1974?

[Tums Festival]

I worked hard to try and get that to happen several years ago with ESPN, but just couldn't pull it together.  If you recall, they were doing a number of series through EOE (Espn Original Entertainment).  When I was in Chicago last week one of the guys I met with was a former producer for EOE and he had an Al McGuire photo in his office on his wall.  Went down memory lane a bit about why ESPN never did an hour with Al.  My arguments back then were you still had some of his peers alive, take advantage of it.  Hank, Rick, the players, Louie, Dean, etc.  Ray Meyer had passed and others weren't exactly spring chickens or in good health.  Sure enough, fast forward a few years and a number of those folks have died.

Disappointing, it was a project that I felt could be done, was worth doing, but there were many of those types of projects and it didn't happen.  Maybe down the road someone will do one, but with the loss of life and memories (and great stories), I'm not sure how compelling it could be now.

More so than ESPN 30 For 30, I've always thought HBO should produce a documentary about Al. They've produced many great programs about sports heroes from the past and Al would be a perfect fit.

As for the technical fouls, Al always wanted to take the bullet for his team and his teams were an extension of him. He wouldn't hesitate to get into it with one of players, but always tried to protect them too.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Two BS calls on MU that earned the technicals.  Irv Brown T'd Al up twice, who was actually a friend of Al's.  Read the article where Al refused to rip Irv.


http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22971208/irv-brown-remembers-his-longtime-career-college-basketball

[MUDPT]

I was not around in '74, but somewhere over the last 14 years I read an excerpt from Sloan's book about the championship game.  The story was that Sloan saw the last 15 minutes of Marquette's practice that was open to the press.  He saw no fewer than 3 fist fights between players and players/ coaches.  Right after, Al walked by Sloan and told him that if State stayed on the floor longer than their allotted time, Al would find him and "kick his a@#." Sloan laughed and said he couldn't concentrate on his practice after the entertainment of MU's practice.  I'm probably way off on this story, but it's what I remember.

This is an awesome thread. 

[Galway Eagle]

This is an awesome thread. 

This is a great thread.

This is the most enjoyable thread I've read on muscoop in at least a year.

Just basking in the love for this thread

[keefe]

I remember the weekend before the '77 Ship Dean Smith and his assistants didn't slept a wink whereas the Marquette coaches were busily engaged in everything but game planning. Hank was speaking at a Coaches Conference, Majerus was on the road recruiting, and Al was riding a bike identical to his own back home that he bought on Saturday from an Atlanta Kawasaki dealer - he had arranged to sell it back to the dealer on Monday.

NCAA rules said that each team was allowed to practice one hour on the Omni court that Sunday and since Al wasn't even holding a practice he sent Marquette SID Kevin Byrne to the Omni to ensure Dean Smith vacated the court promptly at one hour. When the hour was up Byrne told Smith it was Marquette's turn and a handful of Marquette people, none of them players or coaches, took the court and commenced a game of HORSE.

So while the UNC players were putting their uniform warm-ups back on Smith and his staff, dressed in suits, watched Byrne, Weingart, and four guys in jeans and sweats commence a round of HORSE. Smith asked Byrne where Al was and Byrne told a stunned Smith, "I think he's out riding his motorcycle."  Smith stared at Byrne slack jawed for 30 seconds then simply walked away shaking his head.

[MUDPT]

I remember the weekend before the '77 Ship Dean Smith and his assistants didn't slept a wink whereas the Marquette coaches were busily engaged in everything but game planning. Hank was speaking at a Coaches Conference, Majerus was on the road recruiting, and Al was riding a bike identical to his own back home that he bought on Saturday from an Atlanta Kawasaki dealer - he had arranged to sell it back to the dealer on Monday.

NCAA rules said that each team was allowed to practice one hour on the Omni court that Sunday and since Al wasn't even holding a practice he sent Marquette SID Kevin Byrne to the Omni to ensure Dean Smith vacated the court promptly at one hour. When the hour was up Byrne told Smith it was Marquette's turn and a handful of Marquette people, none of them players or coaches, took the court and commenced a game of HORSE.

So while the UNC players were putting their uniform warm-ups back on Smith and his staff, dressed in suits, watched Byrne, Weingart, and four guys in jeans and sweats commence a round of HORSE. Smith asked Byrne where Al was and Byrne told a stunned Smith, "I think he's out riding his motorcycle."  Smith stared at Byrne slack jawed for 30 seconds then simply walked away shaking his head.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.  I grew up in Indiana, with my family huge IU fans.  They have never said it, but I'm pretty sure they hated Marquette in the '70s for stories just like this.

[Galway Eagle]

I remember the weekend before the '77 Ship Dean Smith and his assistants didn't slept a wink whereas the Marquette coaches were busily engaged in everything but game planning. Hank was speaking at a Coaches Conference, Majerus was on the road recruiting, and Al was riding a bike identical to his own back home that he bought on Saturday from an Atlanta Kawasaki dealer - he had arranged to sell it back to the dealer on Monday.

NCAA rules said that each team was allowed to practice one hour on the Omni court that Sunday and since Al wasn't even holding a practice he sent Marquette SID Kevin Byrne to the Omni to ensure Dean Smith vacated the court promptly at one hour. When the hour was up Byrne told Smith it was Marquette's turn and a handful of Marquette people, none of them players or coaches, took the court and commenced a game of HORSE.

So while the UNC players were putting their uniform warm-ups back on Smith and his staff, dressed in suits, watched Byrne, Weingart, and four guys in jeans and sweats commence a round of HORSE. Smith asked Byrne where Al was and Byrne told a stunned Smith, "I think he's out riding his motorcycle."  Smith stared at Byrne slack jawed for 30 seconds then simply walked away shaking his head.

My new most favorite Al story ever.

