Latest / Then and Now with Coach Z / Ep. 019 | Jay Blossom | Then & Now

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Ep. 019 | Jay Blossom | Then & Now · Then and Now with Coach Z

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OK, well, I'm in the studio here another day.
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The then and now I've got a great guest today, quite
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frankly, one of the greatest coaches in the history of
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Missouri high school basketball. My daughter Jessica's here today
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and she's she thinks she's going to critique us, but she's not
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going to say a damn thing about us.
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She's just she's just going to watch us.
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But before we get started and then I'll introduce my honored
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guest, I have a shout out to some of the old people that I
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haven't mentioned before, some of the all time, in my opinion,
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really outstanding high school basketball officials.
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I want to have a shout out to Mike Pratt, who was at Parkway
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West all those years, and my friend Bob, Ben, Ben at
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Pattonville and Bobby was on my teammate at Washington U.
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He was the 3rd baseman and we were on a a trip down to Bradley
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and Bob was about over 21. We were roommates and he went
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over and he was standing by a window and I went over the
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window and I said, hey, Benny, we're not jumping out any
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windows tonight. You'll get a hit tomorrow.
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But Ben, Ben, what? What an intense guy.
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And then a really a really fine coach at Saint Charles, A Gary
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Wacker. I know Gary well.
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And then a Dave Loose at Melville.
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One of the best. And I have to mention my high
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school coach, Lloyd Bruin, and I have to, I'll just say I have to
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mention him, OK? And I'm not going to go any
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further. But he he has some great teams
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over there. Another thing on a on a sad
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note, I just found out this morning I just got a phone call
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that one of the really, really outstanding baseball coaches in
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the Saint Louis area for many, many years, Mike Siegler passed
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away this morning. Parkway Central.
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Yeah, he he he struggled. I believe he had Alzheimer's and
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I think they were trying to get him to a hospital and on the way
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to a hospital he just passed. But what a great baseball coach
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and had some great teams over there.
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I umpired a lot of his games. I was a baseball umpire to
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whether you know it or not serve.
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And one time I was over there and I, I live real close to
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Parkway Central, so I loved umpiring there because I can
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umpire and then drive about 3 minutes and I'm home.
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So I must have had eight or nine of their home games and I'm
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doing the ground rules and I'm telling who I don't even know
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who they're playing. I'm doing the ground with.
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I said now on, on your side, on the first base side, if as it
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hooks around there, if it goes over that white line, it's out
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of play. And on our side, I mean, on
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Parkway Central side. And I, I've been over there so
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often and the coach kind of smiled and laughed at me.
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But one thing about Sigur, he was an intense coach, tough on
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his players. I mean no nonsense guy, but he
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never ever, ever in my all the games I own part many never said
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a word to me about. In fact, one time one of his
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pitchers after a game, we were walking down the hill.
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I was going to get my car and his kids were walking a locker
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and his pitcher said, boy, that umpire and I heard Sigler say,
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you better not say one word about that umpire.
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Go to the locker room. Get going.
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Yeah, in that. Great.
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And that, and that's what we've taught our guys, you know, for
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Webster and Brand, I, I used to be yelling and screamer and I'm
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still intense. But the officials, you know,
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they're, they're doing their job.
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You're doing your job and you know a ton of respect for what
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they do. And, and I tell you what, we,
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we, we emphasize the Knicks play so much, you don't have time to
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complain. The Knicks play is the only
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thing you can control. You can't control anything.
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That's why you're so successful and right right now the
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gentleman who's been talking to you is a Mr. J Blossom, who is a
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well, he's a five time state champion.
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I guess that's enough to be said, and I have a list here of
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some coaches that I've always felt were the, I don't know if
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they were the best coaches, but they sure won more state
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championships than many, many people that that I had the honor
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of officiating for. I'm going to just kind of put
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Mr. Blossom right at the top of the list with Mr. Richard
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Grauer, a Virgil Fletcher over in Collinsville, Tom Stanton at
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Beaumont won a few state championships and Floyd Irons
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and his son at Vashon and Marvin Neils.
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Hey, that, that that's some strong company right there.
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And you're right at the top, Jay.
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So I appreciate that. I introduce my my guest, Jay
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Blossom. And Jay, it all started when you
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were a kid growing up in Colombia.
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Yeah. Growing up in Colombia and, and
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you don't know this, but we had a season tickets at the Hern
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Center when it opened in 72 and we set a 24, which is right
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behind the basket where kind of where mini Mizzou was front row.
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And I was young and stuff and I, I probably spent a few games
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yelling at you when I was growing up and stuff because my
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dad loves, I'll tell you a funny story.
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My dad, Jim Bain was officiating and my dad yelled.
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In fact, that's when you knew people.
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That was just, and he had the same officials and you played
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everybody twice and it was just, it was a different time.
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But I remember him yelling out at Jim Bain and I, I, I can't,
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Jim Bain was bald. I, I can't see And Jim Bain
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turned around and had a biggest smile on his face.
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And I just I'll, I'll never forget that.
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But fun times. Jim Jim Bain really one one of
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the really best that ever. I walked on the floor, Jim Bain
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and and when I, when I was hired in the Big Eight and there were
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only two officials on each game right back in that day and the
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staff of the Big Eight, when I went in there, it's it was like,
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like I told you before the show, I was overmatched.
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I'm here. You got Dave Phillips, he's a
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Major League umpire. You got pain.
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You got Ben Drive, he's a NFL referee.
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Pat Haggerty, he's another NFL referee.
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Oh golly, we could go on with, oh, Woody Mayfield who went to
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the NBA. Woody went to the NBA later on.
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And it was just, you know, Irv Brown who maybe was the best of
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all of them. Irv Irv was like an icon and he
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worked about 6 national finals. And here I am.
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And like all you young officials who are listening, don't try to
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get there too soon. Take your time so when they call
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you, you're really ready. I haven't do.
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I was talking to Jay before the show.
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I had three state championships in a row.
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I thought I was the best of the best old boy or you, till I
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walked out there with Norm Stewart and the Bear Haskins.
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We used to, as you say, we, my mom and dad taught at Mizzou, so
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they dropped me off at the Hern Center on Saturday, Sunday,
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sometimes I'd run around the track and go up to the upstairs
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gym. And man, I, I learned some of my
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first adult words. Listen to Norm when he was
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coaching it in the in the herds in the herds Center.
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We'd hide out in the little tunnel there and Oh my goodness.
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You, you learn. You learn those.
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Adult words I learned a few things I hadn't heard before.
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Yeah, well, listen, Jay, give us a little background on how it
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all started in your great coaching career.
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I know it didn't. All of a sudden you didn't all
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of a sudden one day end up at Webster Groves and win 3 state
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championship. There's a lot of work that went
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into that. Yeah, and a lot of people who
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who helped me on my journey. So start out with, you know, my,
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my first job, I was wise. Actually, I graduated and didn't
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have a job yet and I was working at a team campus at Missouri
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State. And you know, Jim Woodward, just
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the head coach and they'd they'd work here all day.
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And I was leaning against the basket and he, his office was
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upstairs. And I hear Jay, I'm like, oh
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crap, because I thought he was on me for, for leaning against
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the basket and get up here and I ran up there and he goes, I got
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you an interview tomorrow at Northwest Hughesville.
