My guess is you’ve never heard of Jack Twyman. I know I haven’t. Now, I’ll never forget him.

Sporting News called him the greatest teammate in the history of the NBA. Jack Twyman played for the Cincinnati Royals beginning in 1958. He was a great basketball player. He played sixteen seasons and was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame. He was a six time NBA All-star, but that is not what he is remembered for.

He is known because Maurice Stokes began playing the same year. Maurice Stokes would be called a “phenom” today. He was “Karl Malone with finesse,” 6 feet 7 inches and 250 pounds of pure athleticism. Red Auerbach, the lengendary coach of the Boston Celtics, called him “Magic (Johnson) without the flair.” In his first pro game, Maurice Stokes scored 32 points and pulled down 20 rebounds. He made the All-Star team as a rookie and for the next two seasons as well.

In the last game of his third season Maurice Stokes was undercut by another player and hit the back of his head on the floor. One commentator noted that if that had happened today the player would be put on a stretcher and immobilized. Instead, they gave Maurice Stokes smelling salts and sent him back in. When the playoffs began, Stokes played admirably, but on a Saturday night on the flight home, he had a seizure and went into a coma. When he finally woke up on Sunday, his only movement involved blinking his eyes.

Jack Twyman asked how you would feel if on Saturday you were one of the best basketball players of all time and on Sunday you could only blink your eyes. Jack Twyman did more than ask the question. He did something about it. This was in the day before NBA players had medical insurance or made fantastic salaries. Stokes came from a poor family in Pennsylvania. He had no help and no support.

Jack Twyman stepped up and became Stokes legal guardian. He assumed the responsibility for Maurice Stokes’ finances and his care. Jack Twyman worried that he spent so much time with Stokes that he had neglected his own children. He cared for Maurice Stokes until Stokes died of a heart attack in 1970. He was 36 years old.

Twyman’s children noted they were not neglected. They learned so much from Maurice Stokes and from their dad.

Is anything as beautiful as a devoted life?

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Jack Twyman did.

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