told The New York Times in 1975. "There was a movement of action from the court of play to the court of law."
Under Kennedy's stewardship the NBA expanded from 9 teams to 18, went from no television revenue to a $9-million network contract, and increased annual attendance from 1.9 million fans to more than 7 million.
A religious man who once received an honor from the Pope, Kennedy was also a civic leader who persevered through years of ill health. "Walter Kennedy was one of the world's most beautiful people," Howard Cosell told United Press International in 1975. "He had only one kidney, was blind in one eye, could hear with only one ear. No complaint. Indeed, the eye that could still see and the ear that could still hear remained open to the needs of others."
As a child in Stamford, Connecticut, Kennedy dreamed of excelling at sports. But he was stricken with polio, leaving him with a clubfoot and ending his chances to be a sports star. Instead Kennedy transformed his great frustration into determination and remained involved in sports for the rest of his life. In sixth grade he wrote a prophetic essay in which he said that his ambitions were to be the mayor of Stamford and the commissioner of baseball. He was elected Stamford's mayor in 1959 and left that post to become NBA Commissioner.
At age 12 he became a scorekeeper for a professional basketball team in Stamford and was a manager for the Stamford High School basketball team. On his first day at the University of Notre Dame, Kennedy went to the athletic department, happened upon coaching legend Knute Rockne, and said, "Mr. Rockne, my name is Walter Kennedy. I'm a freshman and I'll do anything to work in the athletic department," as he recalled years later to UPI. "Rock looked at me a few seconds and then, in that staccato way of his, he barked, 'What can you do?' 'Well, sir, I can type and I'd be willing to sweep out the press box after the games.'" Rockne told him to grab a broom and go to work.
Kennedy also covered Notre Dame sports for the South Bend Tribune. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1934 he was involved in several aspects of basketball. He coached high school and professional teams in Connecticut and officiated for 12 years.
Kennedy served as Notre Dame's publicist for three years until 1946, when he was named the first publicity director for the Basketball Association of America. The new professional circuit at first received little attention. Crowds were small, there was no television, and newspapers generally only covered college basketball.
As publicity director from 1946 to 1951, Kennedy took part in the NBA's conception. (The BAA merged with the rival National Basketball League and was renamed the National Basketball Association for the 1949-50 season.) He left to run his own public-relations firm from 1952 to 1959, serving as a consultant and international representative for the Harlem Globetrotters. In 1959 he was elected by a two-to-one margin as mayor of Stamford. He was reelected easily in 1961 but resigned less than two years later to succeed Maurice Podoloff as NBA Commissioner.
In 1961 the NBA had nine teams and was trying to enhance its prestige among American sports viewers. It was Kennedy's job to heighten public interest in the fledgling circuit. He accomplished this with the help of a few young superstars; Oscar Robertson and Jerry West joined the league for the 1960-61 season, and in the 1961-62 campaign Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and registered his 100-point outburst on March 2. Other marquee players of the time included Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes, Bob Pettit, and Elgin Baylor.
The nature of team ownership was much different in Kennedy's early years than it was after the league evolved into a modern sport. Each of the league's nine club owners was "almost totally involved" with the daily operation of the team, Kennedy told The New York Times. "Few, if any, had outside interests that caused them to spend much time on activities other than basketball." Kennedy came to know the owners personally and made deals on that basis.
But he quickly showed that he would stand firm when necessary. He fined Boston Celtics Coach Red Auerbach $500 for unruly conduct during a preseason game in 1963. When Auerbach threatened to quit if the fine was not rescinded, Kennedy responded with a telegram: "The fine stands and must be paid within five days from this date. Kindest personal regards. Walter Kennedy." The incident is representative of how Kennedy ran the league during those years. Beside his desk he kept a bronze figure of a clenched right hand with the inscription, "I will rule with an iron fist.encased in a velvet glove."
Kennedy set about expanding the NBA into other cities. The first expansion came in 1966-67 with the addition of the Chicago Bulls. The Seattle SuperSonics and the San Diego Rockets (later the Houston Rockets) were added for the 1967-68 season. That season was also the first for the rival American Basketball Association, which gave Kennedy headaches. The Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks entered the NBA for the 1968-69 campaign.
