Latest / Then and Now with Coach Z / Ep. 017 | Kelvin Lee | Then & Now

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Ep. 017 | Kelvin Lee | Then & Now · Then and Now with Coach Z

0:00
Well, I say good afternoon. This is the then and the now,
0:05
and I'm going to have a great guest on today.
0:08
But the then and the now today I've got something that's a
0:14
very, it's a, it's a sad day for the coach, but we're going to
0:17
have a good program. My, my lifetime buddy, one of my
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very, very best friends for over 70 years, Mr. Larry Muskin.
0:27
He passed this morning. I just heard from his daughters
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and it's a, it's a very, very sad day.
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But the guy, he's not going to suffer anymore and he's going to
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be with his wife GAIL now. And that was a great love
0:40
affair. And Larry Muskin is a great
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father, a great friend, great grandfather, great husband and,
0:52
and a really good lifetime friend that I will cherish.
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I will cherish him and his memory for a long, long time.
1:00
It just seems like we are when we go back in time, we, we
1:04
forget that we're, we're all pretty old right now.
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And I, I'm losing a lot of friends.
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But this was a very special friend that I have known, quite
1:13
frankly, when we were both little juvenile delinquents
1:17
going to Western Military Academy and we became good
1:20
friends. We were like 14, 13 years old,
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15 years old. I don't know.
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And we're, we're a lot older than that today.
1:27
But anyway, I, I just came over to the studio from Spady
1:34
Elementary. I had 1/2 day over there and I
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helped out Miss Kelly Jackson and I work with a new teacher
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over there, Miss Dolan. And what a good find they are to
1:44
have her. What a great teacher she is and
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her kids were good. And one of the little boys in
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that room there. I've known him a long time.
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I know his parents. I won't mention his name, but he
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he turned in a, a math paper and it was literally torn halfway
1:59
down. It was like he tried to tear it
2:02
in half. So I helped him and I tore it
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the rest of the way. And we've got a brand new clean
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sheet of paper and he'll turn into much nicer looking paper
2:09
this afternoon to his teacher on the wall just so we can show you
2:15
right over here. Big 8 conference, just like
2:20
University City Indians will always be the Youth City
2:22
Indians. To me, the Big 8 will always be
2:25
the Big 8, not the Big 12. Washington U Honored to have
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gone there and played for the great Irvuts Over here is Beatty
2:33
Elementary School and here is University City 57.
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That's the year that I graduated and my mother and father, I I
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guess they really didn't know if I was going to graduate till
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about 3 or 4 days before graduation day.
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I finally made it. I passed a typing test before
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Kelvin Lee comes on. Kelvin's one of the, quite
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frankly, one of the greatest high school basketball coaches
3:01
in the the long history of Saint Louis basketball.
3:05
But I want to have a shout out to some of the other great
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coaches And I, I'm not trying to, you know, miss any or, you
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know, to disrespect any. If I miss a name, I miss a name.
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But when I was referee in high school basketball, the public
3:18
high league was absolutely, it was just unbelievable.
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The talent and the coaches were unreal.
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I'm going to mention a few names.
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Most of these men are no longer with us, but the great Jody
3:29
Bailey, John Algae, Floyd Irons, Jim Gant, Frank Darling, Tom
3:36
Stanton. And then a little later on we
3:39
had the great Rich Grauer and Jean Bartow.
3:42
I mentioned his name. People don't realize that Jean
3:45
Bartow was the head basketball coach of Saint Charles High
3:48
School. In 57.
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We played them twice. We lost five games that year.
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My senior year we lost two of them to Saint Charles.
3:56
Gene Bartow was a coach and Saint Charles won the state
3:59
championship that year. And then Gene Bartow went on to
4:01
be the head coach at Illinois and Memphis State and UCLA.
4:06
What a what a great coach. Some of the other great ones was
4:09
Tyke Yates over at Webster, Emmett Hannock at Saint Louis U
4:13
High, and Joe Mimwitz, who was a great coach at many, many
4:18
different venues. I'm going to ask you some real,
4:20
real hardcore questions today, so you better be ready for me
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and and you know what, you know what, Kelvin?
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If you don't, if you don't like the questions that I ask you,
4:28
you know, you can say, hey, that shut up.
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It's all just like I told, just like I told like I told Gene IVA
4:35
that night to tell you to shut the hell up that at.
4:38
Baylor, you would never forget that.
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No, no, I'm not going to ever forget it.
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And while we're talking real quick, wasn't Gene IVA a
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wonderful human being? Yes, he was.
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He's one of the top coaches in America that nobody really, you
4:55
know, Yeah, he didn't get the respect that he deserved, but I
4:58
he was, he was a great coach, great man.
5:00
He was good to you, Calvin. Wendy, he was good to you.
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Yes, he was. Gave me an opportunity.
5:07
Yes, he did. And then he.
