MLK speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones gets tribute from Golden State Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO – “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Dr. Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and lawyer for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became emotional as he reflected on seeing that quote from his friend on the back of T-shirts worn by Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics players. Seeing images of King on the Chase Center scoreboards at Monday’s game touched Jones as well.

In what would have been another painful loss if it weren’t for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was honored to spend time with Jones afterwards, too.

“[It’s a] Very challenging and somewhat difficult emotional experience for me to be here because as I look out, look at the signage quoting one of Martin’s more famous sayings and so forth, I also reflect on the fact that he’s not here,” said Jones prior to the Warriors’ loss to the Celtics. “Had he lived, he would’ve been 96 years old on his birthday, the 15th of January. I have been blessed with longevity. I don’t quite understand why, but I’m 94. I was two years younger.

“So, as I sat in the arena and I looked at the signage and I looked at the T-shirts… This is capturing and reflecting on one or more of his more profound statements he made over his lifetime. It’s not too difficult to do the right thing.”

The Golden State Warriors honored Jones before the game as an Impact Warrior, and Jones visited the Warriors players after the game. The Oakland Unified School District MLK Oratorical Festival also performed at halftime. The Celtics’ 125-85 win over the Warriors was one of eight NBA games that took place on MLK Day.

King was a world-renowned Baptist minister, philosopher and social activist who played a key role in preaching nonviolence during the Civil Rights Movement. The Atlanta native was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on a walkway at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The King Holiday Bill went into law in 1983, designating the third Monday in January a federal holiday.

For the Warriors and the Celtics, it was an honor to play on the King holiday.

“I always love playing on MLK Day,” Warriors head coach and former NBA guard Steve Kerr said. “It’s a very significant day for all Americans and I think the NBA has really adopted it as part of our culture and I’m very proud of that.”

Said Celtics forward Jaylen Brown: “There are so many people that have come before us that sacrificed so much to push society forward, push equality forward. To be able to use my platform to play basketball and do what I got to do, it is the least I can do — just being able to praise those people who came before, who sacrificed so much of their lives, livelihood and family.

“As long as I’m here, I’m going to continue to honor them for that because we still have a long way to go. But we’re thankful and grateful for the sacrifices they’ve made.”

Jones said he met King in 1960 when the preacher came to his home in Altadena, California, in hopes of him becoming one of his lawyers. Jones obliged after initially declining and was a speechwriter and legal counsel for King from 1960-68, according to the University of San Francisco. Jones successfully led the legal defense for King, other Southern Christian Leadership Conference leaders and The New York Times in libel suits against them filed by the police commissioner and city officials of Birmingham, Alabama.

Jones also drafted the settlement agreement between King and the City of Birmingham to end demonstrations and the desegregation of department stores and public accommodations in 1963. Most notably, Jones assisted King in the drafting his famous “I Have a Dream” speech spoken at the Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington.

Curry said he is working on a documentary on Jones through his media platform 30 Ink and seeing him after the tough loss put him in a better mood.

“His story is unbelievable,” Curry said. “He has walked shoulder to shoulder with Dr. King and all the other leaders of the Civil Rights era. He is a true poet and true leader when it comes to being able to be the voice for a generation that is trying to make significant change for Black people all across the country.

“His story speaks to what [Monday] means. If you look to Dr. King and his legacy, Dr. Jones had a lot to do with that. He makes you smile. When you get beat by 40, he puts it in perspective. He’s seen how far we’ve come and how far we have to go as a country. He is still on the mission that they started a long time ago.”

This was also the Warriors first MLK Day game without late patriarch Al Attles Sr.

Attles passed away at the age of 87 on Aug. 20, 2024, in nearby Oakland after spending 64 years working for the Warriors. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1960 and served as a player, head coach, general manager and ambassador. That same year, King gave speeches in North Carolina in Durham and Chapel Hill. Attles was able to meet King after attending one of those speeches during his senior year at North Carolina A&T, according to his son, Alvin Attles Jr.

“At that time, you’re talking about Civil Rights and standing up for your race,” Attles Jr. told Andscape recently. “Exploration was happening as well; Martin Luther King as well as Malcolm X were becoming spokespeople for the culture. My dad, his coach Cal Irvin said, one day that they were picking a few people from the school’s athletic and scholastic side of things that we think are role models to go see Martin Luther King speak. My father said that he and less than 10 classmates were able to go and hear an entire [King] speech.

“He said Martin Luther King had a great narrative and essence to him. My dad said it was exciting to him, which to us means it was mind blowing since he wasn’t the most expressive person in the world. He said at that time Martin Luther King wasn’t near the national figure he became and didn’t have much security detail other than family. So, my father was able to go back and met him. He told Martin Luther King he was a fan of his and described him as a diminutive man who was impeccably dressed.”

King famously stated that “the time is always right to do what is right” on several occasions. During the Warriors game, several players were shown on the jumbotron during a timeout talking about how meaningful that quote is and how they defined it.

After the game, Jones spent more than 30 minutes in the Warriors’ training facility in Chase Center visiting with Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and other players.

“I’m glad that I’ve been blessed with the longevity to be able to actually see this with my own eyes,” Jones said. “And here we are at the sporting event and the people celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King, quoting him. The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”