ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. - "Anything you want to accomplish, anything you want to do or become, it starts with a dream," said Robert "Butterbean" Love, keynote speaker for the depot's Black History Month celebrations.
Love spoke of the power of dreams to nearly 400 depot employees during two events on Feb. 11 - a breakfast for second shift workers at the Berman-Varner House and a luncheon at the Physical Fitness Center - detailing events in his life that led him from the stuttering child he was to the confident adult he has become.
He grew up as one of 14 children in a small house in Bastrop, La. Love said that bedtime was a rush of people trying to find room to sleep on one of the few beds, adding that he slept underneath.
Classmates made fun of Love's speech impediment when he was young, but, despite his inability to speak well, his skill in sports ultimately helped him get a college education and a contract to play professional basketball.
He was chosen 36th overall in the 1965 draft by the New York Knicks, but went on to begin his professional career the next year with the Cincinnati Royals. The Royals traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1968, but, despite scoring well for the team, the Bucks chose to let him go mid-season.
"The coach came to me and said he couldn't use me because I couldn't talk," said Love. He asked to be traded, so Love was sent to the Chicago Bulls where he played for seven and a half seasons. He thrived under coach Dick Motta, quickly becoming a starter and the Bulls' top scorer.
"I'm the guy who set all the records for the Chicago Bulls. In every offensive category, I was number one," said Love.
In 1976, Love went to the New York Knicks before being traded in 1977 to the Seattle Sonics. An injury put an end to his playing career and his stuttering proved to be an obstacle in getting a job off the court.
In the early 1980s, Love found work as a busboy and dishwasher, a job that began as an embarrassment, but ended as a blessing.
"It was some of the most humiliating days, weeks and months of my life," said Love. "But I took all the whispers and stares and turned them into an opportunity."
The restaurant's owner saw that Love was willing to work hard, so he paid for a speech therapist to cure Love's stuttering, giving him the key to achieve his lifelong dream.
Throughout his childhood he had dreamed of giving inspirational speeches, like his hero, Martin Luther King Jr. As a child, Love's grandmother had attempted a home remedy for his stuttering - putting marbles under his tongue - but he always wound up swallowing some of them and never saw a benefit from it.
"I told her I was full up to here with marbles," said the 6-foot-8-inch Love, placing his hand just beneath his chin.
Thanks to the generosity of his employer, and plenty of hard work, Love finally achieved his dream. In 1993, he returned to the Bulls, this time as director of community relations.
"I go all across the country speaking to large groups and small groups," he said. "I never could have done that if I had played the victim."
Love encouraged the audience to have a good attitude and follow their dreams, telling them to make education their top priority and never let stumbling blocks get in the way of success.
"Each of us here, in our lifetime, is going to be knocked down," he said. "The important thing is that you have to get back up."
Love's story was a powerful message to those in the audience, and Kim Green, who coordinated the events for the depot's Equal Employment Office, said she felt it was a message that could relate to every employee on the installation.
"His story carried the very heartfelt message that if you have a dream you should stick to it and make it come true," said Green. "That story is relevant for just about every employee on the depot."
In addition to his own story, Love shared the stories of three other people - Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan - who each faced their own stumbling blocks early in life and who each kept their dreams alive until they came true.
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