I Felt Polish: A Chat with American Basketball Pro Kent Washington
At the turn of the 1980s, Kent Washington became the first black American to play pro basketball in Poland. In this exclusive interview, this accomplished athlete tells Culture.pl why his time in Poland was ‘the greatest experience he ever had’, what the reactions of Polish fans were to him winning the 1983 Polish Cup and… how he ended up in the cult Polish comedy film ‘Teddy Bear’ (Miś).
Marek Kępa (MK): In 1979, after successfully competing in college basketball in the US, you came to Poland to play professionally for the Start team from the city of Lublin. How did you end up travelling across the world to play in Poland of all places?
Kent Washington in the Polish Basketball League, photo: Kent Washington's private archive
Kent Washington (KW): My college team, Southhampton College, came to Poland in 1976 to play a 14-day, seven-game tour. We played three teams in Warsaw, and then we played a tournament in Lublin, hosted by Start. I played very, very well and Start’s coach Zdzisław Niedziela invited me to come back and play any time. I had to finish my college education, which I did, and after an unsuccessful trial with the Los Angeles Lakers, I contacted coach Niedziela and we worked out a contract for me to come over and play. I had a great passion for basketball, I wanted to play somewhere. And since Poland gave me a chance, I took it.
MK: You became one of the best basketball players in Poland. You were declared MVP of the 1979/1980 season and won 1983’s Polish Cup playing for Zagłębie Sosnowiec. What were the reactions of Polish basketball fans to your success as a player?
KW: It was extraordinary. I think my ball-handling technique was something they had never seen before. They were anxious and willing to be entertained, and they saw my basketball playing as entertainment. Now, I didn’t see it that way, that’s just how I naturally express myself. But the Polish fan adored that type of play and I became a real sensation.
MK: In the 1960s, an American by the name of Bill Parsons played for the Polish basketball club Cracovia which, at the time, was in the second league. But you were the first Black American and black athlete of any nationality to play professional basketball in Poland. Did you feel like you were breaking through some barriers in Polish sport?
KW: So what I have offered is that I was the first American, black or white, to play professionally in the Polish first league. But at the time I had no idea I was breaking any barriers, absolutely not. I came to play basketball for Start Lublin. I had no idea that I was a pioneer, nothing at all.
MK: At the time, Poland was under the communist regime. Did you experience any culture shock coming from a democratic country like the United States?
KW: Good question, I think about that quite a bit. Yes and no, there were subtle things. I felt like I was living in a time warp, like I had gone back in time. Not that I knew it was because of communism, but it just felt like radios, television, appliances, the way people dressed were outdated. But I didn’t feel that communism was an evil empire like we’re taught in America. The people were wonderful to me, absolutely wonderful, I made plenty of friends, I just felt great there. So, your question is difficult to answer because I didn’t feel as though communism was different. I felt that the lifestyle was different, it was like I was thrown back in time.
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Kent Washington, photo: Kent Washington's private archive
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MK: Due to internal tensions in Poland in 1981, the communist regime introduced Martial Law which lasted until 1983. There were tanks and soldiers in the streets, what was this uneasy time like for you?
KW: It was interesting. They had postponed games, but I think we could still practice. I remember I was walking to Zagłębie’s sport hall and there were tanks on the street and some of the soldiers knew me. And they said ‘Kent Washington, koszykarz!’ (Kent Washington, basketball player!). And I said ‘tak’ (yes). I went over to them and started signing autographs. I used to see them every night, we used to wave to each other. I never felt threatened, I never felt afraid. My girlfriend Bożena Sadowska and I, we would just make out like we were Polish, I felt Polish. I would get my rationing cards, I would trade my alcohol and my cigarette coupons for chicken coupons if I could.
MK: Chicken was your favourite meal, right?
KW: Chicken and French fries, yes! But Bożena started to cook different things so I had to eat other things too. But she and I really lived a Polish life, I felt Polish! I spoke Polish, I was accustomed to the culture, I could talk to my neighbours. So I actually felt Polish, I never felt threatened or scared. I just wanted to play more basketball, that was the only thing.
MK: Did your girlfriend at the time perhaps whip up any Polish dishes for you?
KW: Yes, schabowy, it’s like a pork chop. Also bigos, and she used to make beets – this really good beet dish, I think it was borscht. I don’t know how she did that but it was very good. She fixed all kinds of different meals for me.
MK: You mentioned you learned some Polish. How hard was that and do you still remember a bit?
KW: In Lublin, when I lived in a house, I had a room and in my room I had a radio. And I figured that if I’d leave my radio on a talk show all night long, very low, I would subconsciously learn words. So through doing that, just through hearing Polish every day, I learned to speak Polish. It wasn’t really grammatically correct, but I could speak it. So it wasn’t that difficult. I often heard my teammates speak and I was around them a lot, four, five hours a day, so I just kind of learned it. ‘Dzień dobry’ (Good morning), ‘jak się masz?’ (how do you do?), ‘bardzo dobrze’ (very good) and I could pronounce every city like ‘Rzeszów’, ‘Wrocław’, all these very difficult things. People thought that I spoke quite well, especially by my fourth year.
MK: Wow, that’s amazing. So you still remember a bit?
KW: Oh, yeah. ‘Pamiętam dużo, ale rozumiem mało’ (I remember a lot but understand little). Hah!
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Kent Washington in the film 'Miś' by Stanisław Bareja, photo: 'Zebra' Film Studio
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MK: In 1980, you played a brief episode in the iconic Polish comedy film ‘Teddy Bear’ (Miś), where you show off some cool basketball tricks. This film is an absolute classic in Poland, one my friends knows nearly all the lines from this movie by heart. How did you become a part of it?
