Rest In Peace to Lenny Wilkens, a true pioneer of the culture of basketball and influential figure in its rise. I was fortunate enough to meet him once.
Brooklyn Legends Such As Lenny Wilkens Inspired Jackie Robinson Center For Physical Culture
My mother, Dr. Madeleine T. Gamble started a youth program in Brooklyn called The Jackie Robinson Center For Physical Culture. It was an expansive program covering 5,000 kids across more than 20 elementary and middle schools. The program, which ran from 1988 to the late 2000s, offered athletic, artistic and academic programs to keep neighborhood kids off the street and focused on a bright future during a time when gang violence (particularly the arrival of Blood gangs in NYC) exploded in the area.
JRC’s main office was on Fulton Street and Tompkins Avenue right up the block from the old Boys High School (Now Boys & Girls HS) in Bedford Stuyvesant. That’s where you would find my mom and co-founder of the program Zeke Clement. Clement was an older man, who attended Boys High and was a basketball teammate of the most prolific coach in NBA history, Lenny Wilkens.
Brooklyn Hoops Legend Lenny Wilkens Passes At Age 88
Mr. “Zeke” Clement died over 20 years ago. Wilkens, a three-time inductee into the Naismith Hall of Fame, died at his home on Sunday at the age of 88.
As high school teammates, both Wilkens and Clement were part of a powerhouse Boys High program that also featured future MLB star Tommy Davis. They competed for city championships. Wilkins would go onto star at Providence and then the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, Seattle SuperSonics and Cleveland Cavaliers, where he became a legendary player.
He continued to use basketball to craft a wonderful life with his wife Marilyn Reed from 1962 until his death in 2025. They share three children, Leesha, Randy and Jamee, as well as seven grandchildren, six girls and one boy. He became a coach after his playing career and retired as the winningest coach in NBA history. He’s since been passed by Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson on that list
“Lenny Wilkens represented the very best of the NBA — as a Hall of Fame player, Hall of Fame coach, and one of the game’s most respected ambassadors,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “But even more impressive than Lenny’s basketball accomplishments, which included two Olympic gold medals and an NBA championship, was his commitment to service — especially in his beloved community of Seattle where a statue stands in his honor.
“He influenced the lives of countless young people as well as generations of players and coaches who considered Lenny not only a great teammate or coach but also an extraordinary mentor who led with integrity and true class.”
Met Lenny Wilkens at New York Knicks Game Back In 2003
Wilkens had an extensive NBA coaching career that ended with a two-year stint as Knicks coach back in his hometown of New York. Mr. Clement always used to tell me how he personally knew Wilkens. They grew up playing ball together in high school and around the old cement playgrounds of Brooklyn. One night, Mr. Clement invited me to a Knicks game. We took the train from BK to Madison Square Garden. The Knicks suffered a tough loss to Wilkens’ former Hawks team, and after it was over Mr. Clement took me back to the home team’s locker room. We waited for Wilkens to come out. When he did, he immediately acknowledged Mr. Clement, they embraced. Wilkens shook my hand and signed an item of Knicks paraphernalia that I had (Don’t remember what it was exactly). He patted Mr. Clement on the shoulder and said “Zeke, I’ll give you a call.”
It was a very cool moment and solidified every story that Mr. Clement told me about his days back in the 1950s playing high school ball at Boys High with Lenny Wilkens. The 5-foot-7 Clement forged a career in education post-high school, with a focus on developing youth. After becoming a two-time All-American at Providence, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Wilkens went on to lead the SuperSonics to the franchise’s only NBA title in 1979 as player-coach. Wilkens also was a coach for the 1992 “Dream Team” that featured the greatest NBA players in history and won gold at the Barcelona Olympics.
Lenny Wilkens Used Legendary Basketball Career To Impact the World: Hall of Fame Player, Coach, Community Contributor
Wilkens averaged 16.5 points and 6.7 assists per game while suiting up for St. Louis, Seattle, Cleveland and Portland. He twice led the league in assists and earned spots on both the NBA’s 50th and 75th anniversary teams. His best statistical season came in 1968-69 with Seattle, averaging 22.4 points and 8.2 assists.
In 2022, Wilkens was named to the list of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History, being the only person to be in both NBA 75th season celebration lists, as a player and as a coach. In 2006, he finally made the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
His No. 19 was retired by the Sonics and in 1994 he won NBA Coach of the Year honors after leading the Hawks to a 52-27 regular-season record. Wilkens also served as General Manager of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1985-86, where he’s credited with drafting All-star forward Xavier McDaniel and diversifying the coaching ranks by hiring Bernie Bickerstaff.
He was a legend in the flesh and a Black man from the inner-city who served as great inspiration for other urban kids who were fighting for civil rights and many other social issues in a changing world. Wilkens was an example of the possibilities for a young Black man who focused on education and used athletics, in this case basketball, to set the foundation for a beautiful life.
Jackie Robinson Center For Physical Culture Turned Society’s Demons Into Diamonds: From Marlo Stanfield To Olivia Pope
I coached and mentored in the Jackie Robinson for Physical Culture program in Brooklyn, as did many young people who were provided summer jobs as counselors and role models for the younger generation fighting various pressures and socio-economic conditions in the inner-city during the 90s. Jamie Hector AKA Marlo from “The Wire” was a JRC drama instructor before he ever got his big break on HBO’s legendary series. A-List actress Kerry Washington’s first small film, “Our Song” was filmed in Brooklyn and based on the legendary Jackie Robinson Steppers marching band, a full band made up of kids from the program with dancers and crazy talent. Instructors from the program were in the movie. Even co-founder, Dr. Gamble, had a cameo.
Jackie Robinson Steppers Brought HBCU Pride & Purpose To Brooklyn
The band would appear all over the country inspiring other marching bands. The original instructor was a guy named Johnny Walker, who led HBCU Grambling’s vaunted marching band when he was at the school in the 70s and 80s. He brought that flavor to Brooklyn and spread across the globe.
As much as he was a man who accomplished greatness in the game of basketball, Lenny Wilkens was an inspiration to future generations and should be celebrated on this day. Especially in BK.