[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 1, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10290-S10291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             BAILEY HOWELL

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the State of Mississippi is very proud of 
the induction of Bailey Howell into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
  His college career at Mississippi State University still stands as 
the most impressive in the school's history.
  He was second only to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1959 NBA draft, and he 
became one of the best professional players ever.
  Today, he is living in Starkville, MS, where he spends much of his 
time engaged in church-related activities. He is a wonderful role model 
for today's star athletes.
  I ask unanimous consent that two articles from the Clarion-Ledger 
describing his great career be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Clarion-Ledger, Sept. 29, 1997]

                      Howell to Enter Hall of Fame

                           (By Mike Knobler)

       Mary Lou Howell will never forget what she said to the 6-
     foot-7 stranger in 1958 at a Baton Rouge church.
       ``I asked the dumbest question of all, `Do you play 
     basketball?' '' Howell recalls. ``I know he thought, `Oh, 
     this girl is really dumb.' ''
       ``When I told my father, he said `He won't be interested in 
     you. He's really big-time.' ''
       Dad, it turns out, was only half right about Bailey Howell, 
     who has been married to Mary Lou for 38 years and tonight 
     becomes the first Mississippi man inducted into the 
     Basketball Hall of Fame.
       Bailry Howell's brilliant career, at Mississippi State 
     University and with four NBA teams, included enough honors 
     and statistical superlatives to fill most of this newspaper.
       Thirty-eight years after his final MSU season, Howell still 
     holds numerous school records, including highest career 
     scoring average, most points in a game and most rebounds in a 
     game, season or career.
       No wonder he was the second player picked in the 1959 NBA 
     draft, behind only Wilt Chamberlain.
       But talk to Howell and the people who know him and you hear 
     less about the numbers and more about the man behind them, a 
     man dedicated to his family, to his God and to never-ending 
     competition.
       Former Boston Celtics teammate Satch Sanders tells of 
     Howell's approach to pregame layup drills. Most players 
     jogged through them casually; Howell sprinted fullspeed.
       ``You had to get out of the way,'' Sanders says. ``We'd 
     say, `Bailey, save something for the game.' His philosophy 
     was: If you ever take it easy going to the basket, there's a 
     strong possibility you'd do that in a game.''
       Son-in-law Scott Stricklin tells of a two-on-two game he 
     played during his first vacation with the Howell family. It 
     was Stricklin and Howell against the two other sons-in-law.
       ``The other guys wound up with bruises and knots on their 
     heads,'' Stricklin says. ``He was almost 60 and playing with 
     guys in their 20s, but he was so competitive it was like an 
     NBA championship game.''
       Howell competes even when he's mowing his lawn. He times 
     himself, always pushing to work faster and more efficiently. 
     ``I'm one-third through,'' he'll shout.
       That kind of relentless intensity helped make him a 
     dominating center in college and a six-time all-star forward 
     in the NBA.
       Howell won NBA championships with the Celtics in 1968 and 
     1969 after winning State's first Southeastern Conference 
     championship in 1958. One of Howell's few regrets is that 
     that 24-1 team in 1958 wasn't allowed to try for an NCAA 
     championship. The Bulldogs were chosen for the NCAA 
     Tournament, but Mississippi government leaders barred State 
     from participating because it would have played against 
     racially integrated teams.
       Decades later, coach Richard Williams paid his respect to 
     Howell by including him in the official traveling party for 
     State's 1995 trip to the NCAA regionals and its 1996 trip to 
     the Final Four.


                           very special honor

       Delta State University coach Margaret Wade and player Lusia 
     Harris are the only Mississippians in the Basketball Hall of 
     Fame. Howell joins them tonight. He'll be escorted by friend, 
     teammate and Hall of Famer John Havlicek.
       ``It's just a very special honor and a thrill,'' Howell 
     says. ``To be recognized alongside those individuals that are 
     in there, it's just really, I really struggle with words to 
     express just how special it is.''
       Bailey and Mary Lou Howell will be accompanied at tonight's 
     induction ceremony in Springfield, Mass., by their three 
     daughters. One of those daughters, Beth Hansen of Jackson, 
     named one of her sons after her dad. Bailey Hansen will be 
     there tonight, too.
       Children and family have always been important to Bailey 
     Howell. One time, it carried over onto the basketball court.
       As most parents do, Bailey and Mary Lou used to spell out 
     things around the house that they didn't want their young 
     daughters to understand. One night as an opponent lined up 
     for a free throw, Bailey turned to a teammate and said, ``If 
     you get this rebound, hit me. I'll be going b-a-c-k-d-double 
     o-r.''
       During the season, the Howells used to live wherever Bailey 
     played--first Detroit, then Baltimore, then Boston and 
     finally Philadelphia. In the offseason, though, they always 
     returned to Starkville, where Bailey and Mary Lou still live.
       When Bailey Howell retired in 1971, he thought about going 
     into coaching.
       ``At 35, at the age where moving my children was really 
     bothering them, I decided that wasn't something I could do,'' 
     he says.
       But he stayed involved in basketball by working for 
     shoemaker Converse for almost 23 years. And for six of the 
     last seven years, he has served as a role model at the NBA's 
     mandatory rookie orientation camp run by his former teammate 
     Sanders, an NBA vice president.
       ``He'd talk about staying grounded, thinking in terms of 
     family, religion,'' Sanders says. ``Just homespun good sense. 
     Bailey has always been a highly respected player, but more 
     than that he has always been very grounded. The Hall of Fame 
     as far as I'm concerned will be a better place with Bailey in 
     it.''

