James William “Bill” Cartwright, arguably the best basketball player to come out of Sacramento, was born 67 years ago in Lodi to parents who came west during the Great Migration. They bought the 1,600-acre Bean farm in Walnut Grove in the Delta. Bill and his five sisters got up at dawn to pick tomatoes and walnuts for up to eight hours a day. He later hoed and weeded sugar beets with Mexican migrant workers. “For me, moving to Sacramento was like getting out of jail,” he writes in his new memoir, “Living Life at the Center.”
In the Valley Hi neighborhood, he mowed lawns, helped his dad paint houses and dodged black widow spiders while cutting grapes and picking blackberries. Basketball proved to be his salvation; in 1974, the junior led the Elk Grove High Thundering Herd to a 30-0 record. He once scored 62 points in three quarters against Sac High. His senior year, the now 7-foot-1 Cartwright averaged 39 points a game and led his team to a state championship.
He played college ball at the University of San Francisco, where he went on to get his master’s degree in human resources and organizational management. He currently serves as USF’s director of university initiatives, building relationships with alumni and the San Francisco community.
After leading the USF Dons to a No. 1 ranking, Cartwright was drafted by the New York Knicks third overall in 1979. He was traded to the Chicago Bulls in 1988 for Charles Oakley, a deal that Michael Jordan didn’t initially approve of. But Cartwright made it clear to Jordan he wouldn’t allow MJ to freeze him out, and he helped Jordan and the Bulls win three straight NBA titles from 1991-1993. In 1994, when Jordan left to play baseball, Cartwright played one season with the Seattle Supersonics.
He returned to the Bulls as an assistant under Coach Phil Jackson in 1996 and helped steer them to NBA titles in 1997 and 1998 after Jordan rejoined the team. Cartwright coached the Bulls in 2002 and for part of 2003. He later coached Osaka Evessa in Japan and the Mexican men’s national team.
He owns Froggy’s French Cafe in Chicago and recently was inducted into the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame. He now lives in Gold River with Sheri, a real estate agent and his wife of 45 years – their first date was at their junior prom – and has three sons, one daughter and eight grandsons. He sat down with The OBSERVER on Jan. 6 for a Q&A edited for space and clarity. His book, a conversational journey through his life with a foreword by his friend and Sacramento sports legend Dusty Baker, can be purchased at bill-cartwright.com.
After 45 years together, please share the secret of a happy marriage.
Sheri: You have to listen, and even if you don’t agree with them, come to an agreement somewhere in the middle. Talk it out.
Bill’s one of a kind. He’s the most understanding person you’d ever meet – sometimes a little too much for me. I’m like, “We got to take a tougher stand.” Usually, it’s Bill’s way or the highway. I know how to sneak in my way. He doesn’t realize I’m getting my way.
Bill: I like what I like, not really gonna change. I’m not wishy-washy. I have my own schedule; get up at the same time. We’re gonna accomplish something every day. She’s a little more relaxed. You can do it tomorrow. Tomorrow’s good with her. I want to do everything today. We don’t really fight; I’m not a fair fighter.
I can change, but it’s got to be a really good reason. Sheri’s flexible, she’s a good person. She’s a nice person. That’s a big part of it.
You were an interracial couple in rural Elk Grove, which made some people including family uncomfortable. How did you deal with that?
Sheri: My dad worked at the school and knew Bill, so he was fine with it. But my mom, from upstate Idaho, never saw a Black person until she was in her 30s, and so she just had some ingrained notions and felt like it just wasn’t meant to be. She said “It’s not going to work.” People back then were saying, “How are the kids going to be accepted?” We just forged ahead. We knew it was right; we knew it would work, and it would be good.
Because Bill couldn’t come to my house to pick me up, I had to walk to the end of our street. The first time he came to our house was when he and I eloped to get married.
Bill: The way we grew up in California with whites, Blacks, Mexicans, Filipinos and Portuguese, we took people for who they were, and the one thing we all had in common, we weren’t wealthy people. Everybody worked, so that was the common ground: you were workers, and we’re all in the same boat, and there’s nobody here that had tons of money.
My whole family was out picking big tomatoes, etc., by 6 a.m. for eight hours. Later, I hoed sugar beet fields, chopping weeds for eight hours with my cousins Michael and Dennis being tortured as well.
From the fields of the Delta to multiple NBA championships as a player and coach, you have covered a lot of ground. What inspired you to write this book now?
I thought it would be fun to talk about my family, their history, my journey. If a guy from Elk Grove can become an NBA champion and coach and play for 30 years, it shows young people including my own kids and grandkids what’s possible. I believe you’re only limited by your own thoughts. I wanted to share a lot of those life lessons to motivate somebody to do something special with their lives.
During COVID there was nothing else to do. Sheri was around to help me write this. Without her, this never would have happened. It took me at least a year to figure out how to start the book. Before my dad passed away about two years ago I was able to talk to him about how he got here, how he learned to work on cars, how to drive, how to dig a well. Who were his parents, who were my mom’s parents? What kind of people were they? It was very cool to be able to find a little bit about their personalities, good or bad, because my mom talked about her dad, who was 6-foot-9, not always lovingly. They were tough people.
You have worked with some of the greatest coaches of all time, including Phil Jackson. What makes a good coach and a good teacher and what are some of your life lessons?
You learn by good and bad. I had a really good high school coach, Dan Risley, who was extraordinarily motivated to do well. We had a sheet of shots everybody had to take every day, so it was up to you to get those shots in, and it just made you a better player.
