{"id":692888,"date":"2026-04-02T00:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692888\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T00:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:06:29","slug":"ex-nuggets-stalwart-bobby-wilkerson-who-gave-chauncey-billups-smooth-nickname-to-be-honored-with-iconic-1976-indiana-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692888\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Nuggets stalwart Bobby Wilkerson, who gave Chauncey Billups ‘Smooth’ nickname, to be honored with iconic 1976 Indiana team"},"content":{"rendered":"

During halftime of Monday night\u2019s NCAA championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Bobby Wilkerson will be introduced along with teammates from Indiana\u2019s iconic 1976 title team and will wave to the crowd.<\/p>\n

So what does Wilkerson remember from the title game 50 years ago when the Hoosiers defeated Michigan 86-68 to cap a perfect 32-0 basketball season?<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing at all,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because 2 minutes into the game at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, the versatile Indiana guard and future Nuggets stalwart was inadvertently whacked across the left temple by an elbow from the Wolverines\u2019 Wayman Britt, who had stormed in for a fast-break layup. In a very scary scene, Wilkerson lay unconscious on the floor for more than 5 minutes before being taken by an ambulance to the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I remember is after the game, coach (Bobby) Knight came to the hospital along with John Havlicek,\u2019\u2019 said Wilkerson, referring to the Hall of Fame forward who was then with the Boston Celtics and had been Knight\u2019s teammate at Ohio State. \u201cThe nurse kind of shook me and woke me up and I said, \u2018Did we win?\u2019 Coach Knight said, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 Then I was back out cold. I was in the hospital for four days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Bobby Wilkerson, who played on Indiana\u2019s 1976 NCAA championship team, later played for the Denver Nuggets and coached at CU-Boulder. (Photo courtesy of Indiana Athletics)<\/p>\n

Wilkerson, 71, said the injury ended up causing long-term effects with his vision. Although he said his vision wasn\u2019t hampered when he played for the Nuggets from 1977-80 and was a University of Colorado assistant from 1986-90, he said significant issues began to surface about 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson has had several surgeries and has taken all sorts of pills and used various eye drops and ointments, but nothing has fully worked. He hasn\u2019t driven a car for 10 years but has a nephew who takes him around his native Anderson, Ind., which is 45 miles northeast of Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat hit in college, they say I could have died,\u201d Wilkerson said. \u201cThe trauma ended up messing up my eye pressure, and it just got worse over time. It brought my spirits down but thank goodness I\u2019m still here. While I still have some problems, it doesn\u2019t stop me from living. I\u2019ve got good company that looks out for me. My niece (Sheri Dozier) handles my emails and stuff but I\u2019m really independent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ex-Nuggets guard and Colorado assistant coach Bobby Wilkerson wears the 1976 NCAA championship ring he won at Indiana. (Photo courtesy of Bobby Wilkerson)<\/p>\n

Wilkerson, who made Denver his primary residence from 1977-92, is known for having given future NBA star Chauncey Billups his \u201cSmooth\u201d nickname while coaching him at the former Skyland Recreation Center when Billups was about 8. He is fired up about being at the Final Four in Indianapolis, which is 50 miles north of Indiana\u2019s campus in Bloomington. In Saturday\u2019s semifinals, Connecticut will play Illinois and Arizona and Michigan will meet, with the winners squaring off Monday.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson will give interviews and meet fans throughout the weekend along with other stars from that legendary Indiana team, including forward Scott May, center Kent Benson and guard Quinn Buckner. The Hoosiers are the last Division I men\u2019s college basketball team to go undefeated en route to a title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the greatest team of all time,\u2019\u2019 said Wilkerson, who also took part in a reunion the team had at a Feb. 9 game against Oregon in Bloomington. \u201cIt\u2019s been 50 years and nobody has matched what we did. People who weren\u2019t even born then know about that team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Indiana teammates Bobby Wilkerson, left, and Kent Benson, who were members of the 1976 Indiana national championship team, pose at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., on Feb. 9, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Bobby Wilkerson) <\/p>\n

Wilkerson is now principal of 1976 Team LLC, a charitable organization that most of the players off Indiana\u2019s undefeated team are involved with. It raises funds for the underserved in the state, and players from the team plan to publicize it during the Final Four.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson said money raised will help people in Anderson, which has been downtrodden since a General Motors plant downsized late in the past century, and about 20,000 employees ended up losing their jobs. After Anderson had a population of 70,787 in the 1970 census, it was 54,788 in 2020.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson is a hero in Anderson, and the city recently announced that a street in town will be named after him. Wilkerson is focusing on raising funds to build a recreation center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t even have one,\u2019\u2019 said Wilkerson, who returned to his hometown about 10 years ago to help the community. \u201cAnything I can do to help these kids, I want to do. And the 1976 team, we agreed that we would start first in my hometown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Bobby Wilkerson, left, of Indiana, eyes a loose ball knocked out of the hands of Purdue\u2019s Eugene Parker during second half action in Lafayette, Ind., Feb. 16, 1976. Wilkerson was called for a foul, but the Hoosiers remained undefeated, downing Purdue. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

