Maurie

Stokes and Twyman were teammates on the Rochester Royals during the 1950s. Stokes fell ill three days after the last game of the 1957–58 NBA season. Three days later, after an opening-round playoff game against the Detroit Pistons, Stokes became ill during the team's flight back to Cincinnati, suffered a seizure and fell into a coma to awaken in a Cincinnati hospital three weeks later. He would be confined to bed or a wheelchair as an almost completely paralyzed quadraplegic, and would need constant nursing care.