Inside the Remarkable Legacy and Untold Stories of NBA Legend Lenny Wilkens, Who Passed Away at 88
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Wilkens spent the 1961-62 season as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army stationed at Virginia’s Fort Lee. He participated in USO tours in Vietnam and played weekends for the Hawks. He was among the players who threatened to boycott the NBA’s first televised All-Star Game in 1964 and established the National Basketball Players Association as the first union recognized by a major American sports league.
A 6-foot-1, 180-pound soft-spoken leader dubbed “Sweety Cakes” by Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor, Wilkens called Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama acquaintances during a lifetime spent promoting racial justice everywhere from the suburbs of St. Louis to both coasts.



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