"I was always at the basketball games and I remember that he was always a team player, and even if he didn't start the game, that he was with the team, " Kealoha-Scullion told us.

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He was also the first basketball player to have a shoe endorsement: for Puma.

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Mr Robinson, who has been a basketball coach and player in England and the US since 1992, said he was "disgusted" by the length of the ban.

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He was not the only top athlete at the time with a seat in the boardroom: Michael Jordan, a celebrated basketball player, was a director of Oakley, a sunglasses manufacturer.

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