15 years

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Granted I was all of 8 years old when Al passed away but I'm sure most of you remember exactly where you were. Probably been a quick 15 years at that. RIP Al.

[Goose]

Time goes by way too quickly. MU has lost a lot of great ones since that day.

[Lennys Tap]

Drove up from Chicago and met my daughter (a 2000 MU grad who was working in Milwaukee) for the service. Afterwards we went to the Union where they showed the 77 semi final and final wins in the bar. Had a nice reunion with Jackie Burke who I hadn't seen since college. Later George, Majerus and others stopped in. Lots of good "Al" stories were shared that evening.

[rocket surgeon]

    Al was truly ONE OF A KIND.  The refs hated him, the ncaa hated him, the conferences hated him, opposing teams hated him.  It was great!  His wit, his charisma, how many b-ball coaches have books full of his sayings?  I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house,  if the waitress's ankles are dirty, the chii has got to be good....what a guy! Probably the last guy to smack(legend has it) one of his own players and get away with it. He left us too soon

[Lennys Tap]

    Al was truly ONE OF A KIND.  The refs hated him, the ncaa hated him, the conferences hated him, opposing teams hated him.  It was great!  His wit, his charisma, how many b-ball coaches have books full of his sayings?  I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house,  if the waitress's ankles are dirty, the chii has got to be good....what a guy! Probably the last guy to smack(legend has it) one of his own players and get away with it. He left us too soon

Know who else would hate him? The guy who calls Lens, Tower, Goose and others the "Just Win Baby" crowd.

[GooooMarquette]

Seashells and balloons, Al.

[naginiF]

I think i posted this last year but I moved from the East Coast to KC in '96 and after Al's passing i got condolence notes in the mail from 4 or 5 East Coast friends.  I honestly didn't comprehend his impact until that day - he left a huge footprint.

[dgies9156]

The Marquette we have today is in no small measure due to Al.

In my time, we were noticed because of Al and his basketball team. Did people attend MU because of our basketball team? Probably not, but Al's team and his commitment to excellence caused people to take a second look.

Our teams were black and white when in many parts of the country, only white would do. Our ability to destroy teams with strong defense and tough, hard playing basketball ultimately became the catalyst for hundreds of universities to change long-held bigotry.

Al's attitude -- arrogant and obnoxious -- defined us as a university. It really did.

Look around today. The buildings. The campus improvements. The stature of Marquette. In no small part due to McGuire money -- the alumni support that came in the 1970s and 1980s because of Al and his basketball program. Without the basketball program, I can only imagine what Marquette would be.

Al was our's for a lot of years. I never knew the man but I admired what he did for us and he was someone I looked up to from a very young age.

[HoopsterBC]

Spent 45 minutes with him in 1978, just him and I.  Must admit it was one of the those amazing moments, when you finally walk out and realize you spent 45 minutes
with a basketball genius.  Might not have known the x's and o's but understood the mental part of the game.  The one thing he admitted is that if he new he was going
to win it all in 1977, he never would have quit.   Think of Mark Aquirre, Teddy Cummings, Isiah Thomas and Scooter and Rodney McCray, they would have all gone to MU.
To bad.  If the money was like it was today, he would never have left.

[caltruda]

Living in Jersey with a lot of relatives and friends in the NYC area, all of them would remark, "Marquette, huh? Gonna go hang out with Al McGuire?" after I told them where I was attending college. While I was there during the O'Neill era, he'd occasionally call the office to tell Kevin he was taking his car out from the 1212 building, and KO would just shake his head. Had the privilege of sitting next to him on press row for a game shortly after graduating and we were breaking down plays as they happened and it got to the point he diagrammed one for me on a napkin when Hutchins was breaking down Cincinnati on a 1-4 set. Truly an original and missed.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Al still would still have left.  Could have pulled back on his decision but he was a citizen of Tap City.  He was bored and was ready to try his next careers as an executive and broadcaster.  He made $$$ at all his careers, btw, including as barkeep.

Bernard "Looney" Toone was his Dunkirk.

#nontraditional

[keefe]

If the money was like it was today, he would never have left.

People might not realize it but that is why Al left.

When he tried to leave for a better salary from the Bucks the University held him to his contract. He made a comment about how Jesuits took vows of poverty and expected others to live the same way.

[MU82]

    Probably the last guy to smack(legend has it) one of his own players and get away with it. He left us too soon

I'm a big Al fan, but I don't know if this is a reason to applaud him.

Also, it depends upon one's definition of "smack." Bobby Knight choked Neil Reed many, many years later and was not fired. Dean Wormer did put him on double-secret probation, though, and he ended up being fired for a lesser offense -- slamming a non-hoopster up against a wall.

No doubt Bobby should have been canned after the choking -- and there probably should have been charges filed, too. If I were Neil Reed's dad, I would have kicked that bellicose bully's ass -- the only language he understood.

[rocket surgeon]

I'm a big Al fan, but I don't know if this is a reason to applaud him.

Also, it depends upon one's definition of "smack." Bobby Knight choked Neil Reed many, many years later and was not fired. Dean Wormer did put him on double-secret probation, though, and he ended up being fired for a lesser offense -- slamming a non-hoopster up against a wall.