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And I'm like, I have never heard of Northwest Hughesville.
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Little town outside Sedalia goes and and he goes, well, you got
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an interview. 7:00 PM. He goes, don't screw it up.
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I'm like, yes, Sir. And I went that night and
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there's a little bitty town. And when they interviewed, they
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had basketball coach, they interviewed in front of the
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school board. So I had a bunch of guys with
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hats on and toothpicks in their mouth and everything.
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And hardly anybody asked me questions.
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And then, you know, so then finally they the Superintendent
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says we also be the head soccer coach.
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And I said, well, as long as you understand, I've never watched a
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soccer game. I mean, I went from Saint Louis
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and Sedelia Smith Cotton had soccer, but Columbia didn't have
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soccer. So it kind of skipped over
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Columbia and it was all Saint Louis and then Smith Cotton.
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So I I went and met Tom Knight, who is that soccer coach at, at
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Sedalia and he helped me out a little bit.
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And I'll never forget that first practice.
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I thought I was killing it. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
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All right, let's take a break. I looked at my watch.
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It been 15 minutes. I was like, Oh my God, yeah.
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I like, I got a I got a problem. Let's scrimmage.
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And but we ended up being, you know, we had a great little
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sophomore group that I kind of grew up.
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We went 4 and 21 my first year in basketball.
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And I always tell people the greatest thing that ever could
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have happened to me because I thought I had answers to things
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and I found out I didn't and it made me a better coach.
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And then, you know, we went 18 and six that last that third
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year and lost a heartbreaker in the district championship.
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And then, you know, they say when you when you get old
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coaching and and this is true. You remember those losses like
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crazy in those wins. They go away quickly, but the
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losses really stick with you. And I remember that game and we
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lost in overtime to to Stover. But then I got engaged.
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My wife Julie, who had who I met at Central Missouri State, was a
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volleyball player at Central and she wasn't going to come to
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Sedalia. So we're coming to Saint Louis
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and which I understand, but we are coming to Saint Louis and
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everybody and we went my third year, we went to the the last
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year we went to the final 8IN soccer and everybody wants to
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talk about soccer. I'm like, Oh my goodness, I
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don't I don't I don't want to coach soccer.
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Well, Waterloo had offered me the head soccer job and a junior
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high basketball and I didn't take it at 1st and I was still
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looking. Well, they called back and they
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said, how about you'll be sis of varsity basketball coach and
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head head head varsity soccer. And I took that job and, you
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know, and it and it, I, I learned a lot.
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I I work for Ricky for a little bit and then it, it's just crazy
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how life works. He was retiring and I wanted
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that head job really bad. And like you said, I I probably
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wouldn't ready for it, but I didn't get it.
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And I was taking our young guys up to Mizzou team camp the next
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day after I didn't get it. I, I was hurt.
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I was mad, I was hurt. You know how that goes.
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And yeah, and we go up to team camp and I met Ken Libby.
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He was a coach at Limberg. And I have a problem with ice
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cream. Ken Libby has a problem with ice
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cream. And we met the cafeteria there
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and we stayed and talked and he said, well, hey, Waterloo,
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Limberg's about 20 minute drive. And we lived in South County,
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said why don't you come coach for me?
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So I went back to Waterloo and I remained head soccer coach, but
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I was his assistant for two years.
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And if I wouldn't have been his assistant, I'd never would have
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got the Webster job. And it's just, you know, it's
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how things work. I thought it was the worst
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moment of my life. I didn't get the Webster job or
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the Waterloo job, but working for Ken Libby at Limburg, that
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got me the Webster. Job well.
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And and then when you mentioned Ken Libby, that's another name
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that I should have included on, on one.
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Of the and he was a long time with Dave Oh.
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Terrific guy. Yeah, he was with Dave Loose a
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lot. And yeah, Dave, you know Dave
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Loose, by the way, then we'll go right back to this.
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But Dave Loose was a heck of a baseball coach, too.
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Really. I didn't know.
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Oh yeah, he coached Johnny Mack Fenton Legion team and him and I
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got into it one night, his bases were loaded and a guy hit a
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ground ball right back to his pitcher, 2 outs.
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So his pitcher, instead of just pick it up and throw to first
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base, he decides to throw home. They didn't have a slide rule in
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those days. And you know, his catcher got
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his rear end knocked off in the ball, went flying here, there
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and everywhere and All in all, hell breaks loose and the
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winning run scores and or the go ahead and run out of the game
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and and I made a mistake telling the pitcher I'm that umpire.
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I mean, I, you know, hey, you know, if you if you make the
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right play, that never happens. Oh, Dave Lews, he he he he
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exploded. So he all we got into it and
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then the game ended and I and I had been a teammate of Dave's at
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kudos. We played together in this semi
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pro league. He was a teammate of mine.
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So I'm driving down Manchester, right?
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And there's a little Tavern there, New Orleans or something
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like that. And his car pulls up next to me
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and he rolls the window down. He says pull over, I want to
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talk to you. I said where, where do you want
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to go? He says, pull over to that
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Moulin Rouge bar and it was loose and we went in there.
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We had a beer and it was all was said and done.
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That's awesome. Yeah, that's.
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Awesome. Yeah, what a great guy.
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And then he goes awesome paying what a what a career he had.
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What? You know what this fun?
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I just had a kid on a visit there and he met.
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He didn't know who Coach Loose was.
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We met. I think, he said Coach Loose is
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still teaching a class at Austin B Yeah.
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Well, you know, he he he lost his wife.
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Yeah. And I think he lost a grandchild
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to some years ago. I'm not sure.
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OK, so Dave needs to stay busy. Yeah, and he's yeah, and I know
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Brad really will his son and and stuff.
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So this. Yeah.
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So go ahead, come on, keep me on your journey.
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I think your journey is phenomenal.
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So so then after two years with Coach Libby, Waterloo hired me
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for the head coaching job and I was there two years and the
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Webster job opened up and. Who was there before you?
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I hate to interrupt you. At Webster, yeah, Tim Moore had
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had been there but the previous two years and now I'm having a.
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Well, that's OK. But but so the so Libby or or so
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excuse me, so Tim Moore had been there won A state championship
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with Johnny Parker and Tate Decker.
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And so two years after that I took over and 1st year we were
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14 and 13. I had all seniors and those guys
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still talk to me like, man, we were kind of the forgotten group
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because they they were, they were talented, but it just
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didn't quite go together. It didn't have time to kind of
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put it together. And then the next year we went 5
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and 19. 5 and 19. 19 beat Parkway North and my assistant
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Chris Neff at the time. We went out and had a
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celebration like none other because we knew we couldn't lose
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20 and and then that next year was the first year we won
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conference for this, you know, then we wanted 17 years in a row
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and then and the rest is, you know, kind of history from
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there. I just had some great citizen
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coaches had some you know, what a great principles and Pat Voss
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and John Clark who were so supportive and just love, you
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know, love. Roberts.
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Jim family moved to Webster and just my kids grew up there and
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it was it was a lot of fun. It was a great 20 years.
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Well, you're being very humble, Webster.
