Alfred E. McGuire

[MARQKC]

Entered into eternal rest, Jan. 26, 2001.

Could we have a better opponent for this anniversary?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NXHrc080-E

Ring Out, Ahoya!

[CAINMUTINY]

RIP AL

I always loved the story about the speech he gave at ND. When people weren't listening to him he stopped and shouted "If you don't shut up I'm going to go back to Marquette and start a football team!".....Way to go AL!!!

"A Notre Dame grad will pick his nose just to show you his class ring" - AL McGuire

[superfan1387]

Has anyone else checked out the exhibit over at the AL where you can listen to some of Al's quotes and sayings by pressing different buttons on the wall? i only discovered it a few months ago, and thought it was quite cool.

On a note about the class ring, I know someone at ND who has specifically told me they bought a class ring to wear during job interviews, wow is all i have to say to that.

[mviale]

Entered into eternal rest, Jan. 26, 2001.

Could we have a better opponent for this anniversary?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NXHrc080-E

Ring Out, Ahoya!

ND better Pray Baby!

[mosarsour]

God bless Al! We all miss you!!

[Daniel]

Let's win this one for Al!

(Al - help us out a bit will ya?!  Thanks!)

GO MARQUETTE!

[THEGYMBAR]

Al's last win at ND is one of my all time favorite MU moments. A win today would be quite fitting. Everytime I think about Al all I can do is smile...he was one of a kind.

[MU B2002]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NXHrc080-E

Ring Out, Ahoya!

Video makes me wish I was back in school watching games in the student section.

[nycwarrior]

For what it's worth, this is my favorite story about Al McGuire. It originally appeared in SI very late in his life (late 2000).

Enjoy.

#######################################

Last Call for the Original Prime Time

 Al McGuire never liked funerals. "Why wait until the guy's dead?" he'd ask. "Buy him a drink while he's alive!"

So with McGuire lying in a hospice outside Milwaukee -- leukemia whittling him to 115 pounds and dropping -- let's raise our glasses: Here's to Alfred Emanuel McGuire of Rockaway Beach, N.Y. There never was, never could be, never will be anybody else like him.

They say he was born 72 years ago last Thursday, but don't believe it. McGuire dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a basketball in the other.

It wasn't just that he took an obscure Catholic school called Marquette to the NCAA basketball title in 1977. It wasn't just that he was Dick Vitale 10 years before Vitale was Vitale. It wasn't just that he was to college hoops what Bill Veeck was to baseball. It was how much damn fun we had watching him do it.

He was coaching's street genius, but coaching was only "a coffee break," he always said, compared with tending bar at his father's tavern in Queens, N.Y., jumping feetfirst over the bar to finish fights. Or to start them. To McGuire, basketball was a circus tent, and he was the barker. He'd spend all week selling the game ("I always check the four corner seats [in the arena]," he'd say. "If they're sold, I know I've done my job"), yet he'd only show up seconds before tip-off. When he beat Dean Smith and North Carolina for the title, the same night Rocky won Best Picture, he left the bench seconds after the game was over -- out of coaching forever at 48 -- and wept.

You could learn more about life in a weekend at McGuire's elbow than in a year at Oxford. No matter where he was, he'd find the bar nearest the bus station because, he said, it would have the best jukebox in town. He liked "the paper napkin places, not the cloth," and he always checked the waitress's ankles. If they were dirty, the chili was going to be good. "Al loved mystery meats and secret sauces," says his former assistant Rick Majerus, who's now the coach at Utah. You had to drag McGuire out of his house to recruit a kid across the street, but he'd ride hours on his Kawasaki to get to a flea market, where he'd haggle over toy soldiers and old magazines and stained-glass windows, which he'd ship off to friends, a little chunk of beauty, C.O.D.

"We call him Fox because he's always a tough negotiator," says his best friend, Jerry Savio. "The next nickel he loses will be his first. He'd run you over for a $2 Nassau, but if you asked him for $10,000, he'd give it to you in cash -- out of a jar." He had millions but drove a Ford Falcon. With no radio. He made millions from NBC and CBS, but wherever he'd shop, he'd ask the salesman, "Do you honor the clergy discount?"

