Born in 1942, Robert Earl Love (nicknamed Butterbean after his favorite food) grew up in Louisiana with thirteen brothers and sisters. Bob's basketball career began with a coat hanger hoop nailed to his grandmother's home. In his imagination, Bob played everyday against the greatest basketball players in the world. As he grew to a six-foot-eight high school senior, Bob's dreams of being a great athlete became real. He was the first player from Southern University in Louisiana to be named to the All-American Team by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. After college, Bob played for the Cincinnati Royals basketball team and was later traded to the Milwaukee Bucks and then to the Chicago Bulls.
He played with the Chicago Bulls for eight seasons from 1969 to 1976. For seven straight years he was the Bulls leading scorer and is the second highest scorer in Bulls history. (Did you guess that Michael Jordan is the top scorer?)
In spite of all his success as an athlete, Bob was not able to do something that everyone else seemed to do easily. He dreamed of being able to talk without stuttering. All of his life, Bob stumbled over words and often couldn't say anything at all. When Bob retired from basketball he tried for seven years to find a steady job and, in 1984, was hired as a dishwasher for $4.45 an hour.
Bob worked as hard on his dream of being able to talk as he had worked on basketball. Finally, at the age of 45 he found a speech therapist who helped him learn to speak without struggling.
Bob is now the Community Relations Director for his former team, the Chicago Bulls. He visits with schoolchildren and other community groups and tells everyone that dreams can come true.
Topics Include
- Never Give Up on Your Dreams
- Overcoming Adversity
- Believing in People
- The Championship Mindset
Video
Add to Folio
Email Profile
Print Profile
Request Speaker