KW: One day, after practice with Start Lublin, my translator, Wojtek Popiołek, and I were called into the president’s room. And I’m like: ‘uh-oh, what now?’. The president told Wojtek that a movie director called them and asked if I could come to, I think Warsaw?, to be in a film. So as my translator is telling me this I’m thinking ‘What? It must be a comedy if they want me in it!’. We agreed to it and we drove down there. I met Stanisław Bareja [the director of Miś] and Stanisław Tym [the film’s lead actor]. Bareja explained exactly what I was supposed to do. They gave me a plastic basketball, which I wasn’t used to dribbling, and they asked me to dribble all over the room and then spin the ball. I said ‘Ok, can I practice this?’. So they let me practice first and I’m dribbling all over the room, and when I stopped the mouths of all the cameramen and people in the room were just hanging open, they were looking at me as if they were about to say ‘what just happened?’. I was quite possibly the first American in a film under communism. Parsons didn’t do that!
MK: Speaking of movies, did you know that you were the inspiration for another Polish comedy? 1988’s ‘Czarodziej z Harlemu’ (The Wizard of Harlem) follows an American basketball player, who decides to be a pro in Poland and experiences some curious situations there…
KW: Sure, I’ve heard about it.
MK: Have you ever seen it?
KW: I saw parts of it on YouTube, you know… it’s not as good as Miś.
MK: Are there any places in Poland that particularly stuck in your memory, apart from basketball courts of course?
KW: Yes, Biała Podlaska, the university. Me, my teammate Marek Choina and Wojtek Popiołek went there once to speak to the students. They asked me a bunch of questions and they stayed with me until today. I was probably their age, maybe a couple of years older, and here is a Black American who lives in a democracy, conversing with young Polish people, living under a communist regime, and our conversation is so enlightening. I learned about them, they learned about me. It just showed me that people from different cultures and governments can communicate if they want to.
We talked about sports because they were a sports college. They were a little upset that a lot of them couldn’t see the games. Because tickets were always sold out. So I said, well, why don’t you come to our practices and watch them. You’ll learn more in practice than you’ll ever learn at a game. Because games are the finished product; practice is where the work is done. You can watch us get yelled at, you can listen to what the coach says to us, you can watch us make mistakes, how we communicate with each other. And I think some of them came to those practices. It was a great time for me because the questions they asked were so engaging. And I tried to give them engaging, involved answers.
MK: Things have changed so much in Poland since the eighties, especially since the fall of communism in 1989. Did you ever come back to Poland after leaving in 1983?
Kent Washington, photo: Kent Washington's private archive
KW: I never came back to Poland. However, my daughter was a softball player for the Swedish national team. And we went to the Czech Republic about four years ago. When I was there last, playing with a Polish team against the Czechs, Czechoslovakia looked like Poland. The Czech Republic now looks like America. My wife had to actually comfort me because I had tears in my eyes looking at how the Czech Republic changed. I went through culture shock, I couldn’t believe it. If and when I go back to Poland – I’ll to try to get there in a couple of years – I’m going to be teary-eyed there too, because I know what it was like. To see new businesses or people dressed really differently, and apartments being furnished differently, and cars that are different, will bring tears to my eyes because it’s not the Poland I knew but it is Poland now.
MK: After your time in Poland you went on to be a successful player in Sweden and later a women’s basketball coach in that country. Today you live in the States. But in an interview for Lohud you said that ‘being in Poland was absolutely the greatest time in your life’, do you still feel that way?
KW: Absolutely! Positively. Being in Poland was the greatest experience I ever had.
KW: I learned so much about myself, living in a country that was supposed to be the evil empire, was supposed to be backwards, poor, angry, mean, but actually was none of those things. Poland was embracing, friendly, concerned about me, I loved my time there. It taught me to respect other cultures and not judge before you’ve actually been there. It was the best time for me, ever.
MK: I hear you’re writing a book about your Polish experiences, what can we expect from it and when do you think it’ll be ready?
KW: The manuscript is finished, but nobody wants to publish it. I’ve been to Polish and American publishers and have gotten ‘not now’ and ‘not yet.’ However, the Carter Centre, the publisher, are supposedly going to write several pages in their quarterly magazine about my memoir in July or August. Right now I’m talking to a university professor about getting my manuscript published by a college. If it all doesn’t work I’m going to self-publish it. I want it out there.
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Kent Washington, photo: Kent Washington's private archive
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MK: I’m sure loads of people would be interested. Can you give us a teaser of what’s in the book?
KW: The title is Kentomania: A Basketball Virtuoso in Poland. What’s in it? It’s from my fifth grade, starting basketball, all the way through college, to Poland. All of my practicing, how I felt during my practice. In the entire book, what’s really the message is that hard work pays off. I worked so hard by practicing that finally Poland gave me a chance and from there my basketball really took off. And of course, the book is also about Poles being wonderful people. There’s the story how I got to do Miś, a little more involved, about the tanks on the street, and about Babcia Kowalska taking care of me.
MK: What’s the story behind Babcia (Grandma) Kowalska?
KW: I lived in her house in Lublin, I had a room there. She cooked my meals, she washed my clothes, she was my babcia! I loved her and I think she loved me, I don’t know. (laughs)
MK: Yeah, there’s nothing quite like a Polish babcia!
KW: No, nothing. You know, I would go into town and be mobbed by people, but babcia treated me like I wasn’t a basketball star. She told me ‘eat your food’, ‘keep your room clean’, things like that.
MK: That’s sweet. Well, I guess that’s that. It’s been very nice talking to you.
KW: Bardzo dobrze mówisz (well said)! Thank you very much, this is important to me. I want the Polish and the American reader to understand what a wonderful time I had in Poland.
KW: Bardzo dziękuję (thank you very much)! Do widzenia (goodbye)!
Interview conducted by Marek Kępa, Jun 21
