Freddy Lewis takes Kentucky Colonels’ star Dan Issel to the hoop.

In 1971, my homeboy, and friend Marvin Gaye, hit it out of the park with ‘Whats Going On’, heard on Saturday mornings on W-O-O-K Radio.

In February of 1972, I found my pioneering radio sports talk show, Inside Sports. In the summer of 1972, the unforgettable Black film movie classic “Super Fly” was a run away best seller in Black movie theaters around the country. The music was produced and written by super-rapper, Curtis Mayfield. The theme song was about the life of a drug hustler who went by the the name of Freddy. He was found dead of a drug overdose.

The sounds of Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield were the highlights of my music breaks on Inside Sports. There were no other sports talk shows like it in the country. I would open up the show with Whats Going On, and close the show with, Freddy Is Dead.

By the way, Freddy Lewis is alive, and well, living in Washington, DC enhancing the lives of our youth.

Freddy Lewis is surrounded by ABA legend Colis Jones, and DC playground basketball legends, John ‘Bay-Bay’ Duren, and Stacy Robinson. The occasion, the screening of the documentary, “The Waiting Game.” The story of the basketball wars between the NBA and ABA in the 60s and 70s.

Freddy Lewis and Colis Jones / photos fred Shepard

This story is about about a “Super Star” basketball player, Freddy Lewis, and how the NBA wrote him, and 24 other living players out their pensions that they deserved. The numbers would be dozens of other players, but they have since passed on.

The documentary tells the story of how the upstart American Basketball Association was more than just a copy of the NBA.

It had its own ID, they played with a basketball with the colors of America, red, white and blue. Freddy is the only player to start his career in the NBA, and play all nine seasons in the ABA with the Indiana Pacers. He is not in the NBA Hall of Fame, nor does his jersey hang from the rafters with George McGinnis and Reggie Miller’s in the home arena of the NBA Indiana Pacers.

The Heart and Soul of the ABA: Legends, Connie Hawkins, Marvin Barnes, Dr. J-Charlie Scott, and George Gervin.

There are a few important things to consider if you ever watch “The Waiting Game,” the 2024 film that documents the fight for aging players of the defunct American Basketball Association to receive financial recognition from the NBA. For starters, just know that James Jones, a six-time ABA all-star, is still driving an Uber in Las Vegas, and 23 other living players are still waiting for their pensions stolen by the NBA.

Also, understand that Darnell “Dr. Dunk” Hillman, an NBA slam dunk contest winner and two-time ABA champion, hasn’t received a pension for his five years of work in the ABA. And that Sam Smith — another former ABA champ whose sas photo on his death bed sparked a measure of empathy from the NBA, the Board of Governors and the Players Association — relied on health insurance obtained through a job at a Ford plant after his playing days but not from his four years as a professional athlete.

And yet, there’s an even more striking takeaway after watching this documentary that features a handful of former players, giants who appear broken down through rough years after the NBA absorbed four of the ABA’s teams and that red, white and blue ball stopped bouncing. Primarily, these are older Black men, and if you can connect the dots, they are the Afro’d pioneers who committed their bodies as well as mortgaged their futures to help lay the foundation for the next generations of entertainers in basketball shorts.

They dunked before “Air” breathed new life into the NBA, and they popularized the three-point shot several decades before Stephen Curry and his followers by bombing away from deep. And still, these men largely have been forgotten — and some have been intentionally locked out from receiving benefits from the NBA.

The biggest takeaway from the documentary isn’t even in the documentary. It’s that a year after the release of “The Waiting Game,” the thriving and rainmaking NBA has been infused with a $76 billion media rights deal, and the ABA players are dying poor and abandoned. Candace Parker/Washington Post (10-31-2025)

The Waiting Game is a powerful documentary that reveals an incredible battle between the NBA and a tiny not for profit working men trying to gain full recognition for the men of the ABA — a colorful, exciting, rival league that arguably invented the modern game of basketball. It’s a fight for benefits the players of the ABA felt were promised, but never delivered. While following an investigation of the legal trail of the ABA-NBA merger, key impact journalism, and the advocacy for justice, the film reveals the lines that can stand between the greed of Big Business 1% interest and basic human dignity.

I lived this charade by the NBA up close and personal.  I had friends who I broke bread with, and were contributors to my pioneering radio sports talk show, Inside Sports. I remember the players clearly, and their forgotten history.

They included: Dr. J-Spencer Haywood-George Gervin-Connie Hawkins-Jimmy Jones-Gene Littles-George McGinnis, and Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor all played a role in making Inside Sports must hear radio.

Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor had the unique experience of leading the fast break, with Dr. J in the fast lane on his left and the Ice Man cometh on his right.

Fatty, joins Larry Brown (NFL), Petey Greene, and me for a community outing at the Hillcrest Children’s Center in NW DC (old Turner’s Arena).

Spencer Haywood, Jim Brown, Sonny Hill, and Sam Jones (not shown) joins the non-profit Kids In Trouble organization for a Youth Violence Forum in Washington, DC.

The NBA owners pocket BILLIONS, and tip the ABA players 25 MILLION DOLLARS for their pension fund. They should be ashamed of themselves, and the NBA Players Association was compliant in this conspiracy.

Dr. J and George McGinnis, George Gervin and Fatty Taylor all played important roles in making Inside Sports, the No. 1 in sports talk radio and television.

This is an excellent documentary, and fans of the NBA and ABA should put this on their Bucket List —this history-making story needs to be seen on the big screen.

The unsung heroes in this documentary are not all basketball players!

Harold, CONGRATULATIONS!  Your archives are valuable and should be given the broadest exposure. Have you thought about offering discs of your programs to the new Smithsonian Institution NATL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE (NMAAHC). A wing of the NMAAHC WILL BE DEDICATED TO THE STRUGGLE IN SPORTS AND WILL BE TITLED “LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD”,  Your work was a major force over the years in leveling the playing field, especially, in terms of the struggle to define and project “our truth”.

I will send you a contact involved in putting the NMAAHC together.

Great job over the years,  great timing in reprising that legacy now.

The best wishes of me and my family to your wife-she is in our thoughts and prayers.

Dr. Harry Edwards

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 30, 2014 at 3:05 PM

THE UNSUNG HEROES AND BRAINTRUST OF “THE WAITING GAME.”

SCOTT TARTER-JOHN SHUFORD AND CHRISTOPHER SMITH

THE DOCUMENTARY IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE / http://www.TheWaitingGameMovie.com ($10)