Must Read for Every Marquette Fan

[vogue65]

The Vogue was not a “bum bar”, it was a cocktail lounge.   It was across the street from the library, very convenient location, and next door to the original Real Chili.  We served Ballantine Ale by the bottle and Schoreschbrau on tap.   When Al started his career I remember him saying that you will only find losers sitting at the bar.  (His family owned a tavern in Coney Island, he should know)  It took me 15 years to get the message.  While I did my year behind the tap at the Vogue my 40 years away from “bum bars” has been much more rewarding.  The class of 65 will be returning this year for our 50th and I look forward to standing across from the library and shutting my eyes for a moment.
Back in 1965 the campus was a dream, in a Plexiglas box at the old union.  We would press a button and magically (hi tech) the building of our dreams would light up.  How marvelous was that?  Marquette has come from a blue collar University to an outstanding institution; it has all worked out better than any of us could have imagined 50 years ago.   Al McGuire kick started the whole thing…..

[vogue65]

Correction, Rockaway

[Warrior Code]

Well before my time, but I wish I could have seen him coach in person.


Has any one man ever so perfectly personified a team, in any sport? Well any ever again?

[Skitch]

I know not everyone cares for him but Rick Reilly wrote a really nice "eulogy " for coach in SI shortly before he passed.


http://www.si.com/vault/2000/09/18/288202/last-call-for-the-original-prime-time

[keefe]

Drums rollin' into it, hey goose? For you, me, keefe, Lenny Man, Eric,  and some others here, it was a once in a lifetime experience. Maybe it was the times in which we lived, maybe just the uniqueness of a medium-sized Jesuit university in fookin' Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that, save UCLA, had the best winnin' percentage in the entire country, or maybe it simply was just Al? Regardless, we had it all goin' on.

Doc

Was that you pounding out the Hamm's Beer song as our beloved Warriors methodically worked the other team into submission??

[Dr. Blackheart]

http://www.marquette.edu/mcguire/

[Dr. Blackheart]

<a href="http://youtu.be/Ta08uVdRzck" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://youtu.be/Ta08uVdRzck</a>

[4everwarriors]

Doc

Was that you pounding out the Hamm's Beer song as our beloved Warriors methodically worked the other team into submission??

Absolutely, Crash! Here's the typical scenerio:
The Warriors would go inta halftime up by 6-7pts. Then start the second half on a 11-2 run. Now it's a 15 pt. game at the first time out. The crowd goes nuts and Wm. Geisheker and the band bust out "Cherokee." Willie, in full tomahawk and oversized paper mâché head, does his victory war dance and its game, set, match. It was a beautiful thang, ai na?

[dgies9156]

When I enrolled at Marquette in 1974, we had just come off a Final Four run. The attitude of our basketball team -- take no prisoners, contest everything and live with a bit of a chip on your shoulder -- was Al's attitude and indeed reflected the image we had of our university. Probably drove academics crazy that we were better known for our basketball team than what when on in our classrooms.

What the university has become occurred in no small measure because of Al. Al's success opened the eyes of people who saw something special in the non-basketball elements of Marquette. It broadened the student body, increased contributions and created an aura around the university that lasts today. Many of the real important campus improvements since 1970 were in no small measure the result of McGuire money -- the indirect impact of having a national championship basketball team at a comparatively small Midwestern school.

[willie warrior]

You are not PC, man. Willie in full regalia was racist--everybody knows that.

Absolutely, Crash! Here's the typical scenerio:
The Warriors would go inta halftime up by 6-7pts. Then start the second half on a 11-2 run. Now it's a 15 pt. game at the first time out. The crowd goes nuts and Wm. Geisheker and the band bust out "Cherokee." Willie, in full tomahawk and oversized paper mâché head, does his victory war dance and its game, set, match. It was a beautiful thang, ai na?

[willie warrior]

Doc

Was that you pounding out the Hamm's Beer song as our beloved Warriors methodically worked the other team into submission??

Hamms, back in the day, sure was tastier than the swill Hamms they make now. I have seen some places where you can get a 30 pack for about 10 bucks. You get what you pay for!

[Spotcheck Billy]

Well before my time, but I wish I could have seen him coach in person.


Has any one man ever so perfectly personified a team, in any sport? Well any ever again?

perhaps another character named Vince Lombardi

[Lennys Tap]

Drums rollin' into it, hey goose? For you, me, keefe, Lenny Man, Eric,  and some others here, it was a once in a lifetime experience. Maybe it was the times in which we lived, maybe just the uniqueness of a medium-sized Jesuit university in fookin' Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that, save UCLA, had the best winnin' percentage in the entire country, or maybe it simply was just Al? Regardless, we had it all goin' on.

Doc - Al was Randall P McMurphy, Cool Hand Luke and Don Quixote - a charismatic, iconoclastic leader who battled the establishment (NCAA), bigotry (Adolph Rupp) and bullies (what is it about guys named Adolph?). Unfortunately, those guys never win, never go out on top. Except Al.

It didn't seem like a miracle at the time because Al had spoiled us over so many years of excellence. But it most certainly was one. How lucky for us to be along for the ride.

[Goose]

4ever

I have to say how much I always like when the conversation turns back to Al and that time in life. I can literally feel the excitement of those who lived it through their posts. I am sitting at my desk looking at picture of Al on my wall from '77 championship game and can hear the drums rolling. That little number and the Willie war dance number at timeouts are etched into my memory for life.

[4everwarriors]

Seashells and balloons, hey goose?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

You are not PC, man. Willie in full regalia was racist--everybody knows that.

Why the teal?

[Dawson Rental]

When I enrolled at Marquette in 1974, we had just come off a Final Four run. The attitude of our basketball team -- take no prisoners, contest everything and live with a bit of a chip on your shoulder -- was Al's attitude and indeed reflected the image we had of our university. Probably drove academics crazy that we were better known for our basketball team than what when on in our classrooms.

What the university has become occurred in no small measure because of Al. Al's success opened the eyes of people who saw something special in the non-basketball elements of Marquette. It broadened the student body, increased contributions and created an aura around the university that lasts today. Many of the real important campus improvements since 1970 were in no small measure the result of McGuire money -- the indirect impact of having a national championship basketball team at a comparatively small Midwestern school.

As a freshman, I can remember the lecturer in Psych 101 saying, "We're trying to be a school that the basketball team can be proud of".