5:08
Reached out to me. I was an assistant JV coach.
5:11
Yeah, I was AJV coach in Crestview, FL and he found out I
5:14
was coaching and reached out to me and asked me to join him at
5:17
Baylor. Well, listen, Speaking of
5:19
Crestview, let's just start from the beginning.
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That's where you went to high school, am I correct?
5:24
Yes, Sir. And Kelvin, you're, you're in
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the Crestview Hall of Fame, is that correct?
5:31
High school Hall of Fame. Yes, Sir.
5:34
OK, and then and then I'm going to ask you this and you can tell
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me. I don't give it, you know, but
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you were supposed to go back there and coach and finish your
5:42
career at your high school. Is that correct?
5:45
Yes, I was. And and and what the?
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Hell, matter of fact. Yeah, go ahead.
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As a matter of fact, they hired me and I went to work in June
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and July, practicing with my team.
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And then at the end of July I found out I didn't have a job in
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the building and I found out that by myself, if I hadn't
6:06
reached out, they would have told me anything.
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The administration. You know what?
6:11
That that that's, that's not how you and I lived our lives.
6:15
You know what count? I mean, when we had something to
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say or we had something to do, right?
6:20
Come on, that, that's awful. But anyway, right now you're at
6:25
Pace High School. Is that right?
6:29
Yes, Sir. Tell me about it.
6:31
Tell me about I, I, I see a lot of you on the YouTube and you're
6:34
doing some great early practices and working those kids pretty
6:38
hard. I like it.
6:39
Go ahead. Yes, I got you, got the fall
6:43
conditioning program going now. And I'll tell you what, I took
6:46
the year off after that happened would be at Craigsfield.
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I took the year off and I watched a lot of high school
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ball in the area and then all of a sudden this job, a good friend
6:55
of mine, his name is Murray Rutledge.
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I played against him in high school and he was the athlete
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director at Milton High School here in Florida.
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He reached out to me and said Kelvin Pace is open now, you
7:08
should look into it. And I called and got an
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interview and John Adams and Mr. Shell, our principal, they loved
7:17
me. They hired me round the spot.
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And to be honest with you and I don't understand quest for you
7:23
about former the school, they tried to block me from coming to
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work here but that they didn't work.
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These guys knew me, they know me, they know my background,
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they know my integrity, and they hired me right on the spot.
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Well, I know this much when they look when Pace looked at Kelvin
7:40
Lee's resume. And I'm just going to start and
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I'm going to let you tell me a little bit about each place.
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Your resume, my friend. Well, it all started, I guess
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with Gene IVA. And then you know what happened
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to Texas A&M. You were there just for a short
7:55
time. You didn't like it too much
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here, I guess, at A&M. Well, I ran into a bad
8:00
situation. Just you know how that business
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is. It's, it's kind of cut through
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sometimes at that level and it's all about who you're working
8:07
for. You know, you got to have that
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trust and loyalty. But I, I was working for Tony
8:14
Baroni and he turned out to be a bad guy.
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He, he kind of like recruited me to come there.
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Him and Frank Cate. Frank Cate was an assistant
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coach. And, and when I got there with
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my wife, Karen apparently spread it with my daughter Mackenzie.
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And everything that they said that they were going to do for
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us, they didn't do. They very much lied to us about
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the things that they were going to do for us, like getting my
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wife a job. They didn't get her job.
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And you talking about stressful. It was very stressful.
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About 6. I was only there six months yet
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and we we we packed up and came on back to Saint Louis.
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Well, good for you. And you when you came back to
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Saint Louis, you hooked up with a guy that one of the best of
9:02
all time, and that's Mr. Charlie Spoonhauer.
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How about that, huh? Yes, Spoon was the best.
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That was the best three years of my life that I mean, we, we
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laughed every day because Charlie should have been eaten.
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And but I learned basketball and how to treat people.
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Well, Charlie Spoonhauer, I'm just going to tell you, I'll
9:28
tell you a quick story about Spoon.
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Kelvin, I was over to Sportsman's.
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You know where that place is. You.
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You've been there too, haven't you, Sportsman's.
9:37
Yes. Sir.
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Yeah, yeah, I've been. There a few.
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Times yeah, so I'm. I'm in Sportsman's one night and
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Jimmy Gasoline came in there and Jimmy's passed away since.
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But what a good guy he was. And he comes in there and we're
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talking and he says, you know, Spoon's coming in town.
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Spoon and I are going to spend a couple nights together over the
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weekend. Where are you going to be
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Friday? I said, well, Friday I'm going
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to be over at the Legion Hall because they're going to honor
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Ladue's assistant coaches who are going into the Assistant
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Coaches Hall of Fame. OK, Kelvin.
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But he said, you know what? He says that Charlie and I will.
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We'll stop by the Legion Hall. And I'm thinking, oh, sure, you
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know, sure enough, here comes a Spooner in the Legion hall on
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Friday night. And the only thing he wanted.
