Posted on 12/07/2009 11:50:05 AM PST by ETL
NEW YORK (CBS) --
Audrey Johnson Was Longtime Companion Of Former Sixers Star World B. Free
The longtime companion of a former NBA star was killed in Brooklyn while trying to stop an assault outside her family's home. The shooting happened right in front of 149 Clifton Place in Bed-Stuy.
Police said 51-year-old Audrey Johnson had just come back home when she heard about a confrontation on the sidewalk in front of her home. She came outside to see what what happening.
Her niece, Jeromeka Johnson, told CBS 2HD that the victim, who lives in East Orange, N.J., had returned to her childhood home to cook Sunday night dinner.
She heard that three men were assaulting her niece's boyfriend. When she went outside to help him, she was shot once in the head and pronounced dead at the scene.
Her 14-year-old nephew was shot in the leg.
Johnson was a longtime companion of former NBA All-Star Lloyd "World" B. Free of the Philadelphia 76ers and other teams in the late 70s. His wife is remembered as a loving, generous person.
"My aunt was a very, very nice lady. Everybody knew her for her giving. That's all she did, was give, give, give. We could go to her house. We've been to 76ers games. If there's a game in Philly, we're there. She got the tickets for us to go there, come out here, pick us up in a limo, all of that. She's a very good person," Jeromeka said. ..."
(Excerpt) Read more at wcbstv.com ...
Very sad. Hope they catch those punks.
Lloyd Free was a pretty good player for the Sixers, back in their hey day.
Why do they call her a "companion" if she was Free's wife?
Aww, come on. It could have been worse.
It could have been a "hate crime".
This entire article reads like it was written by an 8th grader for the school paper.
Typical TV journalism.
I thought New York B. Free of guns. How could this possibly happen?
I don't know. WCBS.com is a strange/liberal website.
Oops. It was her niece’s boyfriend. Not her nephew.
I do hope they catch the punks and leave them in some dark hellhole for the rest of their lives.
Lloyd Free was a 6th Man guard on the Sixers team that featured Doctor J, Doug Collins, George McGinnis, and Billy Cunningham. Actually there was a group of young players that came of the bench as a unit to shake things up. The baby-Sixers included Free, Darryl Dawkins & Kobe Bryant’s Dad — Joe “Jellybean” Bryant.
Free left for the Denver Nuggets. I think it was there that he christened himself “World B” Free. He averaged something like 30 ppg in the high-flying Denver Nuggets offense for a few years.
Thanks for the info on “Free”. I wasn’t into basketball much at that time. Just football, and horse racing.
Didn’t he play for the Cavs for a while too?
The whole incident reminds me of Chicago, and the honors student beaten to death by thugs.
The Vicious preying on the Good.
This is very disheartening.
Whether she was a wife (Wikipedia) pr “long-time lover,” what the heck isshe doing living in Bedford-Stuy?!
I think so. I followed those Sixers pretty closely back in high school. When I was in college I followed the college game — Big East, mostly.
Philadelphia 76ers (1975–1978)
San Diego Clippers (1979–1980)
Golden State Warriors (1980–1982)
Cleveland Cavaliers (1982–1986)
Miami Tropics (USBL) (1986–1987)
Houston Rockets(1987–1988)
My mistake. Free went to the Clippers, not the Nuggets. Free finished 2nd twice to George “iceman” Gervin in scoring. Gervin could really fill-it-up.
Very sad.
Why would ANYBODY be crazy enough to try to stop some “urban youths” from fighting?
Nothing good ever came of it.
World was an out-sized personality when the NBA really needed it in the late 70s. He was one of the first players that the media referred to as a “scorer” rather than a “shooter” (at least that I remember). Iceman was a much better all around player, though, and then came Magic and Bird to take the NBA in a different direction...
hh
There were 2 distinct games in the NBA back then: the eastern style had a lot more banging, illegal ‘zone’ defenses, etc. The western game was far more fast-break & free-wheeling. I think Bird & Magic really re-inforced those stereotypes, plus it made the western-variant competitive as far as winning championships went.
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