Moses Malone's Jump to Pro Basketball: A Game-Changing Move

On August twenty ninth, nineteen seventy four, an eighteen year old Moses Malone signs his very first professional contract with the Utah Stars, becoming the first person to ever go from high school to professional basketball, starting a unique beginning to a tumultuous career that ended up in the Hall of Fame and went on to change basketball and went on to become the last ABA player to play in the NBA. Today, we're going to dive into how all this happened in his unique story today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Methan Rees, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. And today's trivia question is what two teams retired Moses Malone's jersey number. So to tell this story, first, we. Need to know about the ABA and NBA Basketball League to really take off and have consistent staying power. There have been other leagues that started and folded, but this one was had staying power and players were starting to make good money and starting to become stars. And actually, in nineteen sixty two, the Detroit Pistons drafted Retting Harding straight out of high school. He did not enroll into college. So he was the first high school player drafted by the NBA. But the NBA had a rule that a player could not join the NBA till after four years of their high school class. So if they graduated a year early. In high school, they could come out, you know, a year early for college. But it was all about that four years. Then the ABA started, and one of the ways the ABA really looked to get talent was to take away this and they didn't have any aide restrictions on who could join their league. And they were going pretty good. They had some tumultuous times, teams folded, teams popped up, but they were still going and they had some solid talent. They had an icon and doctor j And there were many of these athletes that left college early. They didn't wait the four years. They left college early and joined the ABA, But there wasn't one that went straight from high school as just naturally. When you think about an eighteen year old kid facing off against grown men in a sport, you're like. That's hard to do. It is It is because. Even though you're a quote adult at eighteen, your body is not the same as a twenty five thirty year old your mentality is not the same, so it is difficult. But Moses was a little different, partly because of how he grew up. He grew up mainly with a single mother, Mary Malone, and he was her only child up until and his followers around till he was about two, and his mom kicked him out for drinking and didn't want him involved in their lives. Now, this made it hard, as Mary only had a fifth grade education and they lived in poverty. The best description of how they lived is it was a shack holes in the wall, you know, barely put together. And she may do with what she could, but she worked hard as much as she could so that Moses wouldn't have to work. She wanted to give him a better life than she had, and Moses found an outlet in sports. Now, he played football and baseball, but by the time he in her high school, he was about six seven and basketball seemed to be the way for him to go. And he's often just dropped off at the local basketball courts and just left there, and he's working on becoming a better basketball player, and he'll practice up until midnight, two am. He's there all the time. He gets to a point where he feels like he can't even get better with the people he's playing against, so he goes to a nearby prison to face off against men in prison, and this is where he really grows as a basketball player and learns to rebound. He is known as the hardest working player now. The reason for that is because of his rebounding. And by the time he's at a junior in high school, he leads his team to a perfect record, winning the state title in Virginia, and then next year is when everyone starts to flock to their little town of Petersburg, Virginia. Now, Moses was a quiet guy. A lot of the reasons is he did have a stammer and he struggled to read and write, and this was something that made him very shy, and he didn't talk very much, and so of course Mane equated this to him being maybe dumb or something, and he wasn't a dumb person. He was just shy. And because of those reasons, he didn't talk very much. But after his junior year, his grades started to improve. Now there's some speculation that they improved because he was becoming more popular. There is more people coming to visit scout him. It said that over two hundred schools came to scout him for possibility of him coming to their school, and he at best was a C average student, but it's likely he was even worse because it said he may not even been able to read at a high school level at the time, but that's just because of his education. The principal for his high school in Petersburg said it was likely that up until high school he had not even spoken to a white person. Until then, he was so ingrained in the African American community and so impoverished at the time. There was still a lot of racial tension in the sixties and seventies that you know, that still was a divide, and especially in Virginia being in a southern state. So he was very quiet and everyone flocked to him. They wanted to talk to him, and you know, his grades magically improved to be in an A student. Okay, that's fine. You know, he wasn't given the opportunity of schooling in his early life that many others had, so it's okay that he may have been given this opportunity. But that said, he would have struggled in college, but that was the route you normally took, you went. You had four years and then you go into the NBA. After winning another state title for his high school, winning fifty straight games from his junior to senior year, and by the time of his senior year he was six' ten two hundred and fifteen, pounds which he was pretty. Thin he would dominate and he averaged thirty six. Points but what really stood out from his scoring the fact that he averaged twenty six rebounds and twelve blocks a, game something no one ever, does and he dominated the. Composition most people rank him as the best high school player that has ever, played and for anyone to go to the pros out of high, school it was. Him as coaches would regularly buy things to improve their, house buy, groceries buy. Everything they were there his whole senior year there was constantly someone around his house almost twenty four to seven that he would escape and just lay on the roof so he could get some peace in. Privacy he wanted by, everybody and The Utah stars are the ones that got. Him but in efforts to get a better, contract he actually did sign a letter of intent To, maryland although he was using this as a ploy to get more. Money out of The. Utah stars that actually drafted him in the third round of THE Aba. Draft, now many thought this was The Utah stars just robbing the cradle trying to get a better, team but they really saw him as a player that could make the. Jump and so after only five days At, maryland where he didn't ever go to, class he just went to his dorm, room into the cafeteria and. Back that's all he. Did he signed with The Utah stars a five year contract worth one million. Dollars that number was so large to him he couldn't even imagine turning it. Down he had to take this. Route his mother was working to the, bone barely able to afford a shack for them to live. In with this, money he was able to retire his mom and buyer a house and start on a career that was tumultuous but. Amazing he began his career with THE, aba making THE Aba All Rookie, team being An All, star and just dominating from the. Jump he averaged eighteen points and fourteen rebounds his very first year and it was the start of a great. Career, now maybe at some other point we'll go through his amazing, career but we wanted to focus on his transition into THE, aba as he would become AN Nba, champion a three TIME Nba Most Valuable, player a twelve TIME Nba All, star make The ALL Nba team eight, times as well as the lead the league in rebounding for six, years was voted on the top FIFTY nba players of all, time and had his number two retired by The philadelphia seventy six ers and his number twenty four retired by The Houston. Rockets and he played for twenty seasons in THE, nba and he changed the way that everything was done as this led the way For darren And bill to be the FIRST nba players drafted in nineteen when they applied for a hardship, eligibility and then it was a while before Then Sean kemp was drafted into THE nba out of high school who had a strong career as. Well then later On Kevin garnett was the next one to break the mold and be and we also had other grades Like Kobe, Bryant tracy, McGrady jermaine, O'Neil Dwight, howard and of course the one everyone looks, To Lebron. James but in two thousand and, six they changed the rules that you needed a year out of high school to change make THE. Nba and this has changed how the college has, run how high schoolers go to pro leagues in other countries or join the G. League and it's been a lot of different changes because of this, ruling because a lot of players have shown that they are able to play right out of high school or. Be at least close to. It. Now mind, you none of these other players Were All stars their first, year Like Moses. Malone Moses malone was the one that that could actually play against grown ups out of high. School but these other players had to grow slowly and became great players along the. Way but for every one of these great players that made The hall Of fame were All, stars you also had players Like Kwame brown that just couldn't hack it in THE. Nba and if you like, this PLEASE i want you to follow us on our, socials were On, Twitter, instagram, TikTok, threads wherever you'd like to, Socialize we're. There follow, us you can get pictures and come back tomorrow for more daily sports. History and did you catch the answer to today's trivia? Question what two teams Retired Moses malone's, number and that was number two with the seventy six ers and number twenty four with The Houston. Rockets