Former Chicago Bulls Great Bob Love to Speak at MSU Billings (July 21, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – Before Michael Jordan, Bob Love was the most prolific scorer in the history of the Chicago Bulls.  On Thursday, Love will be the keynote speaker at the 2003 MYLF Montana Youth Leadership Forum on the campus of MSU Billings. 

Now the Director of Community Relations for the Chicago Bulls, Love grew up poor as one of fourteen children in rural Louisiana.  His two ambitions in life were to play basketball and speak without stuttering.  The first dream came true at Southern University in Louisiana, where he became the school’s first All-American. 

Following college, Love began a professional basketball career with the Cincinnati Royals.  He was later traded to the Milwaukee Bucks and then to the Chicago Bulls, for whom he played eight seasons from 1969 to1976.  Love scored 12,263 points for the Bulls, becoming the team’s all-time leading scorer until Jordan broke the record in 1989.  Love averaged 23.0 points per game over his eight seasons, earning three NBA All-Star appearances.  His jersey was retired by the Bulls in 1994.

After suffering a back injury in 1977, Love retired after doctors told him he may never walk again.  Still unable to speak without stuttering, Love struggled to find steady work until he took a dishwashing job in Seattle in 1984.  At the age of 45, he hired a speech therapist to help him learn to speak.  The Bulls heard Love’s story and offered him the Director of Community Relations position, which he still holds.

In conjunction with his work for the Bulls, Love also travels the country as a motivational speaker.  On Thursday, he will address the MYLF Montana Youth Leadership Forum at the sponsor’s banquet in the MSU Billings SUB Ballroom.  The banquet is scheduled to run from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.  Members of the media are welcome to attend and interview Love.  For more information, contact June Hermanson at the Montana Center on Disabilities at 657-2095.