Baltimore Bullets

As an entertainment entrepreneur, Earl Monroe is engaged in putting together a reality television show with a woking title of "What If?" As a Hall of Famer who wears a ring he received for being one of the NBA's top-50 all-time players, Monroe asks the same question of himself. What if he had not been traded from the Baltimore Bullets to the New York Knicks early in the 1971-72 season? "I would have been revered as a different type of player, who would have accomplished all the things that I started out to accomplish," Monroe, 67, said this month, sitting at a table at Samos Restaurant in Greektown.

As an entertainment entrepreneur, Earl Monroe is engaged in putting together a reality television show with a woking title of "What If?" As a Hall of Famer who wears a ring he received for being one of the NBA's top-50 all-time players, Monroe asks the same question of himself. What if he had not been traded from the Baltimore Bullets to the New York Knicks early in the 1971-72 season? "I would have been revered as a different type of player, who would have accomplished all the things that I started out to accomplish," Monroe, 67, said this month, sitting at a table at Samos Restaurant in Greektown.

SURE, THEY'VE been gone for more than three decades, but we still have a soft spot for the NBA franchise formerly known as the Baltimore Bullets. The now-Washington Wizards ended their season this past weekend, losing to the Miami Heat to conclude an 0-4 sweep. But it was an honorable effort and the pain shouldn't last. The Wizards had a turnaround year, their best in a quarter-century. The Bullets weren't much of a success when they came here from Chicago in 1963 either. But in a decade in Baltimore, a playoff-caliber team emerged with stars such as Wes Unseld, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Kevin Loughery, Gus Johnson and Jack Marin.

Police are trying to identify a man found shot on a Baltimore street shortly after midnight. He died later. An officer was summoned to the 1600 block of N. Broadway at about 12:22 a.m. Wednesday in response to a report of a shooting. He found the victim in the street in the Oliver neighborhood, with what appeared to be a bullet wound in the back, a spokeswoman for the police department said. Paramedics took the man to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:47 a.m. The Police Department has a tentative identification of the victim, the spokeswoman said, and is awaiting confirmation.

They were part of a pioneering venture, the last team invited to join the mere outline of what became the major league of professional basketball. Then the totally unexpected happened: The Baltimore Bullets of 1948 became the world champions. A shock. A momentous long shot. It was that kind of a year for Harry Truman, too.Now, during this 50th anniversary season, there's no such team called the Baltimore Bullets. Only memories. The franchise went off to a Maryland suburban community, Landover, in 1973 to become the Capital (later Washington)

Abe Pollin, a pioneer in area sports and the first man to move a major league sports franchise out of Baltimore in the modern era, died Tuesday. He was 85. His death was announced by his company, Washington Sports & Entertainment. No details were disclosed, but Pollin suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder that impairs movement and balance. He had heart bypass surgery in 2005 and broke his pelvis two years later. "With Abe Pollin's passing, the NBA family has lost its most revered member, whose stewardship of the Wizards franchise, together with his wife, Irene, has been a study in unparalleled dedication to the city of Washington," NBA commissioner David Stern said.

Abe Pollin, a pioneer in area sports and the first man to move a major league sports franchise out of Baltimore in the modern era, died Tuesday. He was 85. His death was announced by his company, Washington Sports & Entertainment. No details were disclosed, but Pollin suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder that impairs movement and balance. He had heart bypass surgery in 2005 and broke his pelvis two years later. "With Abe Pollin's passing, the NBA family has lost its most revered member, whose stewardship of the Wizards franchise, together with his wife, Irene, has been a study in unparalleled dedication to the city of Washington," NBA commissioner David Stern said.

CLEVELAND -- As he looked around at the most talented group of basketball players ever assembled in one place, former New York Knicks guard Walt "Clyde" Frazier began having flashbacks."

Imagine 15 of the best 12-year-old boys basketball players in the state riding to Florida in a van, cramming into three hotel rooms with their coaches, scrimping on food and then trying to win the national Amateur Athletic Union basketball championship.That's what it was like in 1989 for Ben DuBose's Baltimore Bullets, the Maryland state championship 12-and-under AAU team."It was really tight," said DuBose, who this year coaches the 14- and 16-and-under boys state champion Baltimore Bullets.

He grew up in Govans, a poor kid on welfare who never owned a basketball. But that didn't stop Gene Shue from making his name in the game. He starred at Towson Catholic and then at Maryland, where Shue broke all of the Terps' scoring records and made All-American. A first-round NBA draft pick in 1954, he played a decade in the pros, earning a reputation as a defensive guard and making the All-Star team five times. Then Shue moved to coaching, where, over 22 years, he developed a knack for turning train-wreck pro teams into winners.

Nearly half a century after he first wowed Baltimore Bullets fans with his windmill dunk, Gus Johnson was named Monday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Johnson's teammates said his selection was long overdue. "We were wondering, what took so long?" said Wes Unseld, a Hall of Fame center who played four years with Johnson, the Bullets' kangaroo forward who died of brain cancer in 1987. In nine seasons with Baltimore (1963-1972), the 6-foot-6 Johnson averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds, made the All-Star team five times and helped the Bullets to three division titles and five playoff appearances.

