Mon Aug 23 2010 02:06 PM  by DC

This is a photographic print of Kinston, NC-born (1955) basketball star Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell, who played college basketball at UNC Charlotte and then went to star with the Boston Celtics, 1977-1985. While overshadowed for much of his career by Celtics' stars like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, Maxwell played a key role in the Celtics success. He was named Most Valuable Player of the 1981 National Basketball League final. Traded by the Celtics in 1985, Maxwell played with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets before retiring in 1988. Following his retirement, the Celtics retired Maxwell's jersey number "31". Maxwell now lives in retirement in Boston, where he is now a radio broadcaster. Maxwell was given his nickname by his college teammate Melvin Watkins who thought Maxwell looked like the star of the movie "Cornbread, Earl and Me" in which a 12-year old boy suffers the murder of his friend, a basketball star. In the photgraph below, taken during a public appearance at a Kinston public school. The school's basketball coach, Paul Jones, in seen in the background. Jones attended East Carolina College, 1950-1954.