When Fred Slaughter decided to become a sports agent in 1969, the concept of that job was still evolving. The war between the National Basketball Association and the rival American Basketball Association would increase salaries, but the multi-million dollar contracts, and the mega-money to be gained from endorsements, were years away.
More significant for Slaughter, who is African-American, none of the agents around looked like him. “In 1969, the sports agent business was like an exclusive country club in 1950,” Slaughter said from his office in California. “It was a place that I wasn’t supposed to be. Some of the white agents or management types would say things about me like ‘Nice guy, well-qualified, but when it comes to getting a contract, only a white guy can do that.’ “
Slaughter was not about to be chased away. He had been the center on John Wooden’s first national championship team at U.C.L.A. After graduating he decided that, rather than pursue an NBA. dream, he would pursue an M.B.A. at U.C.L.A. and perhaps manage the affairs of athletes. He followed up business school by earning a law degree from Columbia.
Now, Slaughter is regarded as the dean of black sports attorneys. Their number is not astounding but is becoming significant. The old formula — black labor, white wealth — has not dramatically changed, but there has been a significant shift.
For more than 30 years, he has represented 60 to 70 clients, including Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and Michael Cooper. He considered himself more than an agent. He was a sports attorney. He measured success by the quality of the relationships he established. Of course, he also made a substantial living, which he appreciates now more than ever since it allows him to keep at arm’s length the field that he once embraced.
“Since those days, we have crashed down into the depths of corporate where to buy viagra 2018 money,” he said. “You should hear the acid in my voice when I say that, because now all they do is buy up the athlete and the family. Also what has happened is the players have changed. They’re much more about, ‘What can you do for me? What can you pay us now? Forget the NCAA rules.’ “That really disappoints me a lot. I look back on representing athletes as a much, much more ethical and honorable profession prior to these last eight or 10 years, when it has become a sewer.”
“When I sat across the table from David Stern and his five or six attorneys involved in collective-bargaining negotiations for the referees in the NBA, I never felt we were unable to deal with the pressure and animosity — or false animosity — that jumped across the table at me because of Topeka, because of John Wooden, because of the Pyramid of Success,” Slaughter said. “All these things were bolstering me.”
Wooden has said that his 10th-grade math teacher once asked the class to define success. For Wooden, the question became a quest. Years later, he arrived at this: “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
Earlier this month, when he was recognized as one of the greatest athletes in UCLA history, Fred Slaughter realized how strongly he felt that peace.
“I look at the names of the members of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame, and I can’t believe it — and there is my name, too,” he said. “There is Rafer Johnson and Jackie Robinson and there is my name, and I think, ‘Wow, Fred, you came here and really did something.’ “
Sources:
Sports of the Times: Longevity and the Flesh Market
Slaughter Helped Wooden, UCLA Reach a Dynasty