What he did: Sporting one of the NBA's best nicknames, former Hawks center Tree Rollins actually picked up his moniker when he was freshman at Crisp County High School in Cordele.
“The schools had just been integrated and the black school was closed and we had been moved to the white school,’’ said Rollins of his first year at Crisp in 1969. “We were in front of the school which had been refurbished with new trees and there was this kid we knew and we called him ‘Tiny Man.’ He told me I looked like one of the trees and the nickname just stuck. But everyone had nicknames back then.’’
Wayne Monte Rollins was born in Winter Haven, Fla., before his family moved Cordele, located 65 miles south of Macon. At 6-foot-11 in high school, he was recruited heavily by Auburn, Mercer and Clemson. He was close to signing with Mercer before head coach Dwayne Morrison left for Georgia Tech. Rollins didn’t want to play in Atlanta and signed with Clemson.
In four seasons at Clemson, he averaged 11.9 rebounds and 13.3 points a game and would eventually become the first player at the school in any sport to have his number (30) retired. During the summers, he improved his game by playing overseas with the Tigers and was on the 1975 gold medal Pan-American Games team. Just as important, he grew two inches to 7-1 before he was taken 14th overall by the Hawks in the 1977 NBA draft.
The Hawks were not supposed to do much his rookie season under coach Hubie Brown but they made the playoffs and Rollins became a shot blocking specialist, averaging 2.7 blocks a game.
In all, Rollins played 11 seasons in Atlanta, the Hawks making the playoffs in nine of them. His best year came in 1982-83, when he led the league in blocks with 4.3 a game and averaged a career-high 9.3 rebounds.
As the years went by, Rollins became a fan favorite and earned the nickname “The Intimidator.’’ He is remembered for starting the bench-clearing brawl with Boston in the 1983 playoffs by elbowing Danny Ainge in the head and then biting his finger.
In 1988, Rollins left the Hawks to sign with Cleveland, coming off the bench for two seasons before playing a season in Detroit and two in Houston. He wrapped up his career in 1995 as a player-coach in Orlando, where he worked with Shaquille O’Neal.
Rollins finished his career with 2,542 blocked shots, fourth all-time when he retired behind Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (3,189) and Mark Eaton (3,064). He currently sits ninth.
Rollins was later an assistant in Washington and Indiana before going to the WNBA in 2006, spending nine seasons in the women’s league, including a head coaching stint with the Washington Mystics. He retired last season after three years as an assistant with the Chicago Sky.
Where he lives: Rollins, now 60, lives in Orlando with his wife Michelle. They have four children.
What he does now: Rollins said he is semiretired and at his age, "There is not a lot of clubbing anymore. I am pretty much a homebody.''
On going to Clemson: "I really wanted to go to Mercer but their coaches left for Georgia Tech and I really didn't want to play in Atlanta. I had grown up in a smaller town and Clemson made more sense for me. What was great about Clemson was we toured all over Europe and South America during the summer. I have been fortunate to have gone to so many places that it is easier telling you where I haven't been.''
On his rookie season in Atlanta: "I think we were picked to win 10 games. We had some great rookies that year like Eddie Johnson and Charlie Criss was an older rookie that had just come into the league. Hubie played the veterans and we came off the bench and it was a good mix. The thing about being on the Hawks back then was the Braves were losing 100 games a year and we had Dominique (Wilkins) so the Hawks were the team in Atlanta everyone followed.''
On being one of the game's top shot-blockers: "A lot of things changed for me when Mike Fratello became the coach (1983) and brought in Willis Reed as an assistant. I will never forget the second day of practice when Willis stopped the practice and pulled all of us big guys to the other end of the court. There he taught us how to play professional basketball as a big man and Willis had the credentials to do so. I still to this day conduct my practices that way.''
On losing to Boston in the 1988 playoffs after being up 3-2: "We really believed and thought we could take it. But when it came down to the end, Boston was better and had more talent.''
On playing with the 5-6 Spud Webb: "I remember when Spud got waived by Detroit and we were having our preseason camp in Charleston and during practice, we saw this little kid sitting in the corner. Then we went in the locker room and the kid follows us in and gets dressed. I thought he was just helping out and it ended up being Spud. I remember that first practice he laid in a ball over everyone else and we knew he was for real.''
On being a player-coach in Orlando: "Well, we had no backup center and I was still in pretty good shape so I did it. The thing was no matter who it was, no one was going to slow down Shaquille. I think I was the last player-coach in the league.''
On coaching in the WNBA: "Coaching the women was like how the NBA played years ago. They can't fly through the sky so they work hard on fundamentals, really work on spacing on the court. It was the way I was taught how to play basketball.''
On the toughest guy to play in NBA: "Not easy because I played against a great one every night but I would have to say it was Moses Malone. In addition to everything he did inside, he could shoot it.''
On being the last NBA player to wear Converse shoes: "I had such bad feet. Shoot, when I was with Orlando, Nick Anderson wore five different shoes a game. I remember when Converse offered me $5,000 to wear their shoes, I was in heaven. I was so ignorant back then.''
On former Hawks teammates Eddie Johnson and John Drew, who both had drug problems: "I talked John Drew's ex-girlfriend and he is in New Orleans and driving a cab and doing well. Eddie is in Florida and he is not doing so well.''
On his NBA legacy: "I had a little above average career. I was a specialist like a Dennis Rodman. The game has evolved and is different now.''
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