Raised in a poor family among several siblings, but his grandmother always took him to church and that built a good foundation in his life for what he faced later in his life. Bob Love played for the Chicago Bulls and was even a bigger player then Michael Jordan. But, he had a speech problem, he stuttered a lot! That changed the course of his life for the worse, but GOD changed all that as he prayed. In all this, he never claimed he was a VICTIM!!! A Powerful testimony every young person needs to hear.
2 Former Chicago Bulls players, Bob Love, now director of Community Relations w/the Chicago Bulls, and Dickey Simpkins, He is the founder of the basketball development company Next Level Performance Inc. (NLP), and is a national motivational speaker. He is currently a color commentator at Fox Sports 1 (FS1) for the Big East games.
Early years
After starring at Morehouse High School in Louisiana, Love played basketball for Southern University, where he also became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega. He earned All-America honors in 1963, and in 1965, the Cincinnati Royals selected the 6’8″ forward in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA draft. Love failed to make the team, and instead spent the 1965–66 NBA season in the Eastern Basketball League. After averaging over 25 points per game, Love earned the EBL 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.[2] 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.
Chicago Bulls (1968–1976)
Love flourished while playing for Dick Motta’s Bulls. 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 NBA All-Star Games, and earned All-NBA Second Team honors both seasons. Love also appeared in the 1973 All-Star Game, 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 in 1974 and 1975. His #10 jersey was the second jersey number to be retired by the Chicago Bulls. Jerry Sloan’s #4 was the first. Love’s 1995 wedding ceremony to Rachel Dixon took place at the United Center.
Post-basketball career
Love ended his NBA career with the Bulls after spending parts of the 1976–77 season in New York and Seattle. He would finish with career totals of 13,895 points, 1,123 assists, and 4,653 rebounds. Love suffered from a severe stuttering problem from childhood,[3] which prevented him from finding meaningful employment after his playing days were over. At one point, Love was a busboy making $4.45 an hour.[3] Eventually, the owner of the restaurant where Love washed dishes offered to pay for speech therapy classes, and in 1993 he returned to the Chicago Bulls as their director of community relations.[3] One of his duties in this position involves regularly speaking to school children.[3] Love has also become a motivational speaker.
Dickey Simpkins:
LuBara Dixon “Dickey” Simpkins (born April 6, 1972[1]) is an American former professional basketball player best known for his tenure with the Chicago Bulls in the late 1990s. He is currently a scout for the Charlotte Hornets.[2]
A 6′ 9″ forward/center, Simpkins starred at Friendly High School (Maryland) and Providence College before being selected by the Bulls with the 21st pick in the 1994 NBA Draft. Behind Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, and later Dennis Rodman in the Bulls’ playing rotation, he saw limited action in his first few seasons as a Bull, scoring 513 points in 167 games. He earned two NBA Championship rings in 1996 and 1997, but was not on the team’s active roster for either playoff run, and in fall 1997 the Bulls traded him to the Golden State Warriors for guard/forward Scott Burrell.
The Warriors subsequently waived Simpkins, and the Bulls claimed him. Simpkins posted a .634 field goal percentage in 21 games, and in the spring of 1998 he participated in the playoffs for the first time of his career, earning his third championship ring. After the 1998–99 NBA lockout, the Bulls parted ways with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Rodman and Luc Longley, which provided Simpkins with significantly more playing time. During the 1999 season he emerged as a part-time starter, averaging career highs of 9.1 points and 6.8 rebounds, and in the following season, he played a career-high 1,651 minutes.
After the Bulls signed Brad Miller in September 2000, the Bulls renounced their rights to Simpkins, who would spend a season in Greece before joining the Atlanta Hawks during the 2001–02 NBA season.