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He said that, you know, I'm glad to meet all your the do buddies
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here. But when I leave here, I want to
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have a Budweiser in each pocket as you got it to go over to
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there's a cooler. Put a bud in each pocket.
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What a what a wonderful man he was, huh Kelvin?
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Yes, he was. You're the best.
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He was the best as far as Spoon said.
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He was going to do something for you.
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He did it. Oh, you could trust Charlie.
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I one night I had a game up in Cincinnati and I was tired and
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I've been working probably too many games.
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Kelvin, you know, that week and and Charlie and I were got along
10:54
nice and and anyway, he he start barking a little early at me and
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I said, hey, Charlie, knock it off.
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He called a time out. He called me over.
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He said, hey, Cesar, if I knew you were coming up here with
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that bad attitude, I'd I'd, I'd have told Huggins to just get
11:11
some high school guys who referee this game.
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He sent me a message and going back to Baroni.
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Hey, Zach. Yeah, go ahead.
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Yeah, Zach, I'm going to. I'm going to talk about you for
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a minute, man. You know, you're talking about
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me, but I got to talk about you, OK?
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Well, you know. That as long as it's basketball.
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Hey, hey, as long as it's basketball, do your own talk
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about anything else now, you know.
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OK, Kelvin, go ahead, buddy. But here's the deal.
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I am a member and still a member of the Jewish Community Center
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in Chesterfield and a new building in Maryland Heights
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over there. So I walk in, I walk in, I check
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in, I walk into the locker room and they got all these pictures
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up on the wall. And I walked by and I said, wait
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a minute. Now that's Ron Zetcher.
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You're in the Hall of Fame there.
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I'm like this man. This man is.
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He's got it all. Well, you're a legendary.
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I am. I'm blessed to be a friend of
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yours. Well, I'm a blessed to be your
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friend and hey, you know, let's go on here.
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You know, when you, I guess there's no, nobody's had a a
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career as a high school basketball coach, Kelvin, And
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then you and your years, all your years here.
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But the Chaminade run this thing, Kelvin, you can and you
12:41
can probably help me, but I might miss one or two.
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But you, my goodness, you put David Lee in the NBA and Beal in
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the NBA and Cook and Tatum. Did I miss anybody else that are
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NBA players from Chaminade? Yeah, that's pretty much all I
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had a hand in those. Those 4 right there.
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Well, listen, what a, what a great thing.
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And the only thing I say, you know, and I'm, I'm, I'm talking
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on the business side. I I wish I knew that Tatum kid
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well enough to call him on the telephone, because I just tell
13:18
him to send you about one of those $150 million this time,
13:22
Kelvin, one of them. But you know what?
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That would be nice. That would be nice.
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But I I don't worry about that, Zach.
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Those guys are taking care of their families.
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You know, they say they're doing a good job and they're staying
13:34
out of trouble. I'm proud of all those guys.
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Well, you raise them the right way, Kelvin.
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And you know what? I I've told people this many
13:40
times. I remember when Tatum was a
13:43
freshman and you guys came over to on Ladoo.
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Ladoo had a damn good team that year and I think you were
13:48
playing. Maybe it's a district final or
13:50
it either a semi or a district final.
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Yep. It was in the district.
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Final and and all and I didn't know I'd never.
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Seen they do have that point guard, they had a really good
13:58
point. Guard.
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Oh yes, they did. And so.
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But listen, so I I'd never seen his Tatum kid.
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I'd heard about him, but I'd never seen him.
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And here comes this big kid. He's about 68.
14:09
Then Wendy Kelvin when he was his freshman about 6768.
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Yes, Sir. And and you've got him playing,
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you got you got him playing on the point, OK.
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And he's out there handling the basketball and passing the
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basketball and shooting long Rangers, not those two footers
14:28
under the basket, you know what I mean?
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And by golly, if if anybody, anybody taught that kid how to
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play the game, the full game, not just a little bit of it,
14:40
everything, the passing, the defending, shooting from
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outside, inside, short range, long range, Kelvin Lee.
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And I take my hat off to you, man.
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That's just unbelievable what you did for that kid instead of
14:54
taking them and put them under the basket, you know, it's 68
14:58
and let him catch it and shoot from 2 feet the rest of his four
15:00
years. What would that have done for
15:01
him, Kelvin? I really had the skill set
15:06
that's that's first and foremost that entails footwork,
15:10
dribbling, passing, shooting. He had it all.
15:14
And we talked about Brandon, Bill, basically the difference
15:17
in the two of them. Bradley had more strength out of
15:21
high school than Tatum. Tatum hadn't quite gotten strong
15:24
enough yet, but he had the skill set and that's what set him
15:27
apart. And I didn't know he was going
15:30
to do what he was and what he's doing in the NBA so fast.
15:35
I mean, he got to Boston. He just it was unbelievable how
15:38
he just turned it on one year at Duke.