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You're, you're a 20 years at Webster.
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You won 417 games and lost 122. I mean, that's strong, coach. 17
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consecutive league titles. You won 83 straight league
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games, you know, 83 straight league games.
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I mean, how many are in, how many were in the league?
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88 teams at the time. So that's 10 years, 10 years
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that you never lost in the league game.
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Rick Kirby got us I. Think Rick Kirby got you?
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Well, yeah, but yeah, that what a what a great run.
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And then all those teams that you had, is there any one of
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those teams that that stand out more than any other?
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It's hard to to. Yeah, I mean, the way the
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playoffs work in Missouri, sometimes, you know, you might
15:17
be in a district of death and, and and so sometimes the best
15:20
teams aren't in Columbia. But you know, probably my all
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time favorite team was was our first state championship team
15:25
2008. I had Johnny Parker's brother
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John, John Bowie, great kid Mike Whittier, who played quarterback
15:32
and went on to play collegiately quarterback, and then obviously
15:35
Drew Hanlon, who now trains, you know, the best players in the
15:38
world. Who does that say that again?
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Drew Drew Hanlon. Oh yeah.
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Yeah, played at Belmont and he, he's actually helping our guys
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this week and stuff. But I mean, you know, I think he
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probably has over a billion dollars of clients now.
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Is that? Right.
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I mean, he's, he's the absolute best of what he does.
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Vinny Ramondo, it just had, it was just a really special,
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special team. And you know, it's, that's
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probably my all time favorite too.
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I don't like, I hate saying stuff like that 'cause I really
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loved all my teams. They've been great kids who have
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bought into and we, you know, we coach them hard and we still
16:11
coach them hard, but, and people say, well, you can't do that
16:14
anymore. And, and you know, I disagree.
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I mean, you obviously you need to establish relationships.
16:19
They need to know that you love them and you're going to support
16:21
them on and off the court. And if you establish those, I
16:24
think you can't. I mean, kids want to be coached
16:26
hard. They want to be the best they
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can be. You know, I still do some
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substitute teaching over the elementary school.
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God bless you. And I love it.
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And, and I'm going to tell you something.
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At that age, you can get on those little guys and gals.
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You can get on them. You can tell.
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Hey, knock it off. Hey, did you hear me?
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And and they get it. Yeah.
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And but they know you care about them.
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Yeah. And that's all that matters.
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That's you're exactly right. When it's all said and done,
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that's what matters. It's all that matters.
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And that's you know, and that's one of the fun things of of
16:55
coaching a print now is you know, I have Rayshawn Simmons
16:59
was you play for me at Webster's assist.
17:01
Now he's head coach at Jennings, Cortez Connors, who played for
17:04
me and then played at Cal State, Baker Fields and assistant.
17:06
Now Tyler Coleman was my student assistant and he's working with
17:10
me now and he's about to take a big time job with an agency.
17:14
So part of the fun of this is is help helping players that you've
17:18
coached on their journey into coaching and stuff like that.
17:22
That's that's that's what's made it a whole lot of.
17:23
Fun. Well, you know you've have a
17:28
great career at Webster and you 20 years, right?
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And then what? What happened one day when you
17:36
decide I'm just going to step down?
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So we won state in 1718 and I didn't want to be one of those
17:42
coaches who stepped aside after winning I you know, and left it
17:46
bare. So we coached in 2019, actually
17:48
ended up with a great team and got beat in the district
17:51
championship. We had beaten Shaman on the
17:53
semi, beat CBC in the first round, Shaman on and then got
17:57
beat by McClure, really good McClure N team.
18:01
So, but that year, my daughter, it's taking a scholarship to
18:05
Penn State to play volleyball. And my wife and I, we drove out
18:08
there as much as we could. And I could tell you every love
18:11
stop between here and and and State College.
18:14
But but my problem was I was watching her play and I just
18:18
couldn't get it out of my mind. And I was like, you know, what
18:22
families first I, I want to enjoy watching her.
18:25
So I stepped aside for that and still kind of volunteer with our
18:28
girls program for a couple years and and coach some really good
18:31
girls, to be honest. But so and she finished her,
18:34
her, she used her COVID year to go to University of San Diego
18:37
and they went to the final four and that was a lot of fun.
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And then this print print principia job open.
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I really wasn't looking. I'd, I'd been doing some
18:45
training with the Knights Basketball Club and Dave
18:47
Montana, the head of that said, you know, that they have an
18:49
opening. And I went and met Sean Brown,
18:52
the athletic director, and it probably took about a a month of
18:55
him going back and forth and talking about the possibilities
18:59
and his vision. And I just fell in love with the
19:01
place. And it's, it's, you know, it's
19:03
been, this is fifth year already and it's just been a lot of fun.
19:06
There's great people, great facilities and and had a chance
19:09
to go some really good players. Well, you just got through
19:11
talking about women basketball players.
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I'm going to give you a name of a woman basketball player who
19:19
was a little spady turtle before she decided to leave Ledoux and
19:27
go over to Principia, and she's got a full ride to Georgia Tech.
19:32
Oh yeah, Deja. Is Deja.
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Oh, you know Deja, OK. Do I know her?
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When you see her, you tell her that, Coach Z said.
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She's awesome. I'll see her today.
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How? How good is she?
19:41
She's really good and and and good and humble.
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I mean a a really good player and a super nice kid.
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Well, let me tell you a great story about her.
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First of all, she used to always come up to me in the halls, you
19:53
know, and she was she was just a a delight.
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That's the best way I can describe her.
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And she would talk to me. I say, Daisha, are you still are
20:02
you working hard at your basketball?
20:04
Yes, Sir, I'm doing, you know, this is she was a fourth grader
20:07
building only only went up to 4th grade.
20:09
See. All right.
20:10
So I said, well, are you playing?
20:12
She says, well, I'm playing with the older girls.
20:14
I figured, yeah, yeah, I guess so.
20:17
And then she's playing for a really good older girls team.
20:22
And she had wonderful mother and they they just, I I'm so happy
20:28
for her. And her 4th grade teacher sent
20:31
me a picture the other day on Facebook at the Asia when she
20:37
got to Georgia Tech. Offer.
20:39
Offer and everything else and you're going to see her today.
20:42
Oh yeah, I'll see her today. I will tell her.
20:44
I can't wait to tell her. Oh, please, please tell her,
20:46
tell her I'm so proud of her. So one of my buddies, his
20:50
grandsons, twins, they, they were being bar mitzvahed.
20:53
OK, so we're over at the temple, my wife and I, and we're sitting
20:57
down and we're, and then Daisha's in the same grade level
21:02
as these twins. They're all thirteen years old.
21:06
So my wife says to me she is, I think I see all those Ledoux
21:12
Middle School kids are sitting all over there in that section
21:14
and I'm looking, I can't see that far away.
21:17
So I'm looking. And and then you have to rabbi
21:19
everybody rise. And it was like they all rose,
21:23
and it was like there was a mother and all her little
21:27
children were standing next to her.
21:29
You know how tall is? She was.
21:33
Can she shoot it? Yeah, she can shoot it.
21:34
She's got you know what? And she works hard in her game.
21:37
I mean, she trains. She's worked hard in the weight
21:39
room. She's thinner, longer now.
