low net, 91 net, D-Jo 109; 74. 67, 70, Johan-nesen, Hoi-lywood half-hour 6 IV i 'kit, JJtJ fit 1 1 1 fMt 'i AP wlrephoto Former Knicks star Sweetwater Clifton, left, with Black Athletes Hall of Fame director Charles Mays and former heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson star or cab driver. Sweetwater is not bitter NBA By HAL BOCK Associated Press NEW YORK There is no bitterness in Sweetwater Clifton, who went from National Basketball Association star to a Chicago taxi driver. He smiles benignly about life's see-saw and wonders about it sometimes. "You know, I played professional basketball for 15 years and I don't think I made a total of $100,000," he said. "My top salary was $12,000 in my last years in the NBA. But that wasn't bad because the minimum was $7,500." On June 28, Clifton will be admitted to the Black Athletes Hall Of Fame along with ex-baseball star Frank Robinson, former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and former Olympic hurdler Josh Culbreath. It's not bad company for a cabbie. "I was surprised at my selection," he said. "I felt kind of forgotten. People forget you after awhile." But Clifton has not forgotten basketball. "I see a lot of the games in Chicago Stadium," he said. "I've never been in the new Madison Square though." Sweetwater did, however, spend his share of time in the old Garden. Clifton came to the Knicks in 1950, as one of the first blacks to play in the NBA. He was purchased from the Harlem Globetrotters. "Abe Saperstein got $10,000 for me, I think," he said. "I got $2,500. But for me, that was a lot of money. And I didn't worry about that. I just liked to play the game. We played for the sport of it." In seven years with the Knicks, Clifton helped his team reach the NBA finals three times. He became a favorite with the fans, partly because of his unique nickname. "I got the name when I was a kid, because all I ever wanted to drink was soda pop. You know, sweet water," he said. He was 13 years old when people stopped using his given name, Nathaniel. "That was about a hundred years ago," he laughed. Clifton left New York in 1957 when he was traded to Detroit. He played one season for the Pistons and then retired. "I work for the Yellow Cab Company now," Clifton said. "I get a lot of basketball people as fares. Pick 'em up all the time, I drive them to and from the stadium and we talk about the game and how it has changed." And it has changed plenty, most visibly in the area of salaries. "I don't get anything from basketball," said Clifton. That's because the lucrative NBA pension plan starts with post-1964 players and excludes the game's pioneers. "We were in on the ground floor and we helped build it," said Clifton. "But we don't get anything." He shrugged, looking resigned to the fact of life which grew out of negotiations between the players association and the league. "We used to play in those All-Star games and we all thought we were playing for pensions," he said. "That's what we thought it was for. But it wasn't." Unlike other sports, pro basketball All-Star game money always has gone to the member clubs and players performing in the games, never to pensions. And what about the oldtimers who played in the games before pro basketball went bigtime? "That," smiled Sweetwater, "is what I'd like to know." 1978 SAN BERNARDINO JUNIOR CITY CHAMPIONSHIP AGE LIMIT 18 YRS. SAN BERNARDINO G0LFC0URSE I ENTRY I FRIDAY FEE I JULY 7th i EKT i WtVW Ma nit INCLUDES: GROSS NET PRIZES MERCHANDISE PRIZES GREEN FEES TROPHIES 3 FLIGHTS Name- Home Address zip Telephone Age Home Club HDCP ENTER NOW Remit to: SAN BERNARDINO GOLF COURSE 1494 South Waterman Avenue San Bernardino, California 92408