15:42
I didn't think it was going to happen that fast.
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But I tell you because he knows how to play and he comes from a
15:47
great background. His dad, Justin used to have the
15:51
the water they working with him and I've been to keep having him
15:55
in tears. You have the kid Crock working
15:58
so hard. That's where it all, you know,
16:01
people don't see what Justin did for that divorced son, how hard
16:05
he worked. He worked when I got in, he was
16:08
still a kid. You know how they are.
16:10
They still kids, 8th, 9th grade and I still certain values in
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them. That was the role I played in as
16:17
a high school coach. I'm going to work hard.
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Well, let me ask you this. You know what I mean?
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How to stay out of trouble? Well, you've always been good at
16:25
that, keeping kids out of trouble.
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I don't know if you kept yourself out of trouble all the
16:29
time, but you sure kept the kids out of trouble.
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Yeah, no, I'm just kidding. I know that.
16:37
But we. You're right though.
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You're right, I didn't. I had to work on me.
16:42
Well, we both had to work on our behavior as adults, right?
16:47
We're, we're out there. We're out.
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There telling. Wait, listen, we're out there
16:52
telling these kids every day, hey, 98, you know, you don't do
16:55
this and you don't do that and you don't do this and you don't
16:57
do that. Well, the reason we tell them
16:59
that is because we did this and that knew it didn't turn out so
17:03
good. So my right to hate.
17:06
You're awesome, you're awesome. You're right.
17:09
Dad. Listen, tell me about the kid.
17:12
I'm the best preacher. I'm sorry.
17:16
Go ahead. Tell me about the young kid,
17:19
Yeah, the Collins kid that you had over at Saint Mary's when
17:22
you when you left the Chaminade. Is this a great story, Jack?
17:29
I was at Clyde C Miller that one year and I went to speak at his
17:36
his elementary school. And before I spoke to the 8th
17:40
graders, I looked outside and there he was outside with his PE
17:45
class just messing around with a basketball.
17:48
But I can see something I saw. I told, I told the guy before I
17:51
speak, I'm going to go out here and say hello to this kid.
17:55
So I walked outside. I said hey kid, come here.
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He walked over to me and just keep him by.
18:00
He's just a 6th grader. 6th grade.
18:02
He looked at me. I said, hey, I'm Coach Lee in
18:05
two years. In two years, I'm coming back to
18:07
get you. I want you to pay for me.
18:12
And I get the same marriage job, right?
18:15
And I had a point guard at the time and you, God bless him, he
18:18
was trying by getting his all. It's my first year there, but I
18:22
knew I had to have Yuri. So every day I would cut my
18:27
practice short. I would cut my practice short
18:30
and I'd whip out the door and I'd be at everyone in his middle
18:34
school game, sitting in the stands watching them.
18:36
Black, his mom, dad, Fred. They be.
18:39
They look around and see me sitting up there.
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I wave at him. You know what I mean?
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Yeah, I'm here. I'm here.
18:45
And the kid knew I was there every game I was watching.
18:48
So he made the decision to come play for me at Saint Mary's
18:51
based on that. What's the old stands?
18:53
X? Once a recruiter, always a
18:55
recruiter, right? Absolutely.
18:57
And then I guess he had a brother who wasn't.
18:59
I know how to get it done. Yeah, and I'm not going to even
19:03
ask you right now because I was trying to avoid it.
19:05
But I just don't know how that lead kid and Tatum and Beal, how
19:10
all those kids ended up as Chaminade.
19:13
Where were you? Were you out Hawking them?
19:15
Come on. Want to be quite honest with
19:18
you? Here's Bill.
19:20
Bill's brothers want to be honest, Bruce, Brandon, they
19:24
play football, basketball and Biani so they pass on Limburg,
19:29
Lindbergh, Dr. Pass Shaman. I only went to Lindbergh
19:32
everyday. Going to school.
19:34
Mom taking him to school. So when Brandon was in like the
19:38
4th grade, we were playing Biani and we were warming up and
19:44
somebody tapped me on his shoulder.
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It was her besta. Besta tapped me on his shoulder,
19:47
she says. You going to get different right
19:49
here. Now look down.
19:51
Brandon was just a little kid, 4th grade, so you got to get
19:55
this one. I said I said best.
19:56
What do you mean? I said his brother's going to be
19:59
on it Said no, no, no, no, no, no.
20:01
He's coming to play for you. She said if I would, I would
20:04
have known you. Is Chaminade.
20:06
When Brandon and Bruce came through, they've been in
20:08
Chaminade too. That's how much Bestor wanted
20:13
Bradley to come play. For me.
20:15
It started in the 4th grade and sure enough in when he when he
20:18
got to 6th grade. He enrolled the Chaminade and he
20:23
said, and here's the deal, you know Doug Taylor.