21:42
I mean, she's, I think she's got a chance to really be special.
21:44
Yeah, she can maybe go a little further or she.
21:47
I think she can possibly, yeah. And she, she has a passion for
21:49
it. And I said she's she's
21:51
coachable. She's a leader.
21:52
She's smart. Yeah.
21:53
And she's a yeah, she's a smart. Girl very smart girl.
21:55
Yes, Well, you just give her my best.
21:57
Well, I can't tell her that that the old coach just might come
22:00
over and critique her one time this year.
22:02
I'm going to watch her play. I want to.
22:04
Facility. It's a beautiful.
22:05
Facility So oh golly. So Principia, let's let's get on
22:09
that journey. And I started my officiating
22:12
journey in the ABC league the old days.
22:16
And Dick Herman, who was a basketball coach in those days,
22:19
gave me a, a, a great opportunity.
22:21
He called me and hired me and you know, that's how it starts.
22:25
And Brian Morse was a football coach and I also refereed a lot
22:29
of high school football. Principia So I I have a great
22:32
fondness. And one day Dick Herman took me
22:36
on a tour and showed me the I guess where they have all the
22:41
plays at beautiful facility where they have all their art.
22:45
It's like the Loretto Hilton Theatre, but it's nicer.
22:48
Oh, it's really yes. It's nicer.
22:50
Am I right, Jay? Yeah, they, that's one of the
22:53
things they, I, I think they said they had like 20,000
22:57
different outfits backstage of they had World War 2 uniforms,
23:01
they had Civil War uniforms just for, for props and stuff like
23:05
that. Like holy cow.
23:05
Yeah. What a place.
23:07
Oh yeah, it's some great people too.
23:09
So really, OK, so you met with the AD and it took?
23:11
About a month, a while, because, I mean, the history wasn't good
23:14
and you know. Well, the year before you went
23:16
there, I believe they won four games.
23:17
And the, the Metro League would, you know, the old ABC became
23:20
Metro. They, they played each other
23:26
twice. Well, print only played once
23:29
because we are not very competitive.
23:32
So, you know, it was, but I also I, I, I'd like the challenge of
23:36
it, of building something kind of from the, from the bottom up.
23:39
And we're fortunate we got four or five good freshman in that
23:42
first year. And next thing you know, we're,
23:45
you know, we're playing for the state championship and we lost a
23:48
really good Salisbury team in the state title.
23:50
But it, it happened a little quicker than I thought.
23:53
And then the next year we'd, we bumped up to Class 3 and got
23:56
beat in the district semifinals. And then, you know, then these
24:00
last two years, you know, I think we're 60 and three and one
24:04
state the last two years and just great players.
24:08
And not only just great players, but just really, really good
24:11
kids. Fun to coach, have bought in,
24:13
you know, academically, socially to to to the school, you know,
24:17
culture and it just, I don't know, it's been a lot of fun.
24:20
Yeah, Well, don't you believe, you know, you're going to be
24:24
humble about this, but there there has to be a reason why a
24:27
lot of those kids ended up coming there because you were
24:29
the coach maybe. What do you think?
24:31
Well. I mean, yeah, I'm sure.
24:33
I mean, I, Tyler Coleman, my assistant, you know, really
24:37
knows a lot of people in the community and stuff and is
24:39
really good at, at forming relationships and stuff like
24:42
that. But yeah, I had, I had, well,
24:45
Jane Jones, who played for me, you know, for four years, came
24:48
as a freshman, you know, I had his mom in class way back in
24:51
the, I don't know, early 2000s or whatever.
24:53
So if she wanted him to play for me and stuff and I'd like, you
24:56
know, it. So yeah, there there's some cool
24:58
things with that. We were talking before you came
25:00
on the air about one player that you have over there who went to
25:04
the University of Illinois. You want to talk a little bit
25:06
about that young man? Yeah.
25:07
So Quentin Coleman, you know, he didn't he, he actually went to
25:11
O'Fallon High School in Illinois his freshman year and played
25:13
freshman basketball. And you know, when I coached at
25:17
Webster, we practice our varsity JV together.
25:20
And if you were playing freshman, senior day was
25:22
probably coming a little earlier than you thought it was.
25:25
So you know, he came over because he knew a guy on our
25:28
team and he he was a prior 7th man his sophomore year and then
25:34
just come blew up like I've never seen before.
25:36
And I said I've I've coached some great players.
25:38
I never coached a pro and I don't want to put that pressure
25:40
on him. But you know, I, I think I told
25:42
you I've had, I think 11 NBA teams have reached out now, a
25:45
lot of those mock drafts and you'll take it for what they're
25:48
worth. But you know, he's he's
25:50
mentioned as a lottery pick or top 15 and a lot of those
25:53
already. And he hadn't played a a second
25:55
of college basketball. So really excited to and and and
25:59
and once again, great family, extremely humble kid and he's a
26:04
kid who, you know, hey, you can't do this.
26:07
You just can't wait to knock a chip off his shoulder.
26:09
And that's, you know, you can't make the USA team makes the US
26:12
team. You can't win a state title wins
26:14
two of them. You can't go a power 4
26:16
conference. He's at Illinois.
26:17
I mean, and he and he stayed the same.
26:20
I mean, he's just, he's a personal kid.
26:22
He's a great leader and you know, he's just an an incredible
26:25
basketball player. And I hope, and I hope, I hope
26:27
and I believe he's going to be my first NBA player.
26:30
Isn't that something? You know what?
26:32
Here's what I'm going to say to you.
26:33
I said it to Kelvin Lee a couple weeks ago because he was on.
26:36
I say, hey, Kelvin, you know Tatum and Beal and David Lee,
26:45
those guys have generated a whole lot of money, Kelvin and
26:49
you and you raised them all. Maybe they can send you just a
26:53
little little little piece of it hunt to make life a little
26:56
easier. He's out there in Florida
26:58
working now. Yeah, he is at a high school
27:01
down there and he's working them hard.
27:03
Oh, I see it every day on Facebook.
27:04
You got to run it. And yeah, see, Kel was 120° out
27:07
there. What are you doing?
27:08
But yeah, it was. Kelvin and I have been friends
27:11
for a long time. In fact, we coached our our
27:13
oldest daughters together when they were really young and that
27:18
that was kind of fun. And then that's that's when he
27:19
was at Shaman and I was at Webster.
27:21
And his sons? His sons are down at Austin PE.
27:24
Yeah, help it out. Yeah.
27:24
Broken Dave. Dave helped.
27:26
Him turned out to be a good player, yeah.
27:27
He he turned out to be a good player and he's doing a little
27:29
assistant coaching. You know how that works.
27:31
You, you're, you're at the very end of the bench.
27:33
Oh yeah, you got to start somewhere.
27:35
You, you sure do. And you just have to stay the
27:37
course. Well, I'm going to ask you about
27:38
a few people here, OK? OK.
27:42
And first of all, tell me about this was a kind of a set back
27:47
for you, I'm sure when you had eye surgery.
27:50
Yeah, so I remember that I'm a big Mizzou fan.
