Spencer Haywood

Spencer Haywood, born April 22, 1949, in Silver City, Mississippi, is an American former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist.

Haywood's father died three months before he was born. One of eleven children, he grew up in poverty on the Mississippi delta, where his family worked as sharecroppers. He was born at home with a midwife and never received a birth certificate; his name was recorded in a family bible. By the age of 13 he was the main source of income for his family, earning as little as $2 a day picking cotton from sunrise to sunset under the supervision of the landowner's overseer. At 14, he spent a night in jail after being falsely charged with threatening to kill a white man. Fearing for his well-being, his mother sent him to live with his brother in Chicago.

In 1964, Haywood moved to Detroit, Michigan, residing in the Krainz Woods neighborhood with his brother. He attended Pershing High School, playing under coach Will Robinson.

Haywood was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.