Best NBA Nicknames Of The Decades: 1960s

Welcome to Part 2 of NBA player nicknames from the decades. Today we cover the groovy 60s. Big thanks to the nickname curators at Basketball-Reference who filed nicknames for over 1,900 players in NBA history. I tip my cap to their dedication. Just like Part 1, we have a word cloud with all eligible players. This time it's anyone who began their NBA career in the 1960's. "Bobby" ended up being the most popular with four total players including three Bobs and one Not Bob.  

But as is always the case, the real fun here is scouring over the unique light purple names above for the gems that deserve a proper commemoration.

"Cement Mixer" (Dick Cunningham)

Cement Mixer was given as Dick's nickname from the Bucks radio announcer Eddie Doucette for embracing doing all the dirty work to help his team. He came off the bench, so I guess the idea is when he subbed in he mixed things up a bit. 

Unfortunately, his predisposition to mixing things up while doing the dirty work didn't always work out in his favor. Here's a random sports injury report from the NYT back in 1973.

What a burying of the lede masterpiece by the NYT. The guy expected to miss a week get's the first spot over "cut my toe off with a lawn mower" guy. What is it with NBA players getting hurt doing yard work? I'm just going to assume this guy is related to Jaylen Brown.

You have to respect Cunningham's game here. The man was addicted to doing the dirty work and mixing things up. But give him credit. He came back the following year as (I'm assuming) the only player in the NBA to play with nine toes. Sure it was only two games and eight total minutes - but that's almost a full MPT in the advanced stats (minutes per toe).

"Dr. Memory" (Jerry Lucas)

So turns out Jerry Lucas was the Rain Man or ChatGPT of his time. From an ESPN Century biography: 

"I knew everybody's shot in the NBA," he said. "I knew where they liked to shoot from, I knew the arc of their shots, I knew who boxed out and who didn't. I just logged that into my basketball computer in my mind."

It went on to say he memorized chapters of the bible and pages of a Manhattan phone book on national TV. So if you aren't entertained with Oppenheimer, don't complain to your grandparents who were stuck watching this version of The Manhattan Project back in their day. 

"Hambone" (Art Williams)

Per Wikipedia: "he received his nickname in junior high when someone called out, 'hambone' and he turned around". Just an unfortunate situation. Poor guy was probably just hungry. There's no shame in liking a hambone. I don't think I've ever had one but I hear they make a good soup. 

The "Big" Collection

"Big D" (Dave DeBusschere)

"Big Daddy" (Darrall Imhoff)

"Big Daddy D" (Dave Lattin)

"Big E" (Elvin Hayes)

"Big Game" (Lee Hunter)

"Big John" (John Thompson)

"Big O" (Oscar Robertson)

"Big Z" Zelmo Beaty

"The Happy Hooker" (Phil Jackson)

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I got nothing. I found no source explaining this one. I had no idea he made his money not only being a vertical threat but a horizontal one too. No wonder the triangle offense was built on the idea of letting people take turns penetrate to the rack. 

"Jumpin Joe" vs "Leapin Lee"

Nickname off! Let's go. We actually have two Jumpin Joes (Joe Ellis and Joe Buckhalter) vs Lee Winfield. Turns out, they all were good at jumping/leaping. Riveting stuff, I know. 

"Dirty Dingus" (George Carter)

So evidently there was a comedy western movie in 1970 named Dirty Dingus Magee with Frank Sinatra that in some way related to George Carter. 

LMPC. Getty Images.

Carter started his NBA career in the late 60s so he must have earned the nickname after the movie. That concludes my research on George Carter. 

Let's talk about this movie. I'm putting Dirty Dingus Magee on my "must watch" list. Here's a quick sum up on the plot. Someone named Hoke Birdsill rode into a place called Yerkey's Hole because he was robbed by Dingus Magee (Frank Sinatra). The Mayor checks the laws to see what they could charge Magee with but it turns out there are no laws. Whoops! So Hoke has to become the new Sheriff to make some laws to pin "Dirty" Dingus Magee with. But wait! Then Hoke starts stealing and decides he likes being a thief too! So Dirty Dingus then decides HE wants to be Sheriff to get back at Hoke. Spoiler alert - it ends in a truce where both men burn a brothel to the ground. 

That's it for 60s. Be back for that 70s blog soon. Until then - if you missed Part 1 catch up on the nicknames of your great grandpa's NBA:

- Jeffro