When soon after I started to meditate, I seemed to find myself inside of the beautiful birds body, flying so free. It was a beautiful feeling, the feeling of free flight, and I was able to fly wherever I wished and when suddenly I returned to my own body, there underneath the tree, I felt like a new person. I felt as if I was one with all that surrounded me in nature. The Fearless Falcon Where time is lost and truth begins, the chains are finally broken. All without you find within, once scarred and tangled, now silken. The worldly lust that pained once so, seems now just an ancient token. The Fearless Falcon flies so high, True love can never be broken. I read "Cochise" and I congratulate John" "Cochise" is free, beautiful, interesting and full of surprises. It is sensitive and able to fully convey the spirit of an era, the hippie generation. An enjoyable universal crossroad, John Leslie Fultz, Cochise for European basketball fans, is a psychedelic author, who writes as creatively as he scored baskets. His college rivalry with the great Julius "Dr. J" Erving, adventures with the late, great John Belushi, his friendship with Italian singers Vasco Rossi and Lucio Dalla and his teammates, Claude English and Dino Meneghin are all included! Luca Maggitti- Journalist and Writer. Conducts basketball TV programs. Journalist for Il Tempo since 2001. "They Called Me Kociss" is an intense, fast paced, vibrant story. It is pure, sincere and honest like the man who decided to write it always was both during happy and difficult times. A great and important message that should be beneficial to the new generation. It is story that is not only for those who love basketball! Marco Tarozzi -Won Coni- USSI's Award as "Sports Writer of the Year" (2004)

THEY CALLED ME COCHISE

From The Rhody Rams to the L.A. Lakers to the European Championship during the hippie generation, and the torrid passion that ignited basketball's growth in Italy!By John Leslie Fultz

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 John Leslie Fultz
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-6767-7

Chapter One

"THOSE YEARS, "ON THE ROAD"

Framingham, Massachusetts is the city where John Leslie Fultz was born. It is about three quarters of an hour from Lowell where another famous Bostonian was born, the legendary Jack Kerouac. Maybe that's how you can explain the fact that "Cochise", a legend of Italian basketball in the Seventies, has a fast paced style in his book that is similar to "On The Road" with a setting in northern Italy. It is set in the world of American basketball stars who made Italian fans dream while playing on our courts.

Fultz had the intention of writing this book for some time. And now, finally, he can show it to the basketball world, who certainly have not forgotten him. Don't expect the usual biography, though, "They Called Me Cochise" is an autobiographical novel. It does speak of basketball, but it is above all a social story, the tale of a era, the early seventies of his experiences from Varese to Bologna in Italy. Seen through the eyes of a young man who finds himself in Italy after coming a step away from fulfilling his dream. The dream of all basketball stars, playing in the NBA!

John came so close to fulfilling his dream, but when Laker's GM, Red Shaus, offered him a minimal contract, even if with the glorious Lakers, he thanked them and headed down the road to Italy. Nevertheless, he had the capabilities and the Lakers hadn't drafted him by chance. When playing for the University of Rhode Island, he left his mark and was one of the all-time top scorers and rebounders. The memory of his encounters with a young man from Roosevelt that played at UMass, the University of Massachusetts will always remain. These two rivals played to a draw, their talents were taken to their maximum! John would later cross the ocean to play in Italy. The other, Julius Erving, would become the legendary Dr. J, a legend in the NBA!

John's history passes from his stint with the European championship team, Ignis Varese, losing in the finals to a great CSKA team to his days with Porelli's Virtus Bologna where he was the superstar. In the meantime a new lifestyle was adopted by John. He adopted the ideals pacifism, freedom of thought and action and as a symbol of these hippie ideals let his hair grow to shoulder length and, henceforth, earned the nickname Kociss. He welcomed others with these ideals in his home with typical generosity deriving from his free spirit. It was a life like "On The Road" but without forgetting his duties on the basketball court. His duels with Gary "Baron" Schull were the beginning of the great rivalry between the Virtus and Fortitudo teams. John and Schull, igniting he passion of Italian fans, built the foundation for what became known as Basketball City!

