First Maloy interview

On the phone from Vienna, on April 21, 1999, for the old book:

“I wanted to get out of New York. New York sucked back then. Drugs killed a lot of my friends. College and basketball were my way to get out of New York.”

“Lots of green. North Carolina weather.”

“Lefty had gotten a few people to take me out. I had a great time at this after-hours joint. So I was sick as a dog. I was barfing when the security guard came. Everyone else took off.”

“I had to write a latter to the school to apologize -- the usual bullshit. But I was not the first or the last to do that at Davidson. It was just some young guys hanging out. It was actually good. It forced me to really choose to go there because I had to write that letter.”

“It was a stupid thing to do. But when you’ve got to barf you’ve got to barf. I had a good time.”

“I read all the time. Still do.”

“My French was pretty good at that time. I want to learn Italian now. That’s next on my list. I know German and English now and some French still.”

On Charlie Scott: “I thought Charlie was going to be there. I assumed we were both going to be there. We hooked up down there for our visit.” When did he find out Charlie wasn’t coming? “When I got there. But it didn’t influence my decision. The first day I got there, I said, ‘This is where I’d like to go.’”

“Charlie Scott was one of the best players who ever played. Carolina was very good. They were very deep and we weren’t that deep. Lefty played seven guys. Every coach has his own philosophy. Carolina could get every player they wanted.”

On Dave Moser: “Dave was a great guard. He never made any mistakes at all. People underestimated him.”

On Wayne Huckel: “Wayne was the toughest. Lefty made him use hip pads. He was just one big bruise. When you played with Wayne you really felt bad if you didn’t dive for a ball on the floor. Because Wayne would bite somebody’s leg off for it.”

“Lefty wasn’t comfortable playing with everybody. You’ve got to stay with it. If we make a couple more shots against Carolina, Lefty’s coach of the year. Shit, man, we were a great team, and we lost to a great team.”

“Lefty’s a great guy. He was the hardest worker. He could move his ears. He doesn’t lie to you. I liked him.”

On the SigmaChi situation: “We did that just to make a thing.”

“I spent a lot of time across the tracks. That was necessary. You’ve got to have some kind of balance. That’s where I could just relax, not have to look over my shoulder. That was necessary at Davidson, a very, very, very white Southern atmosphere.”

“I had some very good friends there. But not everyone was my friend there. Where are the black folks? Across the tracks. Literally. I had to go over and get some soul food.”

The people at Davidson? “A little bit of everything. They were generally tolerant and friendly. I thought they did pretty well, actually, for the ‘60s. My roommate accepted me right away. There were some great people there. Some embraced the idea.”

“But in 1999 even you still have people there that are going to be racist. In 2099 too. Racism is a fact. You accept it. There was no overt racism. People who didn’t like me stayed away from me.”

Any incidents? “Every day, man.”

“When you’re in junior high and high school in New York, you read about things, but you’re not confronting them. One of the deep reasons I wanted to go to Davidson was because there weren’t many blacks. You have to seek confrontation in situations like that.”

“The thing that was really disappointing to me was you realize it’s not just the rednecks that are racist. Looking around, some of the most racist people in the world are in the North. I still think Boston is one of the most racist cities in America.”

“People you consider to be intelligent have that blind spot. And that’s disappointing because we’re talking about America, the richest country in the world, and they’re not doing anything about it. That’s one of the reasons I’m over here.”