Bob Love

For the Australian footballer, see Bob Love (footballer). For the British lawn bowler, see Bob Love (bowls).

Robert Earl Love (December 8, 1942 – November 18, 2024) was an American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls.^[1][2] A versatile forward who could shoot with either his left or right hand, Love later worked as the Bulls' director of community affairs and goodwill ambassador.^[3] Love was nicknamed "Butterbean", which dates back to his boyhood when he was fond of the legume.^[4]

Bob Love

Love with the Chicago Bulls
Personal information
Born	(1942-12-08)December 8, 1942 Bastrop, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	November 18, 2024(2024-11-18) (aged 81) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school	Morehouse (Bastrop, Louisiana)
College	Southern (1961–1965)
NBA draft	1965: 4th round, 33rd overall pick
Drafted by	Cincinnati Royals
Playing career	1965–1977
Position	Small forward
Number	21, 9, 10
Career history
1965–1966	Trenton Colonials
1966–1968	Cincinnati Royals
1968	Milwaukee Bucks
1968–1976	Chicago Bulls
1976–1977	New York Nets
1977	Seattle SuperSonics
Career highlights
3× NBA All-Star (1971–1973) 2× All-NBA Second Team (1971, 1972) 3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1972–1974) No. 10 retired by Chicago Bulls All-EPBL Second Team (1966) EPBL Rookie of the Year (1966) 2× NAIA All-American (1963, 1965) 3× First-team All-SWAC (1963–1965) No. 41 retired by Southern Jaguars
Career NBA statistics
Points	13,895 (17.6 ppg)
Rebounds	4,653 (5.9 rpg)
Assists	1,123 (1.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Early life, high school and college career

Love grew up in the cotton fields of Louisiana, the son of a sharecropper. His first basket was made out of a wire hanger and his first basketball was a pair of socks. He suffered from a severe stuttering disability and seldom spoke, fearing to be called on in school where other children would ridicule him.^[5][6][7] Love was raised by an abusive stepfather until he was 8, and did not meet his biological father until he was 33. He ran away to live with his grandmother when he was 8.^[7]

Love starred in both basketball and football (as the quarterback) at Morehouse High School (now defunct) in Bastrop, Louisiana, leading his team to state titles in both sports.^[7] He graduated in 1961.^[8] Love earned a football scholarship to Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he also became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega, but wound up playing basketball.^[7][9] Love averaged 12.8 points as a freshman, 22.6 as a sophomore, 25.6 as a junior (and 18 rebounds a game), and 30.6 as a senior (and 18.2 rebounds a game), which scoring average led the Southwestern Athletic Conference that year. He was a three-time NAIA All-American. He was also a three-time All Southwestern Conference selection.^[10][11] Southern University retired his number 41 on January 7, 2012.^[12]

Love graduated with a bachelor of science degree in food and nutrition.^[7]

Professional career

In 1965, the Cincinnati Royals selected the 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) forward in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA draft. Love failed to make the team,^[5] and instead spent the 1965–66 season in the Eastern Professional Basketball League. After averaging over 25 points per game, Love earned the EPBL Rookie of the Year Award^[13] and gained enough confidence to try out for the Royals once more. He made the team on his second attempt,^[7] and played two seasons for the Royals, largely in a reserve role. Love made his NBA debut on October 18, 1966.^[14]

In 1968, the Milwaukee Bucks selected him in the NBA Expansion Draft and traded him to the Chicago Bulls in the middle of the 1968–69 season, at Love's request. Even though Love had averaged 20 points a game in the pre-season, the Bucks told him they would not keep him because of Love's communication problems.^[7]

Love flourished while playing for future Naismith hall of fame coach Dick Motta's Bulls. Love played for the Bulls for eight seasons, led the team in scoring seven of those seasons, was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Bulls, and a three-time NBA All-Defensive Team and two-time All-NBA Team selection.^[7][10][15] In 1969–70, he became a full-time starter, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds. The following two seasons he averaged 25.2 and 25.8 points per game,^[14] appeared in his first two all-star games,^[16] and earned All-NBA Second Team honors both seasons. Love also appeared in the 1973 All-Star Game, which the Bulls hosted,^[16] and he would average at least 19 points and six rebounds every season until 1976–77. Love was named to the NBA's All-Defense Second Team for the 1971–1972, 1973–1974 and 1974–1975 seasons.^[17]

His No. 10 jersey was the second jersey number to be retired by the Chicago Bulls. Jerry Sloan's No. 4 was the first. Love's 1995 wedding ceremony to Rachel Dixon took place at the United Center.^[18]

Love suffered a back injury in 1976 and was traded to the Seattle Supersonics, and was cut the following season.^[7]