27:55
So it was the Friday before the Mizzou, Oklahoma game day in
28:00
Columbia. And I woke up, looked at my
28:03
computer and couldn't see out of one eye, didn't think much of it
28:08
and came home and it was like a, it's like a cloud was over my
28:13
eye. And so, you know, my wife, we
28:17
rushed off to the eye doctor and he said, you know, you've,
28:20
you've got a detached retina. And I had surgery on Monday.
28:26
It didn't go well. And I think I had, I don't know
28:28
if I had three or four surgeries.
28:30
So and I had coach stalk up, Scott stalk up.
28:35
He's been like long time assistant at at Webster and then
28:37
at Principia, the absolute best in the business, right.
28:41
I mean, great coach, great guy. No one scouts like he does and
28:45
and I would have taken this job without him, to be honest.
28:49
He he means that much to to our success and and to me
28:52
personally. So he took over for a few weeks,
28:56
came back and you know, it was it was all good.
28:59
You know, I do a lot with one eye.
29:01
Well, then in 2017, just doing a routine check up at at the eye
29:07
doctor and he said, let me bring my retina special in here just
29:12
kind of cataract. Let me make sure and doctor
29:15
Engelbreich, who's like a St. to our family because he saved me
29:19
and he he came in and stepped out and said set my wife and I
29:24
down said your your other retina's detached and I'm the
29:28
man. I being blind was about the
29:31
biggest fear of my life ever. And I remember he, he wheeled,
29:37
you know, and he said we, we, we can get this.
29:39
So we went in that next day and remember Wheeling in and just
29:43
talking to him and he said he was AKU grad and I, I usually
29:47
don't like KU grads do much to me, but I I'm praying for you,
29:51
buddy. So and he was awesome.
29:54
I mean, we could call him at the home and it, but it was about
29:57
six weeks of not knowing how things were going to go and
30:00
stuff like that. And, and coach talk of kind of
30:02
kept the train on the tracks and you know, I came back late in
30:05
the year and we, we won state that year and stuff.
30:08
So it was it, it wasn't fun, but I had a roller coaster year,
30:11
right? Coach, it was a roller coaster
30:13
year. But I got the greatest wife in
30:15
the world, 2 great daughters who who helped and then family and
30:18
neighbors and we got through it. And I said, you thank God the
30:22
Lord gave us two eyes. Well, you know what I was going
30:26
to ask you about Scott. So you want to tell me a little
30:30
bit more about Scott, your assistant coach?
30:32
Because I, I, I read that he was a great.
30:34
Great help to you. So he he had worked for John
30:37
Clark who was the principal at Webster.
30:39
He had worked for John Clark and Rolla and I had Chris Neff, who
30:43
was my sis before that, who's now at Monarch Academy, won a
30:46
state title a couple years ago with Staley, also a great coach.
30:50
And he was he wanted, he took a head basketball job, which he
30:52
should. So John Clark said I've got
30:55
somebody for you. And I said OK and brought him in
30:59
and the rest is history. I mean, it's just, I mean, just
31:04
hit it, you know, click like that.
31:06
And I just I give him a ton of responsibility.
31:08
I have a ton of trust in him. Kids love them.
31:11
Nobody works better with the post players and said we worked
31:14
for I guess 15 years at Webster or 14 or so and then you know,
31:19
we retired together. You retired together, I saw.
31:22
That and then I, you know, I've been talking to Principia and I
31:25
remember calling them up and said, Are you ready?
31:28
I don't know. I yeah, I said I need you.
31:31
And so here we are again. So tell me there's one other,
31:37
there's one other person on here who I think you know really well
31:39
that I want you to talk about. And then you're going to have to
31:44
talk about the other one too, or the other one will get mad at
31:46
you. But I want you to talk about
31:47
Gabby. OK, yeah, you're right.
31:49
The other one. So let me.
31:50
Start out, let me start the other.
31:52
Who's the other one? Danielle, let me start off with.
31:54
Yeah, let me. Start off with my oldest
31:55
Danielle, because she gets tired of that too.
31:57
OK, Danielle. But Danielle basically grew up
31:59
in the Webster gym. I mean, she went to Mary Queen
32:02
and the neighbors would drop her off her practice and she'd run
32:05
around the gym during practice. And that's got where she grew
32:08
up. And then she went to Webster and
32:10
was a pretty good volleyball player, but she had a lot of
32:13
other interest too. So then Gabby was my youngest
32:17
and she was really tall for her age and but my wife was a setter
32:22
and wanted her to be a setter. And she'd said incredible hands.
32:25
And then we just had a lot of fun chasing her around.
32:28
She was, you know, Gatorade player of the year in Missouri,
32:30
really won a state championship at at Saint Joe Academy.
32:34
And then, you know, went to Penn State for four years and, and
32:37
loved it. And then you know.
32:39
Let me interrupt you right now. I'm going to ask you.
32:42
I know a gal back in and she would be the then, not the now.
32:47
Your daughter's still the now, right?
32:49
Absolutely. She'll like to hear that.
32:52
Yeah, Saint Joe Academy. Yep, young lady by the name of
32:56
Christian Focal. She was a pretty good volleyball
32:58
player. She's a pretty good athlete.
33:01
I mean, 8 state titles is is something pretty darn
33:04
impressive. Yeah, I saw her.
33:05
This is no Maloney Charman Smith, who's a basketball coach
33:09
at University of California. She was another little turtle
33:11
that I OK when I was teaching I. Think I didn't know that, yeah.
33:14
She Yeah. So anyway, Charman and the
33:18
Christian were playing on AAU team and they practice at the
33:21
old upstairs gym at Ladue High School, 7th or 8th grade.
33:25
So I'm hearing about this focal, you know how Oh yeah, whatever.
33:31
So one day after baseball practice, I walk up to the
33:34
upstairs gym and they're up there and they're messing
33:35
around, you know, like girls are hard and she dunks a volleyball.
33:40
And I just turned around and I said, well.
33:44
I guess what I heard the hype is.
33:45
True, the hype is true, but what another humble?
33:49
Oh yeah, without. Beyond, beyond.
33:51
Humble. Yeah, without a doubt.
33:52
So the guest leads Bob Gasoline and Julie Guest and he coached
33:56
at San Joe a long time. I think we're assistance in.
33:58
So I I've met her a few times. Through So tell me about your
34:01
daughter. So, yeah, so, yeah, well, that's
34:02
a good story. So Gabby played basketball for a
34:06
little bit, I think just keep me happy.
34:07
But her, her passion was was volleyball.
34:10
And, you know, she just, she's, you know, really, really good at
34:15
it. And we just, my wife and I just
34:16
had a blast just following her around.
34:18
We went to all, you know, all those youth tournaments in the
34:22
national tournaments in the club and then and into Penn State.
34:25
I said we we travelled I78 almost every weekend they played
34:29
out there. And that awesome.
34:30
Coach, it was so much fun. People say how'd you do it?
34:34
We had a blast. We couldn't wait to take off on
34:36
Thursday night or whatever it might be.
34:38
And, you know, we spent a lot of time in in State College, we
34:41
found a nice, you know, air and B that we could stay at and and
34:45
she like, loved it out there. But then her, you know, her
34:47
fifth year, she wanted to try a little something different and
34:49
she went to the University of San Diego.
