Bob Love
Robert Earl Love was an American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. A versatile forward who could shoot with either his left or right hand, Love later worked as the Bulls' director of community affairs and goodwill ambassador. Love was nicknamed "Butterbean", which dates back to his boyhood when he was fond of the legume.
Early life, high school and college career
Love grew up in the cotton fields of Louisiana, the son of a sharecropper. His first basket was made out of a wire hanger and his first basketball was a pair of socks. He suffered from a severe stuttering disability and seldom spoke, fearing to be called on in school where other children would ridicule him. Love was raised by an abusive stepfather until he ran away to live with his grandmother when he was 8. He did not meet his biological father until he was 33.Love starred in both basketball and football at Morehouse High School in Bastrop, Louisiana, leading his team to state titles in both sports. He graduated in 1961. Love earned a football scholarship to Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he also became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega, but wound up playing basketball. Love averaged 12.8 points as a freshman, 22.6 as a sophomore, 25.6 as a junior, and 30.6 as a senior, which scoring average led the Southwestern Athletic Conference that year. He was a three-time NAIA All-American. He was also a three-time All-Southwestern Conference selection. Southern University retired his number 41 on January 7, 2012.
Love graduated with a bachelor of science degree in food and nutrition.
Professional career
In 1965, the Cincinnati Royals selected the forward in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA draft. Love failed to make the team, and instead spent the 1965–66 season in the Eastern Professional Basketball League. After averaging over 25 points per game, Love earned the EPBL Rookie of the Year Award and gained enough confidence to try out for the Royals once more. He made the team on his second attempt, and played two seasons for the Royals, largely in a reserve role. Love made his NBA debut on October 18, 1966.In 1968, the Milwaukee Bucks selected him in the NBA expansion draft and traded him to the Chicago Bulls in the middle of the 1968–69 season, at Love's request. Even though Love had averaged 20 points a game in the pre-season, the Bucks told him they would not keep him because of Love's communication problems.
Love flourished while playing for future Naismith Hall of Fame coach Dick Motta's Bulls. Love played for the Bulls for eight seasons, led the team in scoring seven of those seasons, was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Bulls, and a three-time NBA All-Defensive Team and two-time All-NBA Team selection. In 1969–70, he became a full-time starter, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds. The following two seasons he averaged 25.2 and 25.8 points per game, appeared in his first two All-Star Games, and earned All-NBA second-team honors both seasons. Love also appeared in the 1973 All-Star Game, which the Bulls hosted, and he would average at least 19 points and six rebounds every season until 1976–77. Love was named to the NBA's All-Defense second-team for the 1971–1972, 1973–1974 and 1974–1975 seasons.
His No. 10 jersey was the second jersey number to be retired by the Chicago Bulls. Jerry Sloan's No. 4 was the first. Love's 1995 wedding ceremony to Rachel Dixon took place at the United Center.
Love suffered a back injury in 1976 and was traded to the Seattle Supersonics, and was cut the following season.
Personal life, speech disability, and death
Love had a severe issue with stuttering, such that at one point after his all-star NBA career ended the only work he could find was as a dishwasher and busboy at a Nordstrom in Seattle. In the 1980s, with the support of store head John Nordstrom, Love began working with speech therapist Susan Hamilton who helped him overcome his stutter. Love overcame his speech disability and became a motivational speaker. In 1992, the Bulls hired Love as Director of Community Affairs, where he spoke to thousands of teenagers, making hundreds of speeches a year.Love died after a long battle with cancer in Chicago, on November 18, 2024, at the age of 81. The Bulls announced his death on their social media accounts later that day.