20:30
Yep. Doug Taylor, football coaches
20:32
Chaminade. He was my assistant coach as
20:37
well. Great guy.
20:39
But here's the deal. Doug talked to the school PE and
20:44
I'm sitting in my office next. He runs the office.
20:47
He says, Coach Kev, you got to come see this.
20:51
Keep in mind Brandon is in the 6th grade.
20:53
He's up there shooting threes. I mean, I mean well beyond the
20:58
three-point line and he got, you know, most kids in the sixth
21:01
shots at that age. I know I did.
21:05
That's how I said shot when I was in the 6th grade.
21:07
He was shooting jumpers and make AI said holy cow.
21:14
I knew then he was going to be special.
21:17
Well, he sure was special. And hey, the the year you were
21:24
over at Chaminade, the year you won the state championship, who
21:28
did you beat in the state finals?
21:29
You. You.
21:30
I'm sure you probably remember that state title.
21:33
We played Grandview. Grandview was undefeated.
21:37
Remember, they were number one in the state and they had a kid
21:40
by name of Alec Burke, who's still in the NBA player.
21:44
You remember him. Yes, I do.
21:46
And they were loaded with talent and I had no idea how we were
21:52
going to beat them. Zach.
21:52
Well. Whatever you came up with, it's
21:58
your work my friend. Well, here's a him and tell you
22:03
a quick start. You can't laugh about this.
22:05
The semi final game we beat, we won and and then the they were
22:10
playing, they were playing. Who was Granby was playing?
22:15
I forget they were they were beating the heck out of.
22:17
So I told my manager to take the first half because I couldn't
22:22
these guys. So I I went back to the hotel
22:26
and I started studying the film and I had hit by the Daniel
22:30
Gross Senior Center for Charminar.
22:34
He was by 69 and skinny as a real and I looked at your grocer
22:40
and shoot around and the next day, you know, I always drop my
22:42
guards back. That's part of my game plan.
22:44
Always my guards get back my one and two start defensive
22:48
transition. I looked at Daniel gross.
22:50
I said, Daniel, you haven't gotten the offensive rebound in
22:53
in about a month. This game you brought back on
22:56
defense. We keep them in front of them.
22:59
We're not going to let them get out and run.
23:02
I mean, we're going to keep them in front.
23:05
That was our game plan, to keep the game close.
23:07
And when we kept it close, Allenburg tried to take the game
23:10
over late by himself. All right?
23:12
Then they started arguing with each other.
23:14
I told Doug Taylor we got him now we got him.
23:19
Well, you sure did get him. Listen, Kelvin, before you came
23:25
on the air today, and I'm going to share this with you because I
23:27
think you might remember the guy and everything else.
23:29
One of my real good buddies, a little guy by the name of Larry
23:33
Musk and passed away this morning.
23:36
A lifetime friend. Kelvin.
23:37
OK, and I'll tell you, I'll tell you.
23:40
I know. I know you remember him because
23:42
I introduced you to a member. I'm going to go through the
23:45
whole scenario. I brought him over to you City
23:48
the night that you guys were playing at district final when
23:51
you were up by 10 points going into the fourth quarter.
23:54
You remember the game out, huh? And where you playing?
23:59
Cardinal Ritter, who went on to win the state championship.
24:02
You guys were better. You were better.
24:03
Yes, they did. That was the state championship
24:05
game, that game. So you guys were up by 10
24:08
points. And here's something I, I, I
24:10
respect you for this just as much as anything you ever did
24:15
with the Beals and the Tatums and all there.
24:18
Your point guard had an awful fourth quarter.
24:21
You remember that? He turned the ball over I don't
24:23
even know how many times. And, and the kid played hard.
24:27
He played his butt off, but he just kept making physical and
24:31
mental errors. And they gave him, well,
24:34
actually gave that team a chance to win and they won the
24:36
basketball game. I watched you after the game.
24:39
Exactly. You put your arm around that kid
24:43
and you walked off the cart with that kid.
24:45
You embraced him. The kid worked his butt off for
24:48
you. We talked about it later.
24:50
I called you the next day, I think, and I said, Kelvin, what
24:52
the hell happened? He said the kids a great kid.
24:55
He played his butt off. He had one of those nights.
24:57
That's life. Yeah, that's life, man.
25:02
He did. He did a great job.
25:03
Larry Abbey. Larry Abbey, what's his name?
25:06
He's a heck of a point guard. But he had a mental lapse there
25:09
in the fourth quarter, you know what I mean?
25:11
And it cost, Yeah, you always, you always say it cost to the
25:14
game other things that happened during the course of the game.
25:17
But his just was magnified, you know what I mean?
25:20
So he did a great job for me. All you I had, I had to put mom
25:24
and got a kid. Listen, so my buddy, he he real
25:27
little short guy. I brought him down and and
25:30
introduced you to him I think before the game.
