Bob Warren obit

Bob Warren, Teammate Who Asked for Forgiveness, Passes Away

 

He was not on the list.

I was saddened to receive an email from Perry Wallace today informing me that his former teammate Bob Warren has passed away. After his playing career at Vanderbilt, Warren played for a decade in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and then became a minister in his home state of Kentucky. A teammate of Wallace’s during Wallace’s first year on the Vanderbilt varsity, Warren is a key figure in Strong Inside. Chapter 1 opens with a scene at Professor Wallace’s office at American University in Washington, DC. Warren has come to visit his old teammate to deliver a message nearly 40 years in the making, asking Wallace for forgiveness for not doing more to help him during his tumultuous pioneering experience in the SEC. Wallace’s touching reply is the final scene in the book. Without giving away the ending, Wallace considered Warren a true friend and a good and decent man, noting that those who really ought to be asking for forgiveness would never even think to ask. I enjoyed interviewing Bob Warren for the book and I know his visit to DC to see Perry was meaningful to Wallace. My deepest condolences to Bob Warren’s family.

He was born in Murray, Kentucky.

Warren played forward at the Vanderbilt University from 1965 to 1968. His listed height was 6'5" and his weight was 190 lbs. He wore jersey number 21. He was named to multiple All-SEC teams and won the 1968 SEC Sportsmanship Award. His senior season he served as team co-captain. While he never played in the NBA (he was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the fourth round of the 1968 NBA draft), he played professionally in the American Basketball Association from 1968 to 1976 as a member of the Los Angeles Stars, Memphis Pros, Carolina Cougars, Dallas Chaparrals, Utah Stars, San Antonio Spurs and San Diego Sails. In his eight-year ABA career, he scored 4,347 points and ranks 27th in ABA history in total games played (486).

Warren was the president of B.A.S.I.C (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) Training, a Christian ministry organization in Kentucky.