[dgies9156]

My new most favorite Al story ever.

I love this. So much more fun than arguing about the current team.

Best Scoop posts in a long time! I miss Al!

[Goose]

I miss Al too. Was had long talk with buddy at gym about this thread and we both said there will never be another Al.

[keefe]

I miss Al too. Was had long talk with buddy at gym about this thread and we both said there will never be another Al.

Amen, Joe. The Almighty broke the mold after forging Alfred McGuire.

[ecompt]

The thing I remember most about 1974 was the NCAA rewarding North Carolina State for breaking the rules. They had been on a year's probation for violating recruiting rules, so the NCAA rewarded them by giving them home games in the entire tournament. They never left the state in winning the title. Al's Ts killed us in the title game but we were getting absolutely hosed on the calls. 

[GooooMarquette]

Amen, Joe. The Almighty broke the mold after forging Alfred McGuire.

Yep, Al was one of a kind.

Seashells and balloons.

[Lennys Tap]

When Al walked into a room he owned it. I've known a few guys who had "it", but Al had "it" in spades. Dick Enberg hung with his share of big shots but he puts Al alone on top of his "most interesting person" list.

[HouWarrior]

vs IU
I was present in Baton Rouge for #1 vs #2.  Many thought this was the real national championship game. Close game throughout. MU couldn't capitalize on Hoosier foul trouble enough to take out May, Benson, and Buckner.

Shortly after his taking the Texas Tech job, I went to lunch in Houston, and there was Bobby Knight, sitting alone, waiting to meet some Tech alums for lunch, one table over. I intro'd myself by noting he broke my heart in '76, as an MU/McGuire fan. Bobby said that was his best team ever, and then he said (maybe he was being polite....wait ...this was Knight, so it was more likely his blunt truth..lol) that he thought, going into the game,  MU was the most serious threat to IU not going undefeated and to winning it all. He even agreed the game should not have been set up in the brackets until the final 4, saying ..."the NCAA got more serious about seedings after that one" . He didn't think Al's T fouls cost us the game, as he just smiled and said, "Well, that was just Al being Al" .  Overall, you could tell he was still stinging about any talk of IU...waiting alone for lunch with a couple of Tech yokels left me feeling a little sad for his circumstances.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yep, Al was one of a kind.

Seashells and balloons.

I had the unbelievable privilege of working with him for 3 years on the MU television broadcasts when we owned the rights to them as a department.  I'll never forget it and still have a few of the notes he hand wrote to me, one of which is framed in my man cave.  He was a blast.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Dug the highlights of that Final 4 up.

http://youtu.be/dMtGTxKpOz8


http://youtu.be/5-pf5LXeB90


http://youtu.be/ZIw-UzjLNQk

[Galway Eagle]

Dug the highlights of that Final 4 up.

http://youtu.be/dMtGTxKpOz8


http://youtu.be/5-pf5LXeB90


http://youtu.be/ZIw-UzjLNQk

Funny you should mention these.  i was actually watching them when I posted this thread. 

[dgies9156]

I was on campus the day Al announced he was retiring. It was finals week and nothing was a bigger downer for us than Al deciding to leave. Left a really bad feeling at the end of the semester.

For the better part of 10 years, Al was Marquette to the outside world. One of his great sayings, "A coach is a reflection of his team.... Mine are arrogant and obnoxious," could have very much applied to Marquette in the late 1960s and 1970s. Here was a small Catholic school on the edge of a bad neighborhood in Milwaukee with an outsized vision of itself largely because of our brash basketball coach.

The place hasn't been quite the same since -- but we're trying!

[mujivitz06]

This is a wonderful thread. Please everyone that experienced these things please keep telling these stories and keep them alive. As time passes we must keep the memory of AL and this era alive, this is what sets our program apart from the rest in college basketball and makes us special. We cannot let this fade over time.

[Rudy]

My favorite McGuire Quote: "A Notre Dame grad will pick his nose to make sure you see his class ring"?

My favorite other Al memory:  I don't know where I saw this, but his pre-game dance around with the players before some game was hilarious. I just about split my side laughing when I saw the clip.

My personal Al stories: Al came out to Oconomowoc frequently to visit my uncle and shop at his clothing store.  Usually rode his cycle and stopped at Kuhtz's General Store for a drink and a sandwich before or after.

I was working on my uncle's yard one day and Al drives up on his cycle and just starts talking about the beautiful day and how I should appreciate it and how lucky I was to be working outside that day.

Another time I was walking up my Uncle's lawn from the lake with my future ex-wife. Al was walking down to the lake. She really did not like basketball, but she sure ran ahead of me to fawn all over Al. I did not even know if she knew who he was until she started sprinting. He talked to her about non-basketball stuff for about 10 minutes. I am a die hard fan and wanted to talk hoops or MU history or something. I can't remember the conversation, but it was very interesting. 

My uncle told me that after the '77 championship game (it could have been another game, but I am pretty sure it was the championship), Al had my uncle and some good friends hang with him very long after things died down. Ultimately, they figured out he lost his car and was waiting for all the cars to leave so he could find it. 

Al was a one of a kind.

[keefe]

Another time I was walking up my Uncle's lawn from the lake with my future ex-wife

Well done!

[mujivitz06]

Too many people talk about Al getting the 2 T's in 74' but not enough how awful the two calls were.

[GGGG]

My personal Al stories: Al came out to Oconomowoc frequently to visit my uncle and shop at his clothing store. 

Snyder's?

[Nukem2]

Too many people talk about Al getting the 2 T's in 74' but not enough how awful the two calls were.

Calls were bad, but Al was doing his thing before that...

[GooooMarquette]

Too many people talk about Al getting the 2 T's in 74' but not enough how awful the two calls were.

Yep, especially that first one.  Not even close to a charge.