How Elgin Baylor handled the toughest job in sports: Working for Donald Sterling
LOS ANGELES — In the 1990s, Elgin Baylor's Clippers co-workers sometimes referred to the general manager around the office as "legend."
The nickname wasn't hyperbole. During 14 seasons with the Lakers, the top pick in the 1958 draft "literally was Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan," former Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said of how the 6-foot-5 forward seemed to be able to hang in the air. Still, in the years after Baylor joined the Clippers in 1986, the moniker could nonetheless feel incongruent, describing a Hall of Famer who rarely carried himself like one.
In the hallways, Baylor competed with colleagues in putting contests. He played cards on the plane with assistants. Over long offseason lunches, or sitting by someone's desk, he'd unspool stories about an era when the league was so fledging, Lakers players washed their own uniforms. He discussed the January 1960 night when the Lakers' plane crashed amid a snowstorm in an Iowa cornfield.