25:34
That's a guy who I who who passed today, the guy by name of
25:38
Larry Muskin. Remember that Kelvin and.
25:43
Yeah, I remember. I'm.
25:44
Sorry, Kelvin. Austin P Let me tell you a
25:48
little something about Austin P Mr. Dave Luce #1 Dave Luce and I
25:53
were teammates on the Kudos baseball team, one of the really
25:56
best amateur baseball teams at the time in the single Semi Pro
26:00
league. Dave Luce and Dave Luce was also
26:03
the basketball coach and I should mention his name too with
26:06
the other greats that I mentioned.
26:09
Dave was a head coach at Melville, but he was a coach of
26:13
the Johnny Mack. Listen to this now, Kel.
26:16
He was a coach of Johnny Mack Legion baseball.
26:18
OK, so it's a big game. Oh, yeah, it's a it's a big game
26:24
down at the Baldwin on a hot summer night.
26:27
And literally this is what happens.
26:31
A guy hits a ground ball, bases loaded, right back to his
26:38
pitcher. You hear me, pitcher, just pick
26:42
it up and throw. Pick it up and throw at the
26:44
first base, you know, innings over.
26:46
But the pitcher, for some reason, he decides to throw home
26:49
and the run, run third base got a got a pretty good jump and it
26:55
slides and he's home and he's safe.
26:58
You know what I mean? And, and, and there's a big
27:01
argument and they're all, they're out there raising hell
27:03
and everything else. And I, I did make the mistake.
27:06
I said that a pitcher, I said, wait, if he understood the game,
27:08
you'd have thrown the ball to first base.
27:10
Well, Moose went nuts on that. Then I said, said that to his
27:14
pitcher. Oh, double you, How could you
27:17
do? Who do you think you are talking
27:18
to my kid, that blah, blah, blah.
27:20
So the game ended and he's still hot with me.
27:24
I mean, he's hot. They they lost, I think.
27:27
So we're driving down Manchester and there's a place called the
27:31
Moulin Rouge. It's a little bar.
27:34
And all of a sudden his car pulls up right side by side with
27:38
me on a Manchester Kelvin and it's loose.
27:43
He rolls his window down. He says, pull over in that
27:45
parking lot at the Moulin Rouge. I want to have a beer with you.
27:49
What a what a great guy, huh? What a what a but really.
27:53
Yeah, I told that kid I. Said yeah, every well, Dave,
28:01
Zach, every practice I go wife is supposed to be loose.
28:05
Is there Dave is at watching practice and he come and sit
28:09
next to me and we saw sharing stories because he knows some of
28:13
the same people. I know he knew Charlie, he knew
28:16
Gene Iber, he knows all of them. You know what I mean.
28:18
And we had we share, we would share some great stories.
28:21
And, you know, we laughed. See, I think his first job after
28:26
he left Melbourne, he might have gone to CBC Christian or so
28:29
whatever they call it down in Memphis.
28:31
He coached down there for a while and then he went over to
28:35
Memphis State for a while, I guess an assistant or whatever.
28:38
And that boy he once he got. To Austin P.
28:41
He's a legend, Austin P He's in their Hall of Fame.
28:46
The legend? Yes he is, and he's talking to
28:49
my family. Great.
28:50
A brand loose all of the great people.
28:52
Wonderful people and loose family are are are what's good
28:56
about our society. Kelvin, the the loose family,
28:59
let me ask you this, Let me ask you a few other things.
29:03
Can you tell me a little bit right now about what you think
29:07
your program at Pace High School will be this year?
29:11
Seeing the kids so far, I'm don't make any grand.
29:14
Predictions but I'm so excited to be here.
29:17
I tell you what that I'm so excited.
29:20
I'm the situation right now and I have some some jobs where, you
29:26
know, the administration may cause a little RIP with sports
29:29
and you know, and the AD micromanages here, but here at
29:35
pace they got they they got it, man.
29:38
They figured it out. They put it just on sports here.
29:41
Football is big. Basketball is going to be I'm
29:45
going to tell you something now. I've asked you guys first, you
29:49
hear me? Go ahead.
29:52
I've had some transfers that that come into play for me.
29:55
I've had I got a big kid. You remember Tyler Cook?
29:59
You know what you don't? You This kid looks gentle.
30:02
Tyler Cook. Where?
30:04
Where's this transfer from? New York City?
30:11
Where are you getting this place?
30:13
In Florida. Hey, they're coming.
30:16
Thanks. They're coming, man.
30:17
Once they figured me out, the parents are sitting there.
30:21
They're sending them to Kelvin because you know.
30:22
What? And we're going to be pretty
30:23
good this year. You're going to send them,
30:26
you're going to send them into a good college program when they
30:30
leave you. And then some of them are going
30:31
to end up like the Beales and the Tatums.
30:33
Kelvin. No, no two ways about it it.
30:36
It's going to happen. It says that's interesting.
