Arthur (Hambone) Williams was 28, out of college for four years but still hoping to get a shot.
San Diego sportsman Bob Breitbard had recently been awarded an expansion franchise in the National Basketball Association for the 1967-68 season and Breitbard, after a visit from Merrill Douglas, who was Williams’ coach during Hambone’s two brilliant seasons at San Diego Junior College, went to Rockets coach Jack McMahon.
“Give Hambone Williams a tryout,” Breitbard entreated McMahon.
“Hambone who?” wondered the skeptical McMahon, a product of East Coast basketball who had no knowledge of Williams and the outstanding career he had enjoyed at San Diego High, San Diego JC, and Cal Poly-Pomona.
Williams, who passed at age 79 this month, made the Rockets as a walk-on free agent, to the surprise of McMahon.
Hambone had the NBA’s highest percentage of assists per minutes played in the 1968-69 season and played eight years, joining the Boston Celtics in a trade before the 1970 season.
Williams was an off-the-bench, fast-breaking facilitator for the Celtics and was among the league’s best in assists. He earned a championship ring with the Celtics in 1973-74 and left the NBA after the 1974-75 campaign and played part of the 1975-76 season with the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA.
Hambone did not play his sophomore year at San Diego High and was discovered in a gym class by coach Dick Otterstad.
The lean, 6-foot, 1-inch guard made the varsity as a junior and was the Cavers’ playmaker for two seasons, during which San Diego won 46 of 51 games, but the team was forced to forfeit 16 victories in the 1958-59 season, when starting forward Otha Phillips was ruled ineligible because he had turned 19 before the CIF’s cutoff date of Sept. 1.
Williams was the City Prep League player of the year, scoring 423 points in 25 games for a 16.9 average. The Cavers’ record was 24-2 on the floor but 8-18 after Phillips and the dreaded administrative glitch.
There are a couple versions of how Williams became known as Hambone.
One was that someone on campus hollered “Hambone” and Williams turned to acknowledge the call.
Another was that Williams often recited the lyrics to a children’s song of the same name, partially shown below:
“Hambone, Hambone where you been?
Round the world and I’m going again.
What you gonna do when you get back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track.”
