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Donald Sterling is the most contemptible man in pro sports, and that's saying something. As if the scales of moral judgment weren't already tipped enough, Gery Woelfel of the Racine (Wisc.) Journal Times presents the latest in the Los Angeles Clippers' owner's evil.
In 2004, assistant coach Kim Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Surgery was needed. But there was a problem.
"I contacted the Clippers about medical coverage and they said the surgery wouldn't be covered," Hughes said. "I said, 'Are you kidding me?' And they said if they did it for one person, they'd have to do for everybody else."
Because everybody needs cancerous tumors extracted from their prostate. Nothing as pleasant as elective prostate surgery!
Donald Sterling
The story's only unbelievable if you are unfamiliar with Donald Sterling's story of rags to riches to Satanism. The man has been sued by the federal government for discriminating against minorities in his real estate properties, has a reported coterie of young women under his employ (several of which have filed sexual harrassment lawsuits over the years) and was accused of flat-out racism by NBA legend and longtime Clippers GM Elgin Baylor. And this is to say nothing of the way he runs his team, which includes being rather cheap considering his franchise's elite revenue streams, heckling his own players during games and firing coaches by press release.
There's a positive resolution to Hughes' story. Mike Dunleavy, the Clippers' head coach at the time, mentioned Hughes' plight to the players. Corey Maggette, Elton Brand and others covered the $70,000 in medical bills. Hughes later went on to serve as the team's interim head coach when Dunleavy was fired (by press release) midseason. At the end of that season, the Clippers didn't address Hughes' future, so he continued to work through the offseason, until the franchise decided to tell him they'd be hiring a new coach. I wonder why the Clippers have a dark cloud following them? Weird.