34:51
Well, that's a pretty good place to go to coach.
34:52
Oh, man, San Diego was if you could afford it, that place is
34:55
nice. And so, you know, we flew out
34:58
there for all that and all sudden, you know, they they
35:00
start making this run and they beat Stanford in the quarter
35:04
finals to go to the Final four, you know, in Stanford was the
35:08
cream of the crop then. And but they got beat, you know,
35:10
in Omaha. But, you know, playing in front
35:11
8/10/18 thousand people in Texas got them.
35:14
But to take that team to the first final four.
35:16
And then she ended up playing professionally in Omaha for
35:19
three or four years. And now she just took a
35:21
assistance job this year at the University of Oklahoma.
35:23
So she's, she's trying out the coaching thing and she's, you
35:27
know, busy and, but I think she loves it and is passionate about
35:31
it. Well, you should be so proud of.
35:35
I'm proud of of course we're. You know we're so you're.
35:37
Going to get me in trouble. There.
35:38
Yeah, yeah, I'm not going to get you in trouble.
35:41
Let's see my other four daughters, they're going to say
35:43
to me, why is she always in the studio?
35:45
We're you never invite us. So you know how it is.
35:47
Yeah, oh, do I five times, but it's.
35:51
Only got 1 to compete. With it's all fun.
35:54
Well, Oh well, I'm I'm not going to even go there, but listen, so
36:01
the year 2026, which is right now, right?
36:05
Wow, you are on the Naismith watch list, coach.
36:11
That's that's the top of the line.
36:13
What is it? I mean the Naismith watch list.
36:17
Well, to me that just means that, you know, that's not me,
36:22
it's my staff. And then it's all the players
36:24
who ever played for me who bought into what to what we
36:28
preach. And we we have a we had a model
36:29
TTW toughest team wins. And it means a lot of different
36:32
things. But you know, we're going to
36:34
dive on the floor, we're going to help each other up.
36:36
We're we're going to handle ball the official, we're going to
36:38
clean up our bench. We're going to we're going to
36:41
compete like crazy. And I've I've been fortunate to
36:44
have kids buy into that and you know, and staff and and
36:49
principals and administrators who supported that.
36:51
And so to me, that award it beat on something like that is for
36:56
everybody I've ever been associated with basketball.
36:58
My mentors, my players, my coaches, all that type of stuff.
37:01
Well, I think it's just phenomenal.
37:03
Gee whiz, and you're you're in a Missouri Coaches Hall of Fame.
37:08
You're in the Saint Louis Sports Hall of Fame.
37:11
You got the Wooden Award in 2022.
37:14
I mean, are you in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame?
37:18
I know. I think just the Missouri
37:19
Coaches Hall of Fame. Well, you should be in the
37:20
Missouri Sports Hall of Fame too, so I will.
37:23
I'm I'm going to definitely make a phone call because are you
37:26
kidding me? I.
37:27
Appreciate that. No, no, no.
37:28
That's. Saint Louis Hall of Fame here's
37:30
here's an example of getting in trouble.
37:32
They had a they had a guy interview me and he started
37:35
asking quit. And then you know what?
37:37
I forgot to thank my family. So that was that was that was a
37:40
that was a rough couple weeks around the old household.
37:42
After that I knew it was like oh crud man.
37:45
Why? I had one of my real good
37:46
buddies on when I was doing this with Earl Austin.
37:50
You know, and I love. Her well, I had one of my
37:51
buddies on and I introduced him as Todd and his wife called me
37:57
that night and she said, you know, Todd does have a last
37:59
name. I I, I took some heat for that
38:04
one. Speaking of Earl Austin, but I I
38:06
have never met a guy where he could tell you, Yeah, the the
38:09
ninth player on your team in 2001.
38:12
Was it it? It'd be correct.
38:14
He he, he's a savant. There's unbelievable.
38:16
There's no question about it. There's nobody.
38:19
Nobody knows more about high school sports.
38:25
And promotes it so. Positive and he really does
38:27
promote it and he and he's such a soft spoken good man, great
38:30
job, a wonderful man, great for great for high school sports.
38:34
Yes, without a doubt. So we're about ready to wrap it
38:38
up, but let's let's give me a preview of the 2026 season coach
38:42
and what you think and what you're looking forward to with
38:44
this. Group of kids.
38:45
So I, I really like my team, but I, I also try to remind my staff
38:49
like, I don't think we've ever coached a pro, but I think we
38:51
have now. And last year I could diagram
38:55
almost anything and just, you know, I can start clapping
38:57
because he was going to make a shot.
38:59
And, you know, everybody is different when everybody has to
39:03
step up another notch. And I've told our guys like
39:06
there's no guarantees in life. I mean, now you're, you're
39:08
haunted, you're going to move, we're going to move up to class
39:11
5 or 6, which we should and we'll be more fun.
39:14
And, but I do like my guys. I've got really good players.
39:18
And now, since, you know, like always, it's it's putting the
39:20
puzzle together and, and playing for the front of the jersey and,
39:23
and playing for all the right reasons.
39:24
But I buy like where we're at right now.
39:26
Yeah. Well, I'm sure they're very
39:28
lucky to have you a guiding them.
39:29
And let me ask you this year a a couple of the teams that you
39:33
think will really be tough but great opponents that that will
39:37
make your kids better. Yeah, now we're we're kind of
39:39
playing the nationally, We're going to the Hoop Hall out in
39:42
Springfield, MA. Our guys get to see the Hall of
39:44
Fame. We're playing a team Saint
39:48
Francis out of California at the Highland Shootout as a 7 foot 3
39:52
and A7 footer. They 7 foot three guy might be
39:55
the number one junior in the country.
39:57
So we're playing a big time schedule.
39:58
So we're a lot of those. But locally, and I mean
40:01
Westergroves is going to be incredibly good this year with
40:03
Scotty Atkins is going to Mizzou and Jessa Mathis who replaced
40:07
me, you know, and it was my assistant has done a great job
40:10
there. Biani's extremely talented,
40:12
obviously, Frank Bennett at Chaminade has another great
40:14
team, and Vashon, so there's a lot of really good teams in the
40:18
Saint Louis area and in the state of Missouri.
40:20
You're ready for them though, aren't you?
40:22
I hope so. We're going to find out.
40:23
Yeah, well, you know, I, I, I also read that you you're,
40:26
you're a pressure defense guy from that all over the floor,
40:30
huh? Yeah, for the baseline to
40:31
baseline. Just defense.
40:33
Drew Halen was working with our guys the other day and he said
40:35
if you've ever seen Coach Blossom shoot, you'll understand
40:37
why defense is so important, too.
40:40
I said thanks for sharing that here.
40:41
Yeah, well, handling he was a he was a two time Allstate guy for
40:45
you wouldn't. He yeah, he was just a special
40:47
player, like I said, to, to do what he's doing with the clients
40:50
he has. I mean, nobody works harder at
40:52
it. No one's better promoting his
40:54
his guys. What does he actually do?
40:55
Tell me, coach. So he just, he trains NBA guy.
40:58
So he has he has Tatum, he has Beale, he has the Greek Freak.
41:06
He has Tyrese Halliburton. He trains them, yeah.