[[Page S10291]]

                           working for church

       Nowadays, Bailey Howell, 60, puts his dedication to work 
     for the Church of Christ in Starkville. Bailey and Mary Lou 
     spent a month this summer with a church group teaching 
     conversational English in Sopot, Poland, near Gdansk.
       ``His mind is very God-centered,'' Mary Lou Howell says. 
     ``We go to church and to Mississippi State sporting events.''
       The Bulldogs have had many talented players since Howell, 
     but those who remember Howell's playing days say his ability, 
     charisma and class set him apart.
       Lee Baker, then sports editor of the defunct Jackson Daily 
     News, won't forget the night he covered the final game of 
     Howell's junior season at Mississippi State. When Baker 
     arrived home, his wife was in the hospital delivering their 
     son.
       He went to the hospital, then headed to the newspaper to 
     write.
       ``We were going to name him John Berrian, after my 
     grandfather,'' Baker says. ``At the end of my column, I 
     announced the arrival of John Bailey Baker. My wife didn't 
     know her son's name until she read it in the paper.''


                        baily howell highlights

       Born Jan. 20, 1937, at Middleton, Tenn.
       Elected Mr. Mississippi State by the student body.
       Member, Phi Kappa Phi scholastic honorary society.
       No. 2 scorer in MSU history with 2,030 points.
       Led NCAA in shooting percentage (56.8) in 1957.
       Made 10 NBA playoff appearances in 12 seasons.
       Averaged 18.7 points and 9.9 rebounds for NBA career.
       Upon retirement, ranked among NBA's top 10 in nine 
     categories, including points, rebounds and games played.


                       baily howell's msu records

       Scoring average, career: 27.1 points per game.
       Point, game: 47 vs. Union, Dec. 4. 1958.
       Free throws made, career: 682.
       Free throw attempts, career: 892.
       Free throws made, season:
       243 in 1957-58.
       Free-throw attempts, season: 315 in 1957-58.
       Rebounds, career: 1,277.
       Rebound average, career: 17.0 per game.
       Rebounds, season: 492 in 1958.
       Rebound average, season: 19.7 per game in 1956-57.
       Rebounds, game: 34 vs. LSU, Feb. 1, 1957.
                                                                    ____


               [From the Clarion-Ledger, Sept. 30, 1997]

              With Howell in Shrine, Celtics Keep Winning

                             (By Jeff Donn)

       Springfield, Mass.--Baily Howell still shudders at the 
     memory of his first season with the Boston Celtics.
       Bob Cousy was retired. Bill Russell was no longer the 
     future of basketball. And the Celtics' march of eight 
     straight NBA championships ended in 1967 when Philadelphia 
     finally broke through.
       ``My first year there we lost, so here comes the kiss of 
     death!'' said Howell, a star at Mississippi State. ``Before I 
     even got to the Celtics, the team was getting old together.''
       Winning, though, had not gotten old to them. With Howell, 
     player-coach Russell, John Havlicek and Sam Jones, they went 
     on to claim the last two of 10 titles within 11 seasons--
     something no other team has approached. And they have been 
     reaping honors since, their latest on Monday with the entry 
     of Howell into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
       Others inducted Monday night were three coaches--Pete 
     Carril of Princeton, Don Haskins of Texas-El Paso and Antonio 
     Diaz-Miguel of Spain--as well as 1980s NBA scoring leader 
     Alex English and women's stars Denise Curry and Joan 
     Crawford.
       Howell, a 6-foot-7, 220-pounder and the forerunner of 
     today's power forward, is the 185th Celtics player and 23rd 
     team entry, including coach Red Auerbach, in the Hall of 
     Fame. No other team approaches those numbers.
       Howell averaged 18.7 points and 10 rebounds game.
       ``Today, everything is such big business,'' said Howell, 
     60, who now manages commercial real estate. ``The game is a 
     game people love to watch and love to play at all levels. 
     It's not just how much money somebody makes and how much 
     profit.''
       Carril's Princeton teams made their name by upending more 
     athletic opponents. On the sidelines was Carril, a rumpled 
     elf with mussed hair who gesticulated like a New York City 
     cabby.
       Yet Carril, 67, now an assistant coach for the NBA's 
     Sacramento Kings, is the only Division I college coach to win 
     more than 500 games without the help of sports scholarships.
       Did Princeton's half-court game and low scores ever get 
     tedious?
       ``The only time I ever heard the word `boring' was from the 
     other side,'' Carril said.
       Haskins also made a reputation by outplaying better known 
     opponents. His team--then called Texas Western--fielded five 
     black starters to defeat Adolph Rupp's all-white Kentucky 
     stars in the 1966 NCAA championship.
       With his unorthodox high-release jumper, English was the 
     consummate scorer, hitting for 19,682 points in the 1980s, 
     but unable to make it to the NBA Finals.
       ``He scored so easy and so often that it looked like he was 
     bored out there,'' Howell said.

                          ____________________