Wilkerson long has been civic minded. He played in the NBA from 1976-83, which also included stints with Seattle, Chicago and Cleveland. Following his retirement as a player, he settled down at the home he owned in Denver and sought to help the community.<\/p>\n

For three years in the mid-1980s, Wilkerson was a volunteer at the Skyland Recreation Center, which was replaced by the Hiawatha Davis Jr. Recreation Center in 2001. He worked there with kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of pro athletes come through back then, but some of them you\u2019d never see again,\u2019\u2019 said Harry Hollines, 80, a former star University of Denver basketball player who was the recreation director for 34 years for the Denver Parks and Recreation Department, and once oversaw Skyland. \u201cBut Bobby always was there. If he said he was going to be there at a certain time, he would be there. The kids loved him. He would ride on the bus with them to go to Nuggets games, Broncos games, (minor-league) baseball games.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Denver basketball star Harry Hollines will be inducted in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in April 2026. (Photo courtesy of University of Denver Athletics)<\/p>\n

While at Skyland, Wilkerson met Billups, who is now 49 and grew up in Denver\u2019s Park Hill neighborhood. It didn\u2019t take long for Wilkerson to see that Billups was a special talent in basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always came around and I loved working with him,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cHe was talented. I loved his skill set. I helped him with fundamentals, like being a point guard, showing him to see the whole floor. I knew he was going to be somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkerson worked with Billups throughout his time at Skyland. When the future Hall of Fame guard was about 8 around 1984, Wilkerson gave him the nickname \u201cSmooth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to give a lot of the kids nicknames,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cThere was \u2018Speedy\u2019 and \u2018Money.\u2019 Chauncey was \u2018Smooth\u2019 because that\u2019s what he was. And everybody started calling him that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nickname stuck as Billups went on to star at George Washington High School, Colorado and in the NBA from 1997-2014. That included stints with the Nuggets from 1998-2000 and 2008-11. Throughout his NBA career, a tattoo on Billups\u2019 right bicep reading \u201cSmooth\u201d was very noticeable.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy coach, Bobby Wilkerson, gave everybody on the team nicknames,\u2019\u2019 Billups told The New York Post in 2011. \u201cThat\u2019s the one he gave me. Nobody ever really calls me Chauncey. In my old neighborhood, that\u2019s what they call me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Bobby Wilkerson, who won the 1976 NCAA championship at Indiana, also played for the Nuggets and coached at CU-Boulder. (Photo courtesy of Bobby Wilkerson)<\/p>\n

Billups did not return a message seeking comment. After being Portland\u2019s coach from 2021-25, Billups was arrested in October by the FBI for his alleged involvement in an illegal gambling scheme and was suspended indefinitely by the NBA. He has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges and has a trial date set Nov. 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless he tells me something, I\u2019m not going to believe it,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said of the charges. \u201cI just know his character and I know who he is. He\u2019s a man of faith, so don\u2019t badmouth his name around me because I knew him from the beginning. I support him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkerson hasn\u2019t seen Billups since he was with Detroit about 20 years ago and the Pistons played in Indianapolis. Wilkerson met up with the star guard after the game and the two embraced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe greeted me warmly,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cI was just happy to see him. We took a photo together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about seeing then the \u201cSmooth\u201d tattoo Billups had, Wilkerson said, \u201cI thought it was great. I guess (the nickname) rubbed off on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-7 Wilkerson certainly had the credentials to help guide Billups. Coming out of Madison High School in Anderson, Wilkerson was highly recruited and went by the nickname \u201cSpiderman\u201d due to his long arms.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson signed with Indiana in 1972 and was academically ineligible as a freshman. He played three seasons with the Hoosiers, which included averaging 7.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists as a senior in 1975-76.<\/p>\n

But statistics hardly tell the full story of Wilkerson. He wasn\u2019t needed to score a lot because the Hoosiers had All-Americans May and Benson doing much of that. He was by far the team\u2019s top defensive player and often shut down opposing high scorers. With his long arms and leaping ability, he jumped center for the Hoosiers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Top-ranked Indiana\u2019s Bobby Wilkerson, a 6-foot, 6-inch junior forward, goes up for one of his 18 points in the Indiana Hoosiers\u2019 74-48 Big Ten Conference basketball victory over Michigan, in Indianapolis, Ind., Feb. 4, 1975. Wilkerson was the game\u2019s top scorer while C.J. Kupec, right, led the Michigan wolverines with 17 and Dave Baxter (25) added six more. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