He grew up in Govans, a poor kid on welfare who never owned a basketball. But that didn't stop Gene Shue from making his name in the game. He starred at Towson Catholic and then at Maryland, where Shue broke all of the Terps' scoring records and made All-American. A first-round NBA draft pick in 1954, he played a decade in the pros, earning a reputation as a defensive guard and making the All-Star team five times. Then Shue moved to coaching, where, over 22 years, he developed a knack for turning train-wreck pro teams into winners.

Abe Pollin, a pioneer in area sports and the first man to move a major league sports franchise out of Baltimore in the modern era, died Tuesday. He was 85. His death was announced by his company, Washington Sports & Entertainment. No details were disclosed, but Pollin suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder that impairs movement and balance. He had heart bypass surgery in 2005 and broke his pelvis two years later. "With Abe Pollin's passing, the NBA family has lost its most revered member, whose stewardship of the Wizards franchise, together with his wife, Irene, has been a study in unparalleled dedication to the city of Washington," NBA commissioner David Stern said.

Abe Pollin, a pioneer in area sports and the first man to move a major league sports franchise out of Baltimore in the modern era, died Tuesday. He was 85. His death was announced by his company, Washington Sports & Entertainment. No details were disclosed, but Pollin suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder that impairs movement and balance. He had heart bypass surgery in 2005 and broke his pelvis two years later. "With Abe Pollin's passing, the NBA family has lost its most revered member, whose stewardship of the Wizards franchise, together with his wife, Irene, has been a study in unparalleled dedication to the city of Washington," NBA commissioner David Stern said.

SURE, THEY'VE been gone for more than three decades, but we still have a soft spot for the NBA franchise formerly known as the Baltimore Bullets. The now-Washington Wizards ended their season this past weekend, losing to the Miami Heat to conclude an 0-4 sweep. But it was an honorable effort and the pain shouldn't last. The Wizards had a turnaround year, their best in a quarter-century. The Bullets weren't much of a success when they came here from Chicago in 1963 either. But in a decade in Baltimore, a playoff-caliber team emerged with stars such as Wes Unseld, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Kevin Loughery, Gus Johnson and Jack Marin.

THE GRIEVOUS wounding of 10-year-old Tevin Davis came on an ordinary summer evening along West Fairmount Avenue. Kids rode their bikes. Parents watched from front stoops. Then came the ominous corner confrontation -- and the gunfire. Seconds later, a frantic father, bleeding son in his arms, was racing to a nearby emergency room. "Don't die on me," Tevin's father cried. Here was an ordinary night in Baltimore, a city in the grip of a gun culture. The 18-year-old arrested in Tevin's shooting was known, neighbors said, to have a handgun in his basement.

Northeast pitcher Kristy Zulka, The Sun's 1990 Player of the Year, returned to action last week after doctors said the injury to her right knee was not as serious as originally feared.It was thought that Zulka had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee while diving back to third base in a loss to Glen Burnie, April 17, which ended Northeast's 64-game win-streak. However, tests last week showed that Zulka suffered torn cartilage in the knee.Zulka, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee last summer, will have reconstructive surgery on the right knee after the season but has been cleared to play "as long as nothing else happens," she said Friday.

Nearly half a century after he first wowed Baltimore Bullets fans with his windmill dunk, Gus Johnson was named Monday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Johnson's teammates said his selection was long overdue. "We were wondering, what took so long?" said Wes Unseld, a Hall of Fame center who played four years with Johnson, the Bullets' kangaroo forward who died of brain cancer in 1987. In nine seasons with Baltimore (1963-1972), the 6-foot-6 Johnson averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds, made the All-Star team five times and helped the Bullets to three division titles and five playoff appearances.

Everything about Fred Scolari had to do with why he couldn't make the grade. He was blind in his left eye, deaf in the right ear, only 5 feet 10 1/2 and in a basketball uniform resembled Humpty Dumpty, only he didn't play like him.Rather incredibly, he sat on the bench at the University of San Francisco for a freshman team that lost 16 straight games, yet the coach never let him play a single minute. Still, he put such rejection and dejection aside and ultimately spent nine seasons at the highest professional level as a colorful and productive backcourt man for the Washington Caps and Baltimore Bullets -- where he was a player-coach in 1952 -- the Syracuse Nationals, Fort Wayne Pistons and Boston Celtics.

They were part of a pioneering venture, the last team invited to join the mere outline of what became the major league of professional basketball. Then the totally unexpected happened: The Baltimore Bullets of 1948 became the world champions. A shock. A momentous long shot. It was that kind of a year for Harry Truman, too.Now, during this 50th anniversary season, there's no such team called the Baltimore Bullets. Only memories. The franchise went off to a Maryland suburban community, Landover, in 1973 to become the Capital (later Washington)