Personal life, speech disability, and death

Love had a severe issue with stuttering, such that at one point after his all-star NBA career ended the only work he could find was as a dishwasher and busboy at a Nordstrom in Seattle. In the 1980s, with the support of store head John Nordstrom, Love began working with speech therapist Susan Hamilton who helped him overcome his stutter. Love overcame his speech disability and became a motivational speaker.^[5][6][7] In 1992, the Bulls hired Love as Director of Community Affairs, where he spoke to thousands of teenagers, making hundreds of speeches a year.^[8][7][19]

Love died after a long battle with cancer in Chicago, on November 18, 2024, at the age of 81.^[20] The Bulls announced his death on their social media accounts later that day.^[21]

Honors and awards

In addition to honors received as a player, the Bulls retired Love's number on January 14, 1994.^[22] He received the Individual Achievement Award from the National Council for Communicative Disorders, and the NBA's Oscar Robertson Leadership Award in 1989.^[8][10] Love was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.^[10] He was also selected to the NAIA, Basketball Coaches, Illinois, and Helms Halls of Fame.^[11] There is a historical marker to Love in Baton Rouge.^[23]

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
*	Led the league

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1966–67	Cincinnati	66	—	16.3	.429	—	.633	3.9	0.7	—	—	6.7
1967–68	Cincinnati	72	—	14.8	.424	—	.684	2.9	0.8	—	—	6.4
1968–69	Milwaukee	14	—	16.2	.368	—	.763	4.6	0.2	—	—	7.6
1968–69	Chicago	35	—	9.0	.416	—	.724	2.5	0.4	—	—	5.1
1969–70	Chicago	82*	—	38.1	.466	—	.842	8.7	1.8	—	—	21.0
1970–71	Chicago	81	—	43.0	.447	—	.829	8.5	2.3	—	—	25.2
1971–72	Chicago	79	—	39.3	.442	—	.784	6.6	1.6	—	—	25.8
1972–73	Chicago	82*	—	37.0	.431	—	.824	6.5	1.5	—	—	23.1
1973–74	Chicago	82*	—	40.1	.417	—	.818	6.0	1.6	1.0	0.3	21.8
1974–75	Chicago	61	—	39.4	.429	—	.830	6.3	1.7	1.0	0.2	22.0
1975–76	Chicago	76	—	37.1	.390	—	.801	6.7	1.9	0.8	0.1	19.1
1976–77	Chicago	14	—	35.4	.338	—	.761	5.2	1.6	0.6	0.1	12.2
1976–77	New York	13	—	17.5	.462	—	.846	2.9	0.3	0.1	0.2	10.1
1976–77	Seattle	32	—	14.1	.372	—	.872	2.7	0.7	0.4	0.1	4.1
Career		789	—	31.8	.429	—	.805	5.9	1.4	0.8	0.2	17.6
Source:[14]

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1969–70	Chicago	5	—	34.4	.385	—	.792	9.2	0.8	—	—	11.8
1970–71	Chicago	7	—	47.1*	.491	—	.806	7.3	1.4	—	—	26.7*
1971–72	Chicago	4	—	43.3	.360	—	.846	6.8	1.8	—	—	18.8
1972–73	Chicago	7	—	44.9	.459	—	.732	9.6	3.3	—	—	23.7
1973–74	Chicago	11	—	44.5	.405	—	.763	5.7	2.2	1.3	0.5	23.0
1974–75	Chicago	13	—	44.8	.437	—	.779	7.5	1.5	0.8	0.4	25.8
Career		47	—	43.9	.431	—	.776	7.5	1.9	1.0	0.4	22.9
Source:[14]

Executive career

Love in 2010

Love ended his NBA career with the Bulls after spending parts of the 1976–77 season in New York and Seattle. He would finish with career totals of 13,895 points, 1,123 assists, and 4,653 rebounds. Love developed a stutter in childhood,^[24] and some say it prevented him from finding meaningful employment after his playing days were over. At one point, Love was hired as a busboy and dishwasher by Nordstrom where he earned $4.45 an hour.^[24][25] Eventually, John Nordstrom, the director of the family business, was so impressed with the former NBA star's work ethic, he offered to pay for speech therapy classes. Nordstrom later promoted Love to be the corporate spokesperson. He became an executive with Nordstrom and a manager of health and sanitation for its national seventy-restaurant chain.^[26] In 1993, Love returned to the Chicago Bulls as their director of community relations.^[24][27] One of his duties in this position involved regularly speaking to school children.^[24] Love had also become a motivational speaker.^[28]

Bibliography

• The Bob Love Story: If It's Gonna Be, It's Up to Me (ISBN 0-8092-2597-2), in 1999.