It's been 25 years since the Fab Five first set foot on the Michigan campus
the first group of freshmen ever to start for a major college program, they led
their teams two consecutive NCAA championship games in 1992 in 1993 and
sparked the cultural revolution in the sport. In time, though a scandal led to
sanctions imposed by the University and the NCAA. The final four banners
came down and shroud of silence settled over the players and their era until now.
The Fab Five are coming back to Ann Arbor on October 8 (2016) to discuss their
experiences and today I'm sitting down with Fab Five member Jimmy King to talk
about a team that continues to fascinate.
Welcome back, Jimmy. Thank you, Yago. It's good to have you Good to see you. Good to see you.
I wonder if you could start by just telling us a little bit about your
choice to come to Michigan and what it is that brought you here instead of the
other places you might have gone. Well, for me it came down to what the degree
was going to hold for me after my playing years. I think the marriage between
academics and athletics led me to Michigan. Do you feel that you had to make
some compromises in terms of your academic goals? You know, the first day of
practice coach Fisher pulled us in a circle and said, 'I know what I told you, but
you're here to do one thing and that's to play basketball.' We were schooled how
to speak publicly about the University what to say what not to say, and we took
lumps you know we didn't always say the right thing but one thing's for sure is
that we spoke our mind. One thing about the Fab Five: we wanted to make sure that we
had a legacy. We looked up to the Muhammad Alis, the Jim Browns, you know,
Bill Russell's the... you know, the advocates that were in sports at a high
level that spoke out on a platform. It sounds to me and even thinking back to
some of the athletes you did you mention that you guys admired you had to sum it
up in one word the word might be freedom. (Mmhmm) Right, that you all were about trying to
embody a certain kind of freedom on the court off the court just as young men.
It's a game and if you can't enjoy a game, something's wrong, and people were vilifying us over
high fivin', laughing, smiling, you know, slapping hands or chest bumping and all
of that. Like, they were looking at us like a look at these disrespectful kids
and we were like what we are talking about we...
we're playing a game and we're having fun kicking ass, so you know so what was the
problem?
I wonder if you see the effects of any of the ways you played or your style of
expression (Ah yeah) on the court that you're watching a (Oh, yeah) college game today or a
Pro game even, and you're thinking oh that wasn't there before we started it.
Oh yeah, to this day. Prior to us playing there wasn't a lot of emotion, there
wasn't a lot of style on the court, and we wanted to leave a legacy in bringing,
you know, kind of flavor to the game.
It started with baggy being, you know, kind of the look (yeah) so we wanted
baggier shorts. The black shoes and black socks really came about on how can we create
something that's going to stick out. Like today, when I talk to people all the time,
I always laugh 'cause I like 'Do you even know why you're wearing that? Like, 'Do you know why
you're wearin' those shoes and the socks?' and 'You know where that comes from?' Because back then
if you were black socks and was like you going to church... Do you feel that
sometimes people's perception of the team on the court is sort of distorted
or partial? Definitely. And that's... we were substance; we weren't flash even though
we were known to be flashy. We were very fundamentally sound, and we added the
flair, you know, to the layup, or we celebrated after we scored; however, you
put in the work. You know, they they can appreciate the athleticism but then
wouldn't appreciate the intelligence it took to make that play. (Right) They almost
kind of looked at it as if we were just cocky,
full of ourselves, you know. When really, we were confident and we were very
calculating.
I wonder you know one major issue in college sports today has to do the
revenues generated with the merchandising and licensing deals and so
forth and in some ways the Fab Five kind of broke the ground there, so I wonder if
you could tell us anything about how that felt or what you experienced since
really that was kinda unknown territory, at that time. It was a very unique situation. It was a
education and business that a lot of people don't get. We were approached by
Nike, and they used to come to us; they would bring in huge duffel bags of gear; put
them in front of us and said, 'Whatever you choose,
that's what we're going to push.' So, the first time we, you know, we're kids we decided like,
'Oh, well we gonna...ya know we know we, we here representing Nike, Michigan, you know.
We made it. We're at the top.' Then, we realized, they are exploiting our talents
while the university is getting these contracts, yet we're restricted in what we
can do. And that didn't seem fair especially when it came to time to eat
and we were digging in our pockets, didn't have any money, yet we look in the store and
they're selling the shoes for $100, jerseys for $80. Just naturally, we were like 'Something's
wrong here.' We were... put our heads together. 'What can we do about it?' So
we called a meeting asking to speak to executives at Nike about developing a
ground-breaking, you know, way to pay college students. If you can't pay them outright
then create a stipend, maybe you know, you could do something at the graduation...
whatever, just open up a conversation.
They literally pushed back from the table said, 'Thank you,' and walked out
...didn't address it...anything. The perception is that, you know, you're playing at
Michigan you have all these accolades, you have
kind of this power, but you really don't. You know, we spoke out about that and
literally that's around the time when we went from media darlings to the villain.
Right. And it was literally overnight. So, you're here on campus now but you're
gonna be coming back to campus again on October 8th (2016) at 2pm. What do you hope to
accomplish? What do you hope (happens during the event.) I just hope people show up. Oh I hope people show up, too.
I just hope people show up and have fun and really, truly express whatever it is
that they thought about that time. Are you prepared for some of what people are
going to share about their memories or sense to be angry or disappointment or a
sense of betrayal? I welcome at all because the greatest thing is to finally have a
open forum to hear. Before we can do anything, we got to hear what the issues
are and that way we can work together because we're all one community, and until we
realize that, you know, we're just gonna keep going around this carousel. Right.
I think we're going to manage that. Yeah. We need it to work.
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Alrigh,t Jimmy, I'm gonna ask you a series of questions you got a
minute for this? I got it. Because we got just a minute. I've got it all right.
Favorite spot on the Michigan campus? Favorite spot...um... I would say the Brown Jug.
Favorite musical artist? Ooohoo! Good one...
Oooo, artist, Prince. Should college athletes be paid? Absolutely. Favorite food?
Ummm. Favorite food i would say...hmmm.
Alright this is a lightning round so you just we need to keep moving. My bad.
No, no, no your'e good I'm just messin' with ya. Any kind of chili. Chili is my favorite food. If you could meet anyone,
living or dead, who would it be?
Ooooo. Good one. Is, is God, like, too like (You can say anything you want.) ...like I would love to like just sit and talk
with God because that's this infinite wisdom.
That's good. What does Fab Five mean to you? Fab Five means to me brotherhood, family
and community.
Thank you so much, Jimmy King. Thank you, Yago, my brother. My brother..
...I love you. I love you, too. Yeah...one take.
That's what I'm talkin' about.