\u201cI took pride in my versatility,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cI could play every position from point guard to center. I put on my hard hat and did whatever I could do. And all we did was win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knight, who was Indiana\u2019s coach from 1971-2000 and died in 2023, once called Wilkerson the \u201cmost valuable player I ever coached.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Knight said it, it\u2019s true,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said.<\/p>\n

In Indiana\u2019s 65-51 win over UCLA in a 1976 national semifinal, Wilkerson only scored five points, but had a career-high 19 rebounds to go along with seven assists while playing 38 minutes.<\/p>\n

In the national title game, Wilkerson easily won the jump ball and May soon hit a jumper for a 2-0 Hoosiers lead. But after Britt put the Wolverines up 6-4, his elbow smashed into Wilkerson, putting him out of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilkerson has been knocked cold,\u2019\u2019 narrator Bill Flemming said in the official 1976 NCAA Final Four highlight film. \u201cHe lay motionless under the Michigan basket for a long time, more than 5 heart-stopping minutes. Fear quickly spread through the crowd of more than 17,000 people in The Spectrum. Wilkerson definitely appeared seriously injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Indiana men\u2019s basketball player Bobby Wilkerson during the game between the Oregon Ducks and the Indiana Hoosiers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. (Photo courtesy of Emma Pearce\/Indiana Athletics)<\/p>\n

The shocked Hoosiers fell behind 35-29 at halftime. But after a talk by the fiery Knight, they stormed back in the second half for the resounding win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough because when I did get out of the hospital, all they had for me was a ticket to catch a flight back home to Indiana,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cI went home to my family (in Anderson) and I was ticked off because nobody from the school had called my family to tell them what had happened to me (after being taken to the hospital). So they had a celebration (for winning the championship), but I didn\u2019t go to it because I felt like somebody should have called my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkerson eventually got over that disappointment and became an effective NBA player. He was taken in the first round of the 1976 draft, going No. 11 to Seattle, following May, who went No. 2 to Chicago, and Buckner, taken No. 7 to Milwaukee. Benson, then a junior, was the NBA\u2019s top pick by the Bucks in 1977.<\/p>\n

After one season with the SuperSonics, Wilkerson was traded to Denver. With the Nuggets from 1977-80, he averaged 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists playing multiple positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby was a great player,\u2019\u2019 said Hall of Fame inductee David Thompson, a Nuggets guard from 1975-82. \u201cVery versatile. Underrated. He could play three different positions (point guard, shooting guard, small forward). He started out as a forward and when Brian Taylor left the team (after one Nuggets season in 1977-78), he moved to point guard and did a great job with us. He was a great defensive player, 6-7 with long arms. He could guard a number of different people and hold them down. He was great teammate and a heck of a guy. One of those glue guys that helped the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Denver Nuggets Darnell Hillan (#30) and Bobby Wilkerson surround Seattle Sonics sharpshooter Fred Brown during first; quarter action on Sunday, May 15, 1978 in Denver. After averaging nearly 17 points a game against Denver in the playoffs, Brown was held by Wilkerson to just four points as Denver won to send the sixth game back to Seattle. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

After being traded to Chicago, Wilkerson played with the Bulls in 1980-81. He concluded his career with the Cavaliers from 1981-83. He then made the decision to settle in Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved playing in the city,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cThe fans were great. It was a really great experience for me. So I wanted to come back and live there.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 1986, Wilkerson landed a job as a Colorado assistant under head coach Tom Miller. The Buffaloes struggled, going 35-79 in four seasons before Miller and Wilkerson both were fired. But Wilkerson considered it a valuable experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record wasn\u2019t good, but I think there was growth,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cI went into the inner cities like Detroit to recruit kids and there was an adjustment period for them coming to Boulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Buffaloes went 19-14 in 1990-91 under new coach Joe Harrington, who had several top players that Wilkerson helped recruit. Wilkerson that season was an assistant at Maryland-Eastern Shore.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson became interim head coach at the school in 1991-92 but was fired after the Hawks finished 3-25. After that, he went into the bottled water business in Maryland, and he owns the company Water Transfer Solutions.<\/p>\n

To be close to his business operations, Wilkerson sold his Denver home in 1992 and became a full-year resident in Maryland. He later was head coach at Northwest High School in Indianapolis from 1998-2002, when he had forward Rodney Carney, a 2006 NBA first-round pick. He moved back to Anderson a decade ago to be close to family members as well as to help the community.<\/p>\n

This weekend, memories will be stirred for Anderson about his basketball career. Michigan, the school the Hoosiers defeated to cap their undefeated season, might even be in the title game Monday, when the players off the 1976 team will be introduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just blessed to be here 50 years later and be a part of this,\u2019\u2019 Wilkerson said. \u201cWe\u2019ll all tell stories about Knight. It\u2019s amazing to reminisce about that team.\u201d<\/p>\n

It figures to be an NCAA championship game that Wilkerson will remember.<\/p>\n


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