A starting quarterback at the historically Black Morehouse High School in Bastrop, Love went to Southern University, in Baton Rouge, La., to play football until the basketball coach, A.W. Mumford, noticed him playing pickup. Love averaged 30.6 points and 18.2 rebounds as a senior, finishing as Southern’s all-time leader in both categories.
With N.B.A. teams wary of players from historically Black colleges like Southern, Love was selected in the fourth round of the 1965 draft. He drifted from the Cincinnati Royals to a minor league, back to the Royals and to the expansion Milwaukee Bucks before sticking with coach Dick Motta’s Bulls.
Love’s first marriage, to Betty Smith, ended in divorce in 1983. He is survived by four sons and two daughters from that marriage; four sons from other relationships; three brothers; two sisters, one stepchild; 18 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and his wife, Emily Collier, whom he married in 2004.
Love was active with the Stuttering Foundation of America and maintained occasional contact with Hamilton Burleigh, who once attended a dinner at which Love was receiving an award. His speech that night was less than his fluid best.
“Here’s the deal on stuttering — there’s no cure, it’s just about managing it,” she said. “So I went back to talk to him after the speech and said, ‘We can always do a refresher.’ ”
Recalling his shame from their initial sessions, she was delighted by what he told her.
“Susan, no,” he said. “If people have problems with my stuttering, it’s their deal. It’s not keeping me anymore from doing anything I need to do.”
Bernard Mokam contributed reporting.