30:40
Here's what my man, here's what I do.
30:42
A lot of people don't know this, but like when Tatum was in the
30:46
eighth grade at Chaminade. Who?
30:49
Was sitting up in the stands, right?
30:52
And I walked over to him during yesterday.
30:54
I said, hey, Jason, if you, if you went to college today, where
31:00
would you want to go? The kid looked at me and said
31:03
Ohio State, that he, he loved Ohio State for some reason.
31:08
So I got on the phone and I remember that mother.
31:12
Oh, sure. Yeah, he was at Ohio State at
31:17
the time, and I called Dad. I said Dad, I got a kid in the
31:21
eighth grade sitting right here. They just told me he wanted to
31:25
come play for you at Ohio State. Now, keep in mind, Dad had never
31:29
seen this kid. He's just in the eighth grade.
31:32
You know what Dad said? He said you tell that on him
31:36
right now. What do you say?
31:39
Go again. Because based on what I did with
31:42
what I did with David Lee and Bradley Bill, Dad knew I had a
31:46
player. Well, you're you're a lifetime.
31:51
Now, of course, he didn't go to the city.
31:53
What to do? Sure.
31:54
Well, listen, Kelvin, you're a lifetime coach and a great coach
31:58
and, and you have, you know, there's a lot of coaches,
32:01
Kelvin. I've been, I've seen them all,
32:03
you know, from high school to junior high school to college,
32:07
whatever. There's some coaches who can
32:09
spot talent, and then there's some coaches who spot what they
32:13
think is talent. And guess what?
32:15
It's not so talent. You know what I mean, Kel?
32:18
You, you know talent. Now listen.
32:20
They're trying. To be a thug, yeah.
32:22
You, you know, only because you're my friend, but you used
32:27
to ask me to come over every year to Chaminade in the summer
32:31
and talk to those kids about officiating and how to behave
32:34
with officials. Member Kel Yep, Yep.
32:36
And you know, and I come over there and I'd give you, I'd give
32:39
you an hour, 2 hours, you know, some good time.
32:41
And you, you paid me well. I got a whole bunch of Chaminade
32:45
T-shirts. But those, those kids listen,
32:53
they were so well behaved as campers.
32:56
They sat and listened. They asked questions.
33:00
They, you know, a lot of the kids didn't understand the, you
33:03
know, the three second rule that if the players got the ball and
33:06
he's in there for three seconds, 4 seconds and he goes to the
33:09
basket, he's still good. You know, I mean, he's in there
33:13
for 3 or 4 seconds and he gets rid of the ball, then it's a 3
33:16
second violation. Those kids didn't know that and
33:19
they learned it, Kel, at a young age.
33:21
So they weren't moping. And oh, oh, that referee just
33:25
made a bet. No, no, the referee knew.
33:26
The kids know the call and it's it's awesome.
33:29
And I had more fun over there with these kids.
33:32
And David Lee, he came over to you from John Burroughs, didn't
33:37
he? Yes, he did.
33:40
Yeah, Yes he did. He got kicked out of John
33:44
Burroughs. Yeah, well, we've all been
33:45
kicked out of some schools. You know, I I know that that I
33:51
got my I, I got the, well, this is a big age shirt.
33:54
I got up here and all that business.
33:55
But, you know, yeah, we all have our days.
33:58
You know, when we're young, some of us make mistakes.
34:00
And this morning, Kelvin, before I came over, I I subbed for 1/2
34:05
a day. OK, you'll like this.
34:07
So I subbed for 1/2 a day in a third grade room and one of the
34:10
boys in there, I won't mention this thing, but I know his mom
34:13
and dad and I know his sisters. He's got two older brother and
34:17
older sister and he's a handful, but he's a great kid.
34:20
So we had a math, had a math lesson and he all the kids
34:23
turned in nice papers and he turned his paper and it was torn
34:26
halfway down the middle. I looked at him.
34:28
I said what, what, What the hell happened to your paper?
34:31
Your son? I mean, I didn't say it that
34:33
way, but I said I don't know. I said, well, I said, you know
34:37
what? Now that you've torn it halfway,
34:40
I'll finish it for you. And I tore it right then put it
34:43
in the waste can. I said now there's a clean sheet
34:45
up there, go get a clean 1 so when you turn it into your
34:48
teacher, she won't think a kindergartner turned it in.
34:51
Right. Hey Kelvin, it is what?
34:53
It is. Yes, Sir.
34:56
Can I tell you another story? Sure.
35:00
This is about Brad Bill. When he was in the eighth grade,
35:05
I took him to team camp at KU with me because I knew what he
35:10
can do. The boy can shoot that ball,
35:12
right? Oh yes.
35:14
So we give the team camp, you know, we have a coaches meeting
35:19
with Bill Self, you know, and the staff.
35:21
I know, Bill Self. Two folks have been there, so I
35:27
walked up the Bill step. I was like Bill.
