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The Seattle Supersonic who couldn't read or write is now an author

Basketball took him to the pros and around the world, but the journey from illiteracy to a master's degree is Dean Tolson's proudest achievement. #k5evening

SEATTLE — All his NBA hoop dreams had come true.

"I had everything," Former Seattle Supersonic Dean Tolson said. 

But Tolson had a secret.

"And then realized that I didn't have nothing," Tolson said.

Tolson grew up poor, even living in an orphanage for five years when his mother could no longer afford to take care of her children.

"I forgave her because she came back and got us," Tolson said.

One day, his aunt brought home a friend who just happened to be basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain.

"He was this awesome figure to me," Tolson said. "Something like I had never seen before in my life."

Newly inspired, the nine-year-old boy set his sights on the NBA. He put his full focus into mastering the game as he ignored his schoolwork.

"Never academics," he said.

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Tolson faced failure in the classroom but took flight on the court.

"In high school, I averaged 30 points a game and 20 rebounds," he said.

A coach had a gifted student take Tolson's college entrance exams for him.

"I didn't have to worry about anything," Tolson said.

Though he couldn't read or write, he got into the University of Arkansas, where the academic staff looked the other way.

"They gave me my grades," Tolson said.

Tolson set team records that stand to this day. In 1974, he was drafted by the Sonics.

"[It is a] Dream come true that you get to do this," Tolson said, reminiscing outside the venue where he once played, Seattle Center Coliseum, now known as Climate Pledge Arena.

As a pro, Tolson played with a freewheeling style.

"Slam-dunking from everywhere," Tolson said.

He once netted 12 points in just 60 seconds before 3-pointers were even allowed.

"The most points ever scored by any NBA player in one minute," he said, then added for emphasis, "Me."

But coach Bill Russell took a more buttoned-down approach, dating back to his legendary playing days in an earlier era.

"He believed in a fast break, but he called it the 'controlled' fast break," Tolson said. "What's a 'controlled' fast break?"

Tolson was cut after three seasons and embarked on an international career. From Anchorage to Athens, he gave it his all for the next decade and was paid with a battered and broken body.

"It's over, at 32 years old," Tolson recalled. "I couldn't read or write. I was illiterate."

Tolson's mother begged him to go back to college.

"Then the tears started rolling down her eyes from underneath her glasses," Tolson said. "My mother don't cry. She don't do that. And I knew I better listen."

He got a tutor. And got his degree.

"I finally did it," Tolson said.

Tolson started the first black-owned carpet cleaning business in Tacoma, then went back to school one more time, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a master's degree at the age of 57.

He's dedicated his life to guiding the next generation of dreamers and doers. On the day we met up with him, he's telling the kids at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club the importance of focusing on their studies and graduating.

"I've been talking to kids since the day I graduated, 1988, until this very day," Tolson said.

The guy who once couldn't read a book has now written one, a memoir called "Power Forward." 

"And I've gone from illiteracy to a bestseller," Tolson joked.

The story of Dean Tolson's life is one of perseverance, of dreams delayed but never denied.

"Never give up and never quit," Tolson said. "And you will win."

"Power Forward" is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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