By Michael Kaufman

We never called him Art. In our little house in Oceanside we called him Artie and sometimes my mother would refer to him as Arthur because that is the name Charlotte Heyman used when she talked about her son the basketball player during the weekly mahjong game at our house. I thought of Charlotte when I read the obituary in The New York Times under the headline, “Art Heyman, Star at Duke, Dies at 71.”

I was in junior high when Artie played on the Oceanside High School varsity team. As noted by the Times, “Heyman was one of the most highly recruited high school players in the nation in his senior year…” Not mentioned was the anti-Semitism he was often subjected to during high-school games in some parts of Long Island. He was often the target of Jew-baiting barbs from opposing players and he just as often responded….sometimes with harsh words of his own or perhaps later in the game with a hard foul or well-placed elbow.

I remember an away game in which Artie and a player for the home team exchanged punches and a bunch of people rushed onto the court from the stands. My father (ignoring my mother’s plea to “stay out of it Jack”) ran down too. He wrapped his strong arms around a larger man who seemed to be trying to get at Artie, and held him that way with his arms pinned until things calmed down. Then he helped the officials clear the court so play could resume.

Artie’s involvement in these sorts of incidents gave him a reputation for being ill tempered. The Times quotes an article in Sports Illustrated in 1961, his sophomore year at Duke, which described his playing style as “calculated to make points, not friends.” His nickname was the Pest. Earlier that season he and Larry Brown, his longtime rival since their playground days in Nassau County, had been suspended for a fight that occurred late in a game between Duke and North Carolina. A grainy video is available on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0RroAH4vwU. (The fight begins after about 23 seconds, as Brown drives for the basket.) Duke coach Vic Bubas told Sports Illustrated he had since been working to calm Heyman’s temper, “and he has improved 100 percent.”

“As much as any other human being,” Bubas said last week upon learning of Heyman’s death, “Art was responsible for Duke University becoming a national power in college basketball.” In his three years on the varsity, Heyman averaged 25.1 points and 10.9 rebounds. He made the all-Atlantic Coast Conference team all three years and in his senior season (1962-63) was named NCAA player of the year by The Sporting News, and “most outstanding player” of the Final Four.

A first-round draft pick by the Knicks, Heyman averaged 15.4 points per game and made the all-rookie team. But, as the Times observed, his NBA career was short lived. In 1967 he joined the newly formed American Basketball Association, where he helped lead the Pittsburgh Pipers to victory over the New Orleans Buccaneers for the league’s first championship in 1968. Ironically, Larry Brown was a starting guard for the Bucs.

“By his own account,” according to the Times, “Heyman could be difficult to deal with, clashing with coaches, players and eventually his alma mater, which he resented for not retiring his jersey number, No. 25, until 1990.” That is when it struck me. I always thought it was anti-Semitism that caused Artie to be “difficult to deal with.” But maybe his mother had something to do with it too.

Charlotte Heyman was at the center of a controversy that nearly put an end to the weekly mahjong games. Before it was over, my mom and her friends were forced to choose between Charlotte and Muriel Rothkopf, who said she would no longer continue to play if Charlotte were present. Charlotte, for her part, said it was “no big deal” and she had no problem playing with Muriel. My mother and the other players were torn. All agreed that Muriel had good reason to be upset. But was she right to insist that Charlotte be banished?

“You hair looks nice today,” Charlotte had said. Muriel smiled and was about to say thank you when Charlotte added, “Not like last week. Last week you looked like a chicken!” 

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.