Yet he cared 100 times less for millionaires than he did for the 12th guy on his bench. He built his program with mostly inner-city kids, and he kept his promises to them. He'd take them to plays. He'd get their teeth fixed for free. When star forward Jim Chones became one of the first underclassmen to go pro, McGuire shrugged and said, "I looked in my fridge, and it was full. I looked in Jim's, and it was empty. Easy choice."

If you knew him, you'd swear he was one of the best friends you had, but he probably couldn't remember your name. Hell, he needed name tags for his family. A fat player was Butterball. A tall one was Treetops. Dean Meminger became The Dream. He was hopeless broadcasting the 1988 Olympics. The play-by-play of a game involving the Soviet Union turned into "Igor the Terrible passes to the Red Machine!"

McGuire popularized such sports terminology as Hail Mary pass, aircraft carrier, prime time and blue chip. As a pit-bull New York Knicks guard in the early 1950s, he once showed up at center court with a knife, fork and plate and hollered, "I'm gonna eat Cousy for dinner!" As an NBC broadcaster he showed up at Duke in safari gear, brandishing a whip and a chair in front of the students. On the air he championed the Wyoming State Porcupines, 26th-best team in the country, not bad considering he and his pals invented them.

Sooner or later, though, it gets to be closing time. "There's this big, gray elephant in the room," McGuire tells pals, "and nobody wants to talk about it. But I know."

So pour it like you don't own it, bartender, and let's down one for the unforgettable Al McGuire and the big flea market that comes next. May it honor the clergy rate.

Issue date: September 18, 2000

[THEGYMBAR]

Thanks for the post NYCwarrior!!! Once again the mere thought of the guy and I smile from ear to ear. Now I really want us to bury the Domers tonight!!!!!

[Lennys Tap]

Whether it was the Milwaukee Arena or some rural roadhouse, when Al McGuire walked in he owned the place. His passion and swagger were trademarks of his teams, and he taught his players to use basketball instead of being used. He was the face of Marquette University, a force who imbued in students and alumni a great sense of pride. RIP indeed.

[MARQKC]

Thanks for the post NYCwarrior!!! Once again the mere thought of the guy and I smile from ear to ear. Now I really want us to bury the Domers tonight!!!!!

+1.

That's the spirit.

[baltimoremufan]

I found this on youtube Al getting down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTvVo8uOCk0&NR=1

[baltimoremufan]

But substitute the words in that clip with "When MU's in the house Oh my God. When MU's in the house Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God.


Go MU!

[gjreda]

I found this on youtube Al getting down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTvVo8uOCk0&NR=1

I regularly break out those moves at the bar.  Unfortunately, I'm not kidding.

My favorite part is when he almost falls backward at the end.

[THEGYMBAR]

I do not know about the rest of you older guys but was Al the coolest guy ever? From his suits, hairstyle and lingo all the way to the swagger. Met him for first time in 1968 as a five year old boy and 41 years later he is still bigger than life.
NOW I REALLY WANT TO BURY THE DOMERS!!!!!!

[ecompt]

I used to watch practice at the Old Gym as much as I could but never got a chance to meet Al until I became a reporter at the New York Daily News. The absolute nicest guy in the world. RIP, Al. You were the best.

[GOMU1104]

I think hes up there smiling!

[MU gimp ONE]

Al is definitely up there smiling for sure.  not only because of the win, but also listening to Digger actually give props to Al's MU in the win. 

[Daniel]

It was an exciting time at MU when Al was here.  Colorful, full of quips, and you never knew what was next.

Unique character - no one else like him.  A streets guy, street sense. 

And now. . . it is exciting again at MU. . .

GO Buzz and Go Marquette, and THANK YOU AL - I think you helped us a little tonight.  Keep it up

 

[MUfan12]

That one was for Al.

You bet he was helping those free throws in at the end!

[muwarrior69]

Yes, they won this one for AL. Wonder why no one mentioned it on ESPN tonight?