41:09
Wow has a gym out in California? And cost is no issue is.
41:12
It no, I mean they fly him, they'll fly him in if they're
41:14
struggling with something and it's I mean, he'll he travels
41:19
overseas. I mean, it's, I don't know how
41:20
he keeps, I mean, his wheels up every time I see him on social
41:23
media, but just and, and once again, and incredibly humble now
41:28
cocky, but humble. He comes from a great family and
41:33
you know, him and I battled cuz he didn't want to play defense.
41:36
He wanted to shoot 3. So she was really good at.
41:38
And you know, he he'll tell, you know, he bought into defending
41:41
that senior year and to win that, to win that state
41:43
championship, he was so, so determined.
41:46
He was so good down the stretch and just a great friend of our
41:50
family. My daughters love him and and
41:52
his whole family. So it's it's been a a long time
41:54
relationship. We're wrapping this up.
41:56
The Principia, the new gym. What's the seating capacity over
42:00
there? Probably 750. 750 you fill it
42:03
every night now. We we've about have yeah, I
42:06
mean, Simon Center, there's only seats on one side.
42:08
I think that they could do it over.
42:09
They probably put seats on both sides.
42:11
But it's an incredible facility if you've seen it.
42:13
I mean, it's, it's really, really nice field house and
42:15
what? What do you think your first big
42:18
Do the do the women play before you?
42:20
Sometimes we try to play some double headers.
42:22
Yeah, we try. No.
42:23
And we we do a thing in February called the Honor Flight Shoot
42:26
Out, where all the money goes to fly veterans to Washington, DC.
42:31
We'll play boy, girl, double header that day.
42:33
That gets good teams. In February.
42:35
In February, yeah. At at your place.
42:36
At our place, yeah. I I I want to try to make that.
42:39
I would love to have you out there.
42:41
I would. Love to have you out there.
42:42
Let me ask you one last question, because this is my
42:45
avocation. Yep.
42:48
I wasn't very good at it, but I refereed a lot.
42:50
And how, how, how are you with referees, with your kids and
42:55
you? Yeah, really good.
42:56
I mean that that's something that's something we really
42:59
emphasize. I mean, you have nothing to say
43:02
to the official except, you know, just handing the ball and
43:05
keep playing. And I said Nick's play is a big
43:06
part of our Nick's play, Nick's play and officials, if you if
43:10
you spend. And I don't know how I've never
43:13
ever said how some college coaches do it where you're just
43:16
constantly screaming how you can even think about what you're,
43:20
you know, what, what the Knicks play is or what you're going to
43:22
do and stuff like that. And I just, I think you'd ask
43:25
any official now. I don't, I don't say anything to
43:27
him. I really don't.
43:28
You know what, And I, I remember this and you can refresh my
43:33
memory, but do you remember when Norm got sick and Norm was not
43:38
able to coach anymore? And they had a great team that
43:40
year and they were beat. They were beaten.
43:42
Illinois pretty good in that regional.
43:43
Do you remember that game? Yeah.
43:45
Oh yeah, and Norm, I went to that.
43:46
Game Norm's assistant coach. Rich Daly.
43:49
Rich Daly, I'm going to tell you I saw it.
43:53
There was a missed call and Rich Daly got on the officials and I
43:57
think Illinois scored 10/12/14 straight points while he was
44:01
worried about that one call. It can consume you, and you can.
44:05
Consume you, you know? You know, you're.
44:07
And he's under a lot of pressure.
44:08
Rich Daley. Oh, yeah.
44:09
Because, Gee whiz, you know, Come on.
44:10
Extremely talented team and no, I'm being sick.
44:13
No, I'm being sick and everything else you know, but.
44:16
I got to tell you this story too real.
44:17
Fast, so go ahead. So it it stalk up and told me
44:21
this because he knew John Brown. So they have John Brown day at
44:24
at the Herm Center and that's back when they filled the A
44:27
section maybe half full of B nobody in C or D Well, the
44:32
entire time talented Dixon was up in that little one section of
44:37
D it was filled. Well, John Brown gets in a fight
44:40
and he gets thrown out of the game.
44:42
And so play Nebraska. So Norm goes up to Jim Bay and
44:47
says, Jim, it's it's John Brown day.
44:50
You can't, you can't throw John Brown out.
44:52
You can't throw him out on John Brown Day.
44:56
So Ben goes and he goes against Joe Cipriano and yeah.
45:01
And he goes, hey, it's no, it's John Brown Day.
45:05
And and they were very good friends.
45:07
And Joe looks at Norm and goes Norm F you.
45:12
You better believe it. You better and.
45:14
They were great friends. Too, They were such good friends
45:17
that and I, I found this out later, you know, SIP lost his
45:21
wife. She passed away with cancer.
45:23
And you know, I don't know how many years, not too many years
45:26
went by and Norm and, and Virginia fixed SIP up with this
45:30
really good gal down in Colombia.
45:33
And they were having, they had a good relationship.
45:34
And then Sip got sick, he got cancer and was gone, you know,
45:38
but that that's, you know, what SIP did.
45:39
I'll tell you what Sipriano did one time.
45:44
Can't make this up. He was he was just, he was just
45:48
pissed off and he was trying to call a timeout and I guess the
45:51
officials were ignoring them and this that and he went to the
45:54
scorer's table and this the game was at his place and he took
45:58
that starter's pistol and shot it and, and man, I mean, he
46:04
scared the crap out of everybody in that arena.
46:07
And of course they they rung them up and everything else.
46:09
But weren't those are great days every.
46:12
On those were and those guys were they were characters today.
46:16
I mean, they didn't have the fancy suits all they were just
46:18
they were characters. They were, but it was you knew
46:20
them all. It was fun.
46:22
They made the Big Eight. See, Norm told me that they went
46:26
to New York, Norm and I don't know who the other guy was.
46:30
That's when the Big East was starting to get some right, you
46:34
know, that Monday night stuff. And and so they asked Norm to
46:37
come up there with another Big 8 coach.
46:39
And Norm went up there and he said, you know, I told the
46:44
producer guy, we're trying to get the Big Eight involved with
46:48
yesterday. We had about 12 inches of snow
46:51
in Columbia and we filled it. And then we had another game in
46:56
the Big 8 yesterday where we had a hell of a fight right in the
46:59
middle of the floor. You think your viewers would
47:00
like to see that? We're ready, and that's how it
47:04
all started. That big money was special for a
47:06
long time. I I, I learned to hate the Big E
47:09
said. Because they'd always foul the
47:10
credit on each other to the Big Eight.
47:12
Game would always come on about 20 minutes late.
47:13
Yeah, 20 minutes late, but boy, you talk about you go, go to
47:18
Hartman, Tubbs, Norm, Johnny Orr.
47:22
Characters. Oh, Billy Tubbs, Gee whiz,
47:26
Leonard Hamilton. I mean, you have some big time
47:28
coaches. Great coaches.
47:30
Great coaches and a great league and to this day I refereed in
47:35
the Big 12, but I only speak of the Big As.
47:39
The big as Yeah, I just the way this is going with these leagues
47:43
or you don't know who's where and you're not playing
47:45
everybody. The league should be 8 teams.
