The two-time NBA champion was blackball after the letter to President Bush from 1991

Former NBA-Wachmann Craig Hodges, who was considered one of the leading three-point shooters of the league ahead of Steph Curry, painfully understands that his career is more defined by a letter that he wrote than his ability to resign.

As a star reserve with the Chicago Bulls, Hodges joined his teammates in 1991 to visit the White House to celebrate the Bulls' first NBA championship with President George HW Bush. Hodges, a pronounced lawyer for social justice and civil rights during his 10-year NBA career, regarded the trip as an opportunity.

Towards the end of the celebration, Hodges, dressed in a white dashiki and Muslim Kufi hat, gave an envelope to the press spokesman for Bush's spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. The envelope contained an eight -sided letter to Bush, a letter that Hodges had written to ask the president of making themselves more active in order to solve problems with which “arms and minority communities” were confronted across the country.

“I played in a few minutes next season and most recently scored from the eighth man in the team,” Hodges told the former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson in a recent appearance in their All The Smoke Podcast.

An excerpt from Hodges' letter to President Bush, who was published in a story on the Basketball Network website in 2023:

“Mr. President,

“I took responsibility to speak in the name of those who are unable to hear from their location. We have a sector of our population that is described

As a “endangered species”, ie the young black man. “

“The question must be asked:” Why is the condition of the inner cities across the country in an emergency due to willful violence, lack of jobs or drugs. ”

“It is very important that the citizens of this great nation are determined on which side of the story we will be in this most critical hour.”

The failure from Hodges' letter to President Bush incriminated the concerns of the NBA, which had had on Hodges and his willingness to speak out against injustices. Before game 1 of Bullslos Angeles Lakers NBA Finals in 1991, Hodges tried to organize players from both teams to boycott the game as a reaction to the notorious Rodney King, who had beaten four police officers in Los Angeles three months earlier.

Less than a month after the Bulls defeated Portland to win their second NBA title in 1992, the bulls waived Hodges. He never performed in another NBA game – despite his call as one of the best outdoor shooters in the game.

Hodges, a career 40 percent three-point shooter, won three consecutive three-point shooting competitions on the All-Star weekend. He headed the NBA in 1985-86 and 1987-88 in a three-point percentage.

“If I write a letter to the president at the age of 32, I cannot get any agents to represent myself in a union to represent us,” said Hodges, now 64, in terms of the way his career decreased. “I can't get a job. What did I do? I never missed a bus. I was never a fine during my career. I was a player representative for every team I played with. Where is the badness in this story that I have the boldness to write a letter to the president.”

When the bulls shared hodges, he believed that he was still helping a team to test outwards. When Hodges looked back on his career, he remembered, like a shot he tried during the visit of the Bull's White House, he could have contributed to his exit from the league.

President Bush invited Hodges to make a shot while the team and the dignitaries were on a miniature basketball court in the backyard of the White House. Hodges was the only bull player who was not dressed in a suit. The photo -Op has not generated the type of Hype Hodges that it would have liked.

“This shot cost me at least $ 50 million,” said Hodges.

Ray Richardson contributes to Day in Day Hoops. It can be reached at rayrich55@gmail.com

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