Earl Monroe

On Wednesday, May 19, 2004, EARL MONROE FRANCE, 92, in Fort Myers, FL under the care of HOpe Hospice. He was born February 23, 1912 in Oella, MD. He was the son of the late Joseph and Laura Ethel (nee Peddicord) France. Earl attended Catonsville High School. He was a commercial photographer of wedding and social occasions. He was an employee of the B & O Railroad and they used many of his photos in the B & O Magazine and the dining car menus. Some of his award-winning photographs were displayed on museum tours including the Smithsonian.

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.

Last issue's Flashback: Congratulations to UniSun readers who recognized former Baltimore Bullets player Earl Monroe (left) as the man signing autographs for young fans at the 30th-year reunion of the Washington (formerly Baltimore) Bullets at Martin's West in 1995. This issue's Flashback: Who is this prominent civil-rights leader? Write to unisun@baltsun.com or UniSun Flashback, Features Department, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.

He wasn't much to look at - a slender, 6-foot-3 guard with knobby knees, creaky hips and elbows that looked as if they had been run through a pencil sharpener. But, oh, could Earl Monroe play basketball. For four years, Monroe wowed the crowds in Baltimore with circus shots, between-the-legs dribbles and no-look passes. "God couldn't go one-on-one with Earl Monroe," former Bullet Ray Scott once said of his Hall of Fame teammate. From the time Monroe hit town as a rookie in 1967, the Civic Center was his juke joint.

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.

LANDOVER -- As his name was announced and the sellout crowd roared, Earl Monroe, for a brief moment, felt like he was back in the old days when the Baltimore Bullets were firmly established as one of the top teams in the league."

IT'S pitiful enough when a sports team performs consistently poorly over a period of many years. It's even worse when the team we have in mind, the Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association, is still remembered in these parts as an exciting and powerful club during its long-ago Baltimore incarnation.The Bullets' plight has gotten so bad that one of their latest advertising campaigns focuses not on the home squad but on other good teams that will face Washington at the Capital Centre next season.

Eight area players looking to catch the eyes of pro scouts will be playing in Saturday's Black College All-Star Classic at 1 p.m. at the Baltimore Arena.Antoine Brockington and Danny Singletary of Coppin State are featured in the men's game, which follows the women's game at around 3 p.m. Joining the Coppin pair will be Tremain Byrd, Lorenzo Hutchinson and Jerard Rucker of Morgan State.In the women's game, Tressan Dugan of Morgan State, Vanessa Valez of UMES and Brenonda Jackson of Bowie State will play.

He wasn't much to look at - a slender, 6-foot-3 guard with knobby knees, creaky hips and elbows that looked as if they had been run through a pencil sharpener. But, oh, could Earl Monroe play basketball. For four years, Monroe wowed the crowds in Baltimore with circus shots, between-the-legs dribbles and no-look passes. "God couldn't go one-on-one with Earl Monroe," former Bullet Ray Scott once said of his Hall of Fame teammate. From the time Monroe hit town as a rookie in 1967, the Civic Center was his juke joint.

After the first month of the season, the NBA's balance of power appears to be tilting toward the Pacific. Only five of 14 teams in the Eastern Conference -- the defending champion Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic with rookie sensation Shaquille O'Neal, the surprising Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets -- have winning records.The Knicks, a preseason pick to challenge the Bulls for the title, are struggling at 5-4 after being swept on their first Western trip.The Detroit Pistons, with Dennis Rodman on suspension, are in the Central Division cellar, and the Boston Celtics are having a hard time adjusting to life without Larry Bird.

Last issue's Flashback: Congratulations to UniSun readers who recognized former Baltimore Bullets player Earl Monroe (left) as the man signing autographs for young fans at the 30th-year reunion of the Washington (formerly Baltimore) Bullets at Martin's West in 1995. This issue's Flashback: Who is this prominent civil-rights leader? Write to unisun@baltsun.com or UniSun Flashback, Features Department, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.

Earl Rodney Monroe Jr. was 14 when police first arrested him. In a little more than a year, officers nabbed the boy 10 more times, lodging felony charges that pointed to one conclusion: Lil' Earl was dealing drugs on the streets of his West Baltimore neighborhood. After each arrest, he entered a juvenile system that's supposed to provide swift treatment and, if necessary, detention. But every time Earl was arrested, juvenile justice workers and judges released him, only to see him return.

On Wednesday, May 19, 2004, EARL MONROE FRANCE, 92, in Fort Myers, FL under the care of HOpe Hospice. He was born February 23, 1912 in Oella, MD. He was the son of the late Joseph and Laura Ethel (nee Peddicord) France. Earl attended Catonsville High School. He was a commercial photographer of wedding and social occasions. He was an employee of the B & O Railroad and they used many of his photos in the B & O Magazine and the dining car menus. Some of his award-winning photographs were displayed on museum tours including the Smithsonian.

Eight area players looking to catch the eyes of pro scouts will be playing in Saturday's Black College All-Star Classic at 1 p.m. at the Baltimore Arena.Antoine Brockington and Danny Singletary of Coppin State are featured in the men's game, which follows the women's game at around 3 p.m. Joining the Coppin pair will be Tremain Byrd, Lorenzo Hutchinson and Jerard Rucker of Morgan State.In the women's game, Tressan Dugan of Morgan State, Vanessa Valez of UMES and Brenonda Jackson of Bowie State will play.

LANDOVER -- As his name was announced and the sellout crowd roared, Earl Monroe, for a brief moment, felt like he was back in the old days when the Baltimore Bullets were firmly established as one of the top teams in the league."

IT'S pitiful enough when a sports team performs consistently poorly over a period of many years. It's even worse when the team we have in mind, the Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association, is still remembered in these parts as an exciting and powerful club during its long-ago Baltimore incarnation.The Bullets' plight has gotten so bad that one of their latest advertising campaigns focuses not on the home squad but on other good teams that will face Washington at the Capital Centre next season.

Jim Karvellas is hoping the celebration of his 30 years as an NBA sportscaster at the Baltimore Arena tonight will be less traumatic than his debut as the voice of the then-Chicago Zephyrs, the forerunners to the Bullets, at the Chicago Stockyards in the winter of 1962."

Earl Rodney Monroe Jr. was 14 when police first arrested him. In a little more than a year, officers nabbed the boy 10 more times, lodging felony charges that pointed to one conclusion: Lil' Earl was dealing drugs on the streets of his West Baltimore neighborhood. After each arrest, he entered a juvenile system that's supposed to provide swift treatment and, if necessary, detention. But every time Earl was arrested, juvenile justice workers and judges released him, only to see him return.

Jim Karvellas is hoping the celebration of his 30 years as an NBA sportscaster at the Baltimore Arena tonight will be less traumatic than his debut as the voice of the then-Chicago Zephyrs, the forerunners to the Bullets, at the Chicago Stockyards in the winter of 1962."

After the first month of the season, the NBA's balance of power appears to be tilting toward the Pacific. Only five of 14 teams in the Eastern Conference -- the defending champion Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic with rookie sensation Shaquille O'Neal, the surprising Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets -- have winning records.The Knicks, a preseason pick to challenge the Bulls for the title, are struggling at 5-4 after being swept on their first Western trip.The Detroit Pistons, with Dennis Rodman on suspension, are in the Central Division cellar, and the Boston Celtics are having a hard time adjusting to life without Larry Bird.