From its first year in 1967 until its merger with the NBA in 1976, the ABA competed against the NBA for players. The bidding war increased salaries, and there were owners in both leagues who pledged to pay more than they could deliver, pushing some franchises toward bankruptcy. The expansion generated interest in an increasingly popular game, but it had the negative effect of watering down the product. In addition, the courts were forced to intercede several times in order to settle disputes about which league had the rights to which players. Rick Barry, Billy Cunningham, and Spencer Haywood were among the players fought over in courtroom.
By 1970 many owners had become anxious for the leagues to merge, partly to keep the bidding wars from ruining them. But the players, who had formed a union in the early 1960s, filed suit to stop the action. The "Oscar Robertson suit," so called because Robertson was head of the players' union at the time, went to the courts, to Congress, and to the National Labor Relations Board. It wasn't resolved until after Kennedy had retired. The players dropped the suit in time for the 1976 NBA All-Star Game in return for wide-ranging benefits. The NBA-ABA merger occurred before the 1976-77 season.
At the height of the uncertainty in 1971 the owners gave Kennedy far-reaching authority to run the league, making him the most powerful administrative figure in American sports. Kennedy was given total jurisdiction in resolving disputes, levying fines, and handing out suspensions.
Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin stated in a press release at the time, "The owners feel that the complexities of running the National Basketball Association as it is now constituted.necessitate the conferring of total power of administration on the commissioner. We fully realize that in doing so we are conveying unprecedented authority to Walter Kennedy, but we have no hesitancy in doing so because of the excellent leadership he has provided during the last eight years."
Kennedy, weary of legal battles, retired in June 1975. "My work no longer intrigued me nor challenged me, nor brought satisfaction to me," he wrote in The New York Times. "During the last five years, mostly because of contract jumpers and other off-court activities, a substantial part of my time-as much as 40 to 50 percent-was spent in depositions, as a witness in courtrooms, in the halls or meeting rooms of Congress or federal agencies or in what I call the 'legalities' of the job.
"The sport of basketball was becoming more of a business. A handshake was all that was needed to complete an agreement or bind a deal a few years back. Now it is necessary to have a bevy of lawyers, court stenographers, and octuple copies of everything.
"Today, only one man involved with the ownership of his club in 1963 is still involved with it. And virtually all of the other 17 owners are much more involved in their other business interests and leave the day-to-day operation to someone else."
Kennedy missed the personal relationships he had formed with the owners during his early years as commissioner. "It has been virtually impossible for me to enjoy such a relationship with National Basketball Association owners the last few years because of the changing ownership scene," he told The New York Times. During Kennedy's term as commissioner there were 44 changes of ownership or principals.<,p> "In the first few years of my commissionership it was unthinkable for an owner to take another owner of the NBA to court," Kennedy continued. "Now, no commissioner can discharge his responsibilities or exercise his authority under the NBA constitution and bylaws without first learning what the courts are likely to do or say about the subject."
Kennedy liked the way the on-court game had improved and felt that the rule change widening the lane from 12 feet to 16 feet had been significant in making basketball more exciting. "I look back on my 12 years as commissioner and six years earlier as public relations director with much gratification and happy memories in spite of historic frustrations," he wrote.
Kennedy also distinguished himself in arenas beyond the NBA. In 1966 Pope Paul VI named Kennedy a Knight of St. Gregory, the highest honor conferred by the Vatican on a Catholic layman, for "contributions to state and church." Kennedy was a charter member of the Basketball Writers Association and was the first secretary of the national board of directors of Little League Baseball. He was also a former secretary and national tournament director of the Babe Ruth League. After his retirement as NBA Commissioner he spent the bulk of his time as chairman of the board of the Special Olympics.
Kennedy died in 1977 at age 65, and consequently did not see his pioneering efforts pay off with the stability, continuing popularity, and global expansion of the NBA in the 1990s.
