Spencer Haywood remembers the rubber chicken. He can almost see it now, dancing in his peripheral vision.
It was Oct. 19, 1969, and the 20-year-old marveled at the lively crowd that packed into the bleacher seats at Denver Auditorium Arena, the old gym on Champa Street, to watch the tall, powerful kid who was about to turn professional basketball on its ear.
“There was so much pressure on me because there was all this talk, people saying, ‘No young kid can really play in the pros unless he’s played four years in college,’” Haywood said, half-century-old memories still fresh in his mind.
Just as Haywood was about to start his first game for the Denver Rockets of the ABA, he caught a glimpse of a woman running up and down the sideline waving a rubber chicken, riling up an already excited crowd. Haywood did a double-take. He felt the floor rumbling. The fans seemed to be on top of him.
Haywood suddenly realized just how far away he…