"They Called Me Kociss" is an intense, fast paced, vibrant story. It is pure, sincere and honest like the man who decided to write it always was both during happy and difficult times. A great and important message that should be beneficial to the new generation. It is story that is not only for those who love basketball!

Marco Tarozzi – Won Coni-USSI's Award as "Sports Writer of the Year" (2004)

PROLOGUE- DESTINATION ITALY

The book I wrote is entitled "They Called Me Cochise" due to the fact that the Italian fans nicknamed me Cochise or Kociss in Italian. It's a autobiographical novel regarding my life as a pro basketball player during the early seventies, during the hippie generation. After playing at the University of Rhode Island and becoming one of the all-time top scorers and rebounders, I was drafted by the Lakers but went to Italy to play on the European Championship team, Ignis Varese. From there I went to Bologna to play on the Virtus team and, in the meantime returned to L.A. only to lose a contract due to drug problems.

Through exciting life experiences described page after page we not only learn basketball history, including the European scene and the basketball boom in Bologna, but also analyze hippie principals and their resulting effects. Of course, some of the hippie doctrine like world peace, sharing and helping the disadvantaged, appreciating and protecting nature were positive but others which include attempting to achieve higher consciousness with experiences induced chemically and the promiscuity resulting from the concept of free love were dangerously negative. This book is a realistic and transparent trip through a life haunted by consequences caused by the application of these wrong principals and in its ending offers an alternative that could be beneficial to today's youth. Because of its honesty and transparency it should become an important tool to help today's youth make the right choices.

Probably the greatest satisfaction I have had has been due to the reviews that I have had from critics and writers who appreciated the book. One accomplished sports writer, Marco Tarozzi who is such an admirer of Jack Keroac that he went to the States to visit his grave, generously compared it to "On The Road" due to its page turning adventurous life descriptions and fast paced style! He also wrote that he believes that all sports fans and basketball fanatics should read my story since it does describe my times with the Lakers, my encounters with Dr. J and even hippie-like experiences with John Belushi as well as the basketball scene and life in Italy!

SAYING GOODBYE

I said goodbye to my beautiful Mom Lucille, intelligent stepfather Frank, and studious brother Bob the night before I was to depart for Italy. They treated me to a lobster dinner at Anthony's Pier 4 overlooking Boston Harbor. Of course, my cute and witty girlfriend Betty was there as well.

Missing was my lovely sister Barbara who was on the west coast with her husband Don. I had seen a lot of them when I was with the Lakers and they were living in Newport Beach. I really love both of them, they're such a great couple! Maybe they should have put me in chains and not let me leave the Lakers!

My Mom told Betty, "How can you stand him being over there, so far away? I just don't understand why he's not staying here and playing for the Lakers!", and nearly broke down in tears.

Betty replied with her usual timely wit, "Well I really don't know he hasn't gone yet. Personally I'm going to do my best to go over for a long visit. I think it will be a great experience for John."

"Yeah, I'll do the same. I've never been to Italy and sure would like to visit," agreed my Mom.

"You can both come any time you please cause you'll always be my number one and number two girls!", I said emphatically.

"I don't even think you should be going. You should stay here and graduate and then think of hoopin," said my brother Bob intelligently.

"Well, intervened Frank, I think it's a good experience going over to visit Europe, even if I've always thought that throwing a ball through a hoop was a stupid activity."

"Oh stop that please Frank," said my Mom nearly in tears, "he's just doing what his real Dad Jack would have wanted him to do. He was a pro player with the Boston team, didn't you know that?" Actually, he had played for a team called the Whirlwinds in the Eastern League and at Michigan before joining the marines.

"Yeah, you've only told me about a thousand times," he objected irritated.

"Well...