And when you walk on the floor, you better be going full speed. We would shoot for 50 minutes every day before practice. During the summer, we would practice five days a week. Everything was regimented. I was tall, but I wasn’t the strongest guy in the world. I wasn’t the fastest guy in the world. Could I score it? Yeah, I could really score. Why? Because I was better during games than at practice.
Everybody has their own gifts. My grandkids can draw extraordinarily well. It’s like, wow. It’s something they don’t think about.
There are some people who are just more gifted. They’re faster than you, jump higher. You’ve got to be able to put the time in. I was playing for fun, so you don’t realize that the stuff you’re working on, you kind of like it. It becomes kind of addictive.
I’m still trying to be a guitar player. I’m learning how to play the piano. You got to put in the time, the effort, and more time is better. As a kid, whatever you’re doing, if you’re an artist or an athlete, you’ve got to be a student of that.
I’m a big fan of history, sports and the old guys who got it done, there’s a reason why they got it done. So ask a lot of questions. Watch, stop talking. Watch how people do stuff.
Really good leaders watch leaders. One of the great teachers I had in my basketball life was Tex Winter. (Winter coached college for 30 years and later in the pros, where he invented the triangle offense that the Bulls used to become champions). Tex could not only tell you what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it. So you understand why things work and what doesn’t work. When you can explain something simply, players understand.
Over your 67 years, how have race relations changed? How has Black Sacramento evolved?
Race relations have improved as people have had some success. But there’s still an obvious underlying racism that exists.
People who don’t believe that they have issues are probably the most dangerous people. People who don’t want their daughters married to a different race, OK, at least you understand them. We can agree to disagree. There are folks of every race who still have issues.
I’m more interested in being part of the world, not just being a great American. The more you travel, the more you see a lot of different people who are trying to accomplish the same things, same family values, trying to survive, trying to do well. You’ve got to figure out even though we don’t speak the same language, are not the same color, our goals are the same, and we’re all on the same planet together.
What is your advice to young people who almost certainly will face obstacles or disappointments on their journeys in life?
Everybody’s going to have obstacles, and it’s more about getting around those obstacles, some are people you have to deal with – try to minimize them and build up the people around you who can help you to be successful, to help you reach your goal.
I’ve had coaches who didn’t really care about what I was doing. So, you have a choice: you can work harder until you have an opportunity to move forward, or you can do nothing. I choose to fight for myself. I’m really lucky because I’ve got a really good support group, not only my wife but my family, friends, ex-coaches.
I was injured for a year and a half. That was a nightmare; I was probably a nightmare to be around but got past that until I was able to play again.
People are going to struggle when they get done playing. I had a year where I was having a really bad experience. I didn’t feel great about myself because I was in transition, and I had to be medicated for a year and just get past that. I didn’t realize how anxiety can really disrupt your life, where I experienced fear that was never part of my life. I don’t know where it came from. I never understood it. If you’re a guy, you’re gonna macho your way through it. I understand it better now, how dangerous it is, because you just want to get away, and hopefully you have people around you to help you get through. So I medicated just to be able to get through it every day because it’s not about anything other than how you feel, just a bad feeling. Nobody can talk you out of it. You’re just better off going for a walk and not saying anything.
Thanks for sharing that. What are your thoughts about today’s NBA and the Sacramento Kings and Mike Brown’s firing?
When you have four or five coaches and or general managers in nine years, that doesn’t lead to success. Maybe you can justify the change thus far. Take OKC, Memphis, Boston, Cleveland – you’ve got to be willing to make changes, but try to keep your core together and your GM, and especially your coaches. And I can’t justify trading [De’Aaron] Fox unless I see what’s on the table.
The Bulls, who won six championships, were the team of the ’90s. Even though it was tough every day to go out and earn your spot, I had a lot of fun. Every team has something, some kind of drama. I had my family to go home to. I don’t drink.
In a 1994 Bulls playoff game against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, Scottie Pippen refused to enter the game with eight seconds left because Jackson assigned Toni Kukoc to take the final shot, which Kukoc made. How did you deal with it?
Pippen is a wonderful guy, a great teammate, a great player who had a great year [without Jordan]. He made one mistake. So afterwards, I spoke to the team and said it’s important we are all together, so it’s really important to give ourselves the opportunity to win. Scottie returned the next game.
What were your takeaways from the book, which is written conversationally with an eye towards folks who knew you at various stages throughout your life?
Talking to people I haven’t talked to in years – my high school and college teammates, my NBA guys, my sisters. I’ve got to text Dusty Baker back today. Dusty is who we all should aspire to be: he’s insightful, he’s a great athlete, he cares about people. And I’m calling KJ [Kevin Johnson] about getting my book in Underground Books.
Do you still play basketball with your grandkids? And what’s your take on today’s NBA?
At my age, you’re looking for an injury, so I don’t play basketball. We walk, play some golf, we just don’t want to move too fast or too quickly.
I think the Celtics have the inside track. Now basketball is a year-round job. I don’t like how they play now, but I like how they work. I came from an era where centers were important – a lot of three-point shots are irresponsible shots. Nothing is a bad shot now. In the old days, if you’re down one, you would drive right to the basket, get a shot in the paint, maybe get foul shots. A three-point shot is at best a 40% chance.
On our Bulls teams, we did what champions do, we won the last five minutes.
What’s next for you?
I’ve been talking to the Elk Grove Unified School District to be able to do some events that help others and the community. A lot of our kids are really smart, so I’d like these kids to see the possibilities, things that we’re all capable of. In my spare time I like the blues; I go with the three Kings: Albert, Freddie and B.B. And I play chess, guitar, piano and golf, and watch NBA basketball.