🏀0️⃣3️⃣0️⃣ Bob Riley
Bob Riley. Photo: Musée du Basket.
Meet Bob Riley, the former Atlanta Hawk who helped enrich the French game and national team as one of the first U.S.-born naturalized Frenchmen to play for Les Bleus in the 1970s.
Born July 6, 1948, Riley grew up in Salem, South Dakota and Columbus, Ohio playing basketball but never with a school team. Until he went to university at Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland, where during his freshman year basketball player Freddy Carter convinced him to leave the library and try out for the team. Riley won a spot as a walk-on, and for the following three years played for the Mountaineers on scholarship.
Bob’s Story
Riley was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 1970, spent part of the season with the team, then elected to play in Europe with Jim McGregor’s exhibition team in Summer 1971. During a match in Milan, Italy, Riley was scouted and signed by Caen Basketball Club. While he eventually spent a fruitful nine-season long career with the club, playing a role in their 1977 and 1979 vice championship seasons, things did not begin smoothly.
The American returned home to pick up some personal effects before he flew back to Paris in August 1971 to meet up with his new team…only, there was nobody at the airport upon his arrival.
“I didn’t know a word of French, and I didn’t know whether they were talking to Caen or Cannes. I tried to reach people, I had a phone number, but it was August 15 [a national holiday] and everyone was on vacation, so I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”
Riley spent the night at a hotel near Orly airport then flew back to the United States. “It was basically a 48-hour round trip with a coffee,” he recalled of the episode. The team invited him to return, and in February 1972, Riley embarked upon his career with Caen. He helped the team’s immediate concern: to win games so that they were not relegated down into the second division. But he also contributed over the longer term to the club and city’s basketball DNA.
The Sports Diplomacy Connection
Bob Riley during his days with Caen. Photo: Musée du Basket.
As a player, Riley engaged in different types of sports diplomacy. With Caen, he was at the nexus of the knowledge and technical exchange fomented by the team’s various coaches, whether they were French, Yugoslavian, or Spanish. “There was a little bit of everything,” he recalled as each tactician brought their home country’s hoops approaches to the game.
The history major also learned about France and the local basketball culture. It was all quite different from what he was used to back home. Players had to bring their own practice jerseys, equipment, and sneakers. “It was nothing like the NBA, where they’d give you five or six pairs of shoes to start the season and you didn’t pay for anything,” he recalled.
But he counted the team lucky for they played in a good-sized arena that accommodated some 5,000 fans (when security measures were ignored). “They had a pretty good gym, they had a good floor, everything was just as modern as what you would see in some of the schools in the United States,” he recalled. Even the Hawks at the time didn’t have their own gymnasium, Riley noted of how he and NBA teammates played at the old Georgia Tech University field house. That wasn’t the case in other parts of France.
“There were towns that we’d play in where you would play on asphalt or carpet. In Orthez, we played in the old city market where they sold chickens. You could find feathers on the floor.”
Bob Riley with Caen. Photo: Musée du Basket.
The club encouraged some of the players, Riley included, to coach kids Wednesdays after school. It was an activity he greatly enjoyed, and also a way to learn the language. “It’s unbelievable how much you pick up of the French language,” he said through coaching. “I loved that they kind of pushed us to do [it].” Through these Wednesday afternoon sessions, Riley also shared with his young charges about other aspects of U.S. culture beyond basketball.
“They were interested in cowboys and indians, but there were all kinds of different questions about the movies, too.” I liked talking about films with Jean Gabin, Fernandel, Bourvil and other French actors.
Riley also engaged in formal sports diplomacy during his 27 matches with Les Bleus. As a naturalized French citizen through marriage, Riley was called up for national team duty…but he was also called up for military service. Drafted by the French Army, he played with the military basketball team in the World Military Championships in Senegal in 1976.
“I loved France,” he explained, “but I didn’t like the rules that were imposed on me compared to others.” (Imagine the NCAA or NBA imposing limits on foreign born players) While he was drafted, other naturalized French players were not. The hypocrisy was not appreciated. “I went through hell for all of that,” he recalled. Still, Riley enjoyed one of the silver linings: playing with the French Army team at NATO’s SHAPE headquarters in Belgium where he met Gen. Alexander Haig.
Bob Riley at his 74th birthday celebration. Photo: Bob Riley.
Around the same time, Riley also began his career en bleu. His first game with the national team was a December 30, 1976 friendly against Finland alongside fellow U.S.-born naturalized Frenchman Barry White. The two pioneers helped Les Bleus to a 100-98 win. Over the next four years, he featured in the team’s quest to qualify for the European Championship and 1980 Olympic Games.
“I met people from all different countries,” he recalled of his national team career.
“We got to play some teams that I think probably would have given some of the NBA teams of the era a difficult time, especially if they had to play by Olympic rules. As far as I’m concerned, the basketball in Europe is a little bit of a faster game than what we see in the NBA or at the university level.”
Bob Riley and family at his 74th birthday. Photo: Bob Riley.
Mapping the Connection
From Columbus, Ohio USA to Caen, France
Further Reading/Resources
[E] Interview with the author, February 14, 2023.
[F] Clément Hebert, “Bob Riley: ‘On parle encore de moi à Caen?’” Ouest France, January 10, 2018.
[F] Dominique Wendling, “Bob Riley, le cas particulier,” Basket-Retro, June 2, 2020.
How to Cite This Entry
Krasnoff, Lindsay Sarah. “Voices: Bob Riley,” FranceAndUS, https://www.franceussports.com/voices/030-bob-riley. (date of consultation).