47:47
You play everybody twice. That's what a league is.
47:49
And that's where the rivalries come from and all that type of
47:52
stuff. I, I miss, I and I understand
47:55
times change, but I, I miss those.
47:56
I I miss those times. Like I'm not real good with
47:58
times change. That's why I it's the shows the
48:03
then and the now. I do a whole lot more of the
48:06
then. Yeah, I, I, I, I'm, I'm a lot
48:09
like that also. If if the young lady ever wants
48:13
to come back here sometime with you, we could have a good time
48:16
with the Miss Scott. OK, Yeah.
48:18
I'll talk to her. She could be the now.
48:19
Yeah, I'll talk to her. Yeah, 'cause she'd be.
48:21
And maybe who's her coach? Her coach now is Sam Pearson,
48:24
played at Hazelwood Central and then coached at Mobap for.
48:27
A while. Good.
48:27
Good, yeah. Good guy, Good guy.
48:29
Yeah, well, young, but yeah, he's good.
48:32
Yeah, I don't know about young that that kind of makes me feel
48:35
bad. Well, I'm right there with you
48:36
now you. Know what I mean?
48:38
But you're doing hey, hey, you're still kicking that.
48:40
For an old For an old man. I follow you on Facebook.
48:42
Like, holy cow, he's got a lot going on.
48:43
That's good. Well, hey, if you don't have,
48:46
you know what? If you're, you know, you talk
48:48
about a vertical jump. I like vertical.
48:54
I mean I. How about you, Coach?
48:55
I just like I just love, I love seeing your, your, your fate
48:58
just on the history of U city and Ladoo and just those names
49:01
and stuff. I, I really it's an old it's an
49:03
old guy and a history major. I I I really appreciate.
49:06
Well, I went over, I went over to U City the other day.
49:08
They a couple people invited me over and boy, and I'll just
49:12
shout this out what what a great job they've done over there at
49:14
that school. They've really cleaned it up.
49:16
The building's beautiful. They have the new baseball field
49:19
there. Turf turf football field lights.
49:23
Besides Robert's gym at Webster, that was, that was my favorite
49:26
gym to go in because I, I would tell my guys, you know, when we
49:29
put there on Friday night, that locker room, this could be the
49:32
last time you're going to hear a word.
49:33
I say if we go up there and that band would come in with those
49:36
girls, Shake it every day and it was like you couldn't hear a
49:39
word. It was.
49:41
It was awesome. I, I, my senior year, we didn't
49:45
lose a game in that gym and we, we lost five games that year and
49:52
two of them with the Saint Charles.
49:54
And like I said, Coach Brew and I mentioned his name, right.
49:58
What were the two games we lost the Saint Charles, who won the
50:00
state championship, by the way, that year they had a coach by
50:04
the name of Gene Bartow. So we were handicapped, Bartow.
50:14
That he was He was the first one to follow Wooden right at UCLA.
50:19
Either him or yeah, he did him. And then Larry Brown, maybe.
50:22
But Jean Bartow, he had two African American players, Kenny
50:28
Clark and Frank Williams. They were tremendous.
50:32
And when I look back on it, there was one African American
50:36
kid who went to Wellston, and those are the only three African
50:39
American kids who I remember playing against in the Suburban
50:42
League. Really.
50:43
In 57, we had one African American girl in our graduating
50:48
class. Think about that, Coach 424 and
50:52
this girl walked in every day. And what a classy girl.
50:56
Turned out to be a tremendous adult woman.
50:58
Her dad was a custodian. No kidding.
51:00
And I, you know, as you get older, you, you reflect.
51:03
And I wonder, I wonder how she must have felt every.
51:06
Being the first one to do stuff like.
51:08
That by yourself, though, you're, you're, you're.
51:10
But they embraced her, they treated her well.
51:12
And it was. It was a great ending.
51:14
Yeah, we had a, when I was at Webster, we had, we did a
51:16
Douglas night for the old Douglas African American High
51:19
School. And the first year we did it, we
51:21
brought in alumni of Douglas and they and they, you know, they
51:24
talked about some of the players, you know, they would,
51:27
they would get together at the park and play.
51:29
But then when they went to eat, you know, the white guys would
51:32
have to go in and get the food and bring it out to him because
51:35
they couldn't go in. I mean, it's just, you know,
51:37
awful, awful, obviously. But great stories for our guys
51:40
to hear the way things used to be and how and how segregation
51:44
was was finally broken. Up.
51:45
Yeah, it wasn't so easy. No, it wasn't easy.
51:48
No, not at all. And Clark and Williams of they
51:50
both died young, Kenny Clark. And I was a pretty good pitcher
51:55
in high school and I pitched it washing you.
51:57
And I really wanted to get Clark.
51:59
I really want to get him. So we're playing Saint Charles
52:02
and I threw him a couple good heaters and I had them on too.
52:08
And I figured, you know what, I'm going to throw another
52:09
heater right by that son of A. Gun made a mistake.
52:11
And he hit one so far out of Blanchette Park code.
52:14
I mean, he put that barrel of the band on it, that ball.
52:16
I did have ball still going to Atlanta, that swimming pool.
52:20
I love it. Yeah, but we had a lot of fun
52:22
and it's great having you here. I appreciate it, man.
52:25
Great, great. Finally, to talk to you in
52:26
person and everything. We've had some fun, haven't we?
52:29
One last thing I'm going to say to you.
52:31
I've heard your voice here now for one hour.
52:35
Now I know that voice that was yelling at me at the Hearn
52:39
Center. That was you and your.
52:42
Family. That was a younger voice back
52:43
then. You and your dad and all all
52:45
your Columbia buddies were yelling at the old.
52:47
Coach, that's back when you did it with I don't know it.
52:50
It wasn't me and it was good intention.
52:52
It was just the officials they kind of laughed at.
52:54
I mean, it was you had the same officials every night as
52:57
everybody knew everybody. I know it was.
52:59
Well, you're you're a great tribute to the game of
53:01
basketball and every kid who's. Been likewise likewise to.
53:04
You, well, every kid who's been coached by you is, is really a
53:07
lucky kid. That's all I can say.
53:09
I appreciate that. Thank you, Sir, and I always
53:11
close my show with this show and boy, if you don't like this
53:14
show, then you know what I don't know This is this has been a
53:17
great one, right, Jess? This has been a great show and
53:20
if you like it, put a like and then a share will be on.
53:26
Oh golly, Spotify and oh, we come on, get all these new
53:33
modern things. I don't know modern.
53:34
Days is Spotify and. YouTube and Facebook and Apple
53:43
and this will be available a week from tomorrow.
53:47
They edit it and then a week from tomorrow and I'll get it
53:50
before then though, AJ and I'll send it to you right away and
53:53
then you can share it with whoever you want it.
53:55
I'd like you to share it with as many of your buddies and people.
53:58
You were awesome today. You're a great guest and I'll
54:01
leave you with this. And this is A1.
54:03
There's been a lot of BS going on today, but this is for sure.
54:06
This is a real true statement. Today's the youngest will ever
54:10
be. Yeah, that is good point.
54:12
Very good point. Have a great day.
54:15
Thank you. Appreciate.
54:16
It. Yes, Sir.