nba July 14, 2011 3:07am EDT

Tom Meschery can claim being the first Chinese and Russian NBA player

The first great NBA player born in China was not Yao Ming. It was Tom Meschery. Though his parents were Russian, he was born in China. He spent his early childhood in a concentration camp in Japan before moving to the United States after World War II. He played 10 years in the NBA, made an All-Star team and coached one in the ABA before pursuing a teaching and writing career. Now retired and living in California, he has written several books, both narrative and poems, and has another book of poetry coming out in the fall. He blogs at Meschery Musings.

How did you get interested in poetry?

I’m a Russian immigrant, so it’s part of our tradition. My mother loved poetry, my father recited poetry, loved poetry. I always thought it was a natural thing. I’ve never been intimidated by poetry like most American males are. I gravitated toward it, always read it, always loved it. Later in my life, I started to write it.

You were a bruiser in basketball. Is your poetry similarly aggressive?

No, I don’t necessarily think so. I wouldn’t say that my poetry is lyrical. I tend a little more to the narrative style of poetry. The poems tend to tell stories a little bit more. I do a lot of poetry now in what they call prose poems. They’re not bruising, necessarily, but they’re a little stronger, a little more noun-verb, less adjectives, less adverbs.

What are the similarities between writing poetry and being a good athlete?

Poetry is instinctive. It’s an instinctive art. Sports, athletics, is an instinctive form of physical experience. You practice, practice, practice. But when the game starts, you have to rely on muscle memory. In many ways, that’s the way you write poetry. You read poems, you study poems, you look at them, you absorb it. You read other people’s work. Then when you sit down to actually write, you let the pen do the writing for you. There’s that old cliche that it writes itself. Cliché is truth said too many times. You don’t map poetry out. It’s like when you get the ball. You just do it. That’s very much the same way as poetry. It’s reflexive and emotional and instinctive art form. And so is sports, in a sense.

You were born in China and lived in a concentration camp in Japan. Whenever I ask questions like this, I feel like an idiot because you don’t have any life to compare it to.


It’s just unique. But how does this make you different?

I consider myself the first Russian to play in the NBA. Eat your heart out, Kirilenko.

Wang Zhi Zhi is typically credited with being the first Chinese-born player in the NBA. But technically, it’s you, I guess. You’re either the first Chinese guy or the first Russian.

I was born in China, so I can take credit for both countries. That’s a good point. I’m glad you made that point. (Laughs.)

Let’s say you’re Russian. It still wouldn’t be accurate to call you a European player …

That wouldn’t be accurate at all. I learned the game in the United States. I’m very much an American player.

So you don’t pay any more attention to the European players than you pay to anybody else?

No, except I really like what they’ve brought to the NBA. They’ve made a tremendous impact on the NBA. We’ve helped them by teaching them the importance of defense and strength. They’ve taught us that a big man can go out and shoot the ball. They’re a little more finesse and team oriented. We tend to be more bruising and one on one. I think the blend of the two has created a very dynamic NBA.

What did you think of Dirk Nowitzki in the finals?

What I love the most about Dirk Nowitzki is how much he has grown. This guy couldn’t guard my grandmother when he started. Now, he’s a reasonably good defender, and he’s tough, and he goes to the boards, and he drives. He never did that before. He has really come around and learned. I love that in a player.

You were tight with Wilt Chamberlain, right?

I was.

What was he like?

He was a marvelous guy. He was very misunderstood throughout his life. A lot of it was his own doing. He didn’t do well with the media. He never promoted himself very much, not as a good guy. He was always compared to Bill Russell. Russell was always the good guy, the white hat. Wilt was always the black hat. It was very unfortunate, Wilt was a very sweet guy. He did a lot of very unselfish things on the QT, for children and for sports in general. He was a loyal friend, a very nice character.

I read somewhere that if he was playing cards and there was money involved, you wanted to be sitting next to him.

You wanted to be in every card game he played in, believe me. He never bluffed. Consequently, you could win a lot of money. Wilt was a terrible card player. If Wilt was having a card game, you would kill people to get in that game.