No doubt Bobby should have been canned after the choking -- and there probably should have been charges filed, too. If I were Neil Reed's dad, I would have kicked that bellicose bully's ass -- the only language he understood.

i don't think i brought that incident up as a reason to applaud him, but rather to add an antidote that would more or less describe part of who al was.  everyone knows al was not a mean or visious guy.  remember, this incident needs to be kept in perspective-1977-what goes on in the locker room, stays in the locker room, i'm the coach, my rules, etc.... that is until it becomes part of the bigger story.  the incident, as it has been retold, was far from a choking or chair throwing...this was more in the heat of the battle type of thing, no one was hurt, bernard obviously stuck around, it was a real teaching moment, heyna?

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=716836488428837&id=522393924539762&substory_index=0

    and besides, WE WON!! 

[Benny B]

i don't think i brought that incident up as a reason to applaud him, but rather to add an antidote that would more or less describe part of who al was.  everyone knows al was not a mean or visious guy.  remember, this incident needs to be kept in perspective-1977-what goes on in the locker room, stays in the locker room, i'm the coach, my rules, etc.... that is until it becomes part of the bigger story.  the incident, as it has been retold, was far from a choking or chair throwing...this was more in the heat of the battle type of thing, no one was hurt, bernard obviously stuck around, it was a real teaching moment, heyna?

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=716836488428837&id=522393924539762&substory_index=0

    and besides, WE WON!! 

What's wrong with throwing a chair?  Al probably threw dozens more than Bobby, yet Bobby gets all the publicity.

[rocket surgeon]

What's wrong with throwing a chair?  Al probably threw dozens more than Bobby, yet Bobby gets all the publicity.

i'll go with that and chair throwing probably burns off a lot of extra stress that could have otherwise been directed physically at a player.  next time ya see a coach getting all steamed, hand him a chair...here ya go coach-give 'er hell across the gym, say a little more in that direction toward the wall der hey

[SuddenSam]

The Marquette we have today is in no small measure due to Al.

In my time, we were noticed because of Al and his basketball team. Did people attend MU because of our basketball team? Probably not, but Al's team and his commitment to excellence caused people to take a second look.

Our teams were black and white when in many parts of the country, only white would do. Our ability to destroy teams with strong defense and tough, hard playing basketball ultimately became the catalyst for hundreds of universities to change long-held bigotry.

Al's attitude -- arrogant and obnoxious -- defined us as a university. It really did.

Look around today. The buildings. The campus improvements. The stature of Marquette. In no small part due to McGuire money -- the alumni support that came in the 1970s and 1980s because of Al and his basketball program. Without the basketball program, I can only imagine what Marquette would be.

Al was our's for a lot of years. I never knew the man but I admired what he did for us and he was someone I looked up to from a very young age.

Actually, I knew numerous kids that did post-Al.  Couldn't agree more on Al's effect.

[GGGG]

Marquette basketball is the most significant marketing tool the University has.  That cannot be forgotten.

[CTWarrior]

The Marquette we have today is in no small measure due to Al.

In my time, we were noticed because of Al and his basketball team. Did people attend MU because of our basketball team? Probably not, but Al's team and his commitment to excellence caused people to take a second look.

When I was going to the college fairs in CT in 1978 I definitely stopped at the Marquette booth based on recognition of the basketball team.  I subsequently met with a recruiter, etc. and eventually matriculated, as did a friend of mine.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have stopped at the booth had I not recognized the school name from basketball.  So while I couldn't say exactly that I went to Marquette because of the basketball team, I'm very certain I wouldn't have gone there without it.

[GGGG]

Without basketball, Marquette would be John Carroll or Regis.

Both are fine schools, but they aint Marquette.

[Lennys Tap]

Without basketball, Marquette would be John Carroll or Regis.

Both are fine schools, but they aint Marquette.

Exactly. The "Just Be Somewhat Competitive" crowd doesn't get this.

[MU82]

As a teenager living in Connecticut, I never would have heard of Marquette if not for the basketball team.

[Hubert Davis]

Exactly. The "Just Be Somewhat Competitive" crowd doesn't get this.

Amen. Al was a winner through and through and he put the Warriors on the map. Unfortunately the last few years there seems to be a lot of fans who are content with simply being competitive. I'm not ok with simply competing enough in the Big East to get an NCAA tourney bid. Marquette should be competing for Big East AND national championships. The last few years during this rebuilding phase have been tough for everybody. I sure hope Wojo can get the Warriors back on track to the point where we can do something only Al has done. The DePaul loss last week was Fn brutal, but the program will see brighter days. It starts with tonight.

JUST WIN BABY!

P.s. Maybe Wojo needs to start recruiting kids, like Al, with cracked sidewalks. This team desperately needs some toughness that we're lacking.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

As a teenager living in Connecticut, I never would have heard of Marquette if not for the basketball team.

Ditto.

[Goose]

Lenny

First, Al was the best and we are beyond lucky to have enjoyed that period in time. I really feel blessed. Think it is very cool that you drove up for the service and saw the gang. I just saw Jackie Burke a couple of months at my nephew's wedding. He is also one of a kind.

That period of time created a monster in me. Al made winning look easy and I hate losing more now than ever.