I've had this in my library for a while .. from the I Remember Milwaukee series on Milwaukee Public TV from 1996.
http://www.viddler.com/player/20fd1943/
That's Jim Peck doing the interview....brother of poster here HARRYP.
Wonderful!! I'd forgotten the Toone story. Imagine if that went on today. They'd say he needed to go to anger management courses!!
Some great stories! I like the Jim Chones story.
How about his views about honoring a contract. Or, what if Marquette had refused to allow Crean out of his contract like they did to Al when the Bucks tried to hire him.
He was a great guy. I got to talk to him for about 5 minutes one time in Memphis at the hotel while waiting to check into my room during a Conference USA tournament.
Wow - what could have been with Chones. Al said he left during the season to go to the ABA. So I went to Wikipedia (yeah!) and checked it out. We were 21-0 when he left and then went 4-4 (including two losses in the Tourney) the rest of the way.
49-1 according to Al - quite amazing.
Apparently Chones was plagued by injuries in the NBA and could have had a much bigger career.
Ranked #2 to UCLA when he left, finished #7 without him
Ah did that bring back memories - what a straight-shooting guy. I liked, "a deal is a deal." And his contract talk - he was one of a kind. Thank you Al - we'll never forget you.
Thanks for posting this :)
Chones was part of "The Miracle in Richfield" season as a Cleveland Cavalier. The first playoff appearance for the expansion Cavs. Then he broke his foot in the Washington series and the Cavs, much like the Warriors, never had a chance.
"A deal's a deal!" Way to go Al. I love the fact that ND and Kentucky went after him. Al had the instincts to get the most out of his players.
Great post....I remember another interview with McGuire that was top notch as well - the one he did with Bob Costas on some late show he hosted on NBC. That would be another great one if anyone has it in their archives.
I just had to say thank you so much for this post. It gave a great deal of insight into a great man. McGuire has been one of my heros for a long time :D
Wow, forgot about this one - great pull from nearly 3 years ago...
Thanks for the post Topper. When Chones left the team, I was pissed for two reasons. 1st...he left probably the best team in the country where I happened to be going to school. 2nd.......He went to the stinking..... ABA...that....Pissed me off.
I was fortunate to attend Marquette from 70 thru 74, at the time when in my opinion Al had some of his best teams.........Great times !!!
What a great man and such wonderful memories. Had the luck to be a student at MU for his last four seasons, 73-74 through 76-77. Two national championship games and MU's only title. And a 101-18 record.
Coach puttin' up some three-goggles..
On a serious note, I've only heard the best things about this man and unfortunately one of the unlucky ones who was never able to see him coach.. seems like a phenomenal man.
I've posted this here before at some point, but for those who are not aware of it, you can look this up: Everyone knows the dynasty that John Wooden created at UCLA, but in the decade of the 1970's the number two program in the country behind UCLA in terms of winning percentage was Marquette!