35:29
Bill and I played against each other in college when he was at
35:31
Oklahoma State. We played against each other.
35:34
So I know Bill real well. Bill Step took a charge of him
35:38
when we played against him and when Houston Babbles played
35:41
against him. We had a six, a kid from Africa
35:43
weighed about 260, built like a brick wall and Bill Steph tried
35:47
to take a charge on him. The kid ran over, the kid ran
35:52
over, Bill Steph stepped on him. So I asked Bill during the
35:57
coaches meeting. I said, hey Bill, you taking any
36:00
more charges lately? He says shut the hell up,
36:04
Kelvin. But anyhow, I woke up the bill.
36:09
I said Bill, remember the name Bradley Bill.
36:12
He said, what are you talking about?
36:14
I said just remember the name Bradley Bill.
36:16
He said, I tell you what, I'm going to send my top assistant
36:19
to see your first game, and that was Curtis Townsend.
36:22
So Curtis Townsend comes over to watch our first game of the team
36:25
camp and I haven't seen anything like this kids, just not even a
36:31
freshman yet. He's in the eighth grade.
36:35
He he had 9 threes in a row. And I looked over.
36:40
Curtis Townsend is on his phone talking to somebody.
36:45
The next game, Curtis, Bill Self, Joe Dooley, all the entire
36:53
staff is in the stands watching Bradley play.
36:57
And you know how you have a social at the end of the night,
36:59
all the high school coach, they pick a bar and we go have a few
37:03
beers, you know. Oh yeah, we had that social that
37:06
night. I walk in and build stuff,
37:09
called me over here. Calvin, get over here.
37:11
He said, what is what is it going to take me to get Brad?
37:13
I want Brad right now. The Kansas have to be not even a
37:17
freshman yet. He's not wanting right now.
37:20
I said, well, you got to wait a while, right?
37:24
But he offered Bradley before we left.
37:28
Where was Bradley's first offer was?
37:30
Kansas. Where did he go after he left
37:33
Chaminade Kelvin? What did Donovan play for?
37:35
Billy Donovan. Oh, he did.
37:37
How he played for Billy. Oh, OK, Lordy Gator.
37:41
Well, Billy Donovan, one of the first NCAA tournaments that I
37:45
officiated, and Billy Donovan was playing for Providence with
37:49
the Marvin Barnes and the great coach at the time, Rick Pitino.
37:54
He was the coach at Providence and you could just tell at that
37:59
time that this kid had it all. I mean, you know, he was a
38:02
leader and he was a player and he he's just what a great career
38:06
that that Donovan's had. But listen.
38:09
Oh, absolutely. But listen, David Lee, he really
38:14
didn't need all that NBA money, did he?
38:16
His family has a little too, don't they?
38:20
Yeah, they got money coming out of their ears.
38:22
Man, that's unbelievable. His dad was a good buddy of
38:25
yours, wasn't he? Still is.
38:27
Gary is a great friend. I hired him as one of my
38:29
coaches. No kidding.
38:31
He came over and helped you, did he?
38:33
Yeah, he helped me coach for a while.
38:34
I think he he's having some issues right now.
38:36
He's getting older, but he stayed around for a while after
38:39
I left. He's a great guy.
38:41
Great guy. Listen, we're going to have to
38:43
wrap this up in a minute, but I want to remind you of one night,
38:45
Kelvin, that you and I had a conversation.
38:47
You might not remember it, but you called me.
38:50
I was down in Columbia. I think I might have had a, a
38:54
Missouri game or something. But anyway, you got me on the
38:56
phone and you were talking about you were a Chaminade and there
38:59
were some lay people over there who were not being completely
39:03
good to you. Remember that or not.
39:06
And I remember telling you, and you know what, Kelvin?
39:10
Don't say a word. Zip it up, but keep your eyes
39:14
open, you know what I'm saying? Keep your eyes open.
39:17
And then the next year, you won the state championship right
39:20
after that, so they had, so they had to leave you alone for a
39:23
while, right? Right.
39:24
Well, all the crap that those people, whoever they are, I
39:28
don't even want to know their names 'cause you.
39:30
They didn't keep you out of the Shaman out Hall of Fame, buddy,
39:33
did they? No, they didn't.
39:35
I'm in the Hall of Fame did. I've loved it.
39:37
I love it. You deserved it.
39:39
Are you kidding me? You deserved it and you you made
39:45
well, Chaminade High School is a, a national name now, Kelvin,
39:50
because of you and all the years there.
39:51
So it's a national name. Yes, it is.
39:54
People here, Chaminade High School, they know, oh, that's
39:56
one of those great, you know, national, national high school
40:00
teams. Great.
40:01
Teams and Frank and Frank Bennett, who was my assistant
40:03
coach, played for me. He played with David Lee.
40:06
He took over. He's done a great job there.
40:08
So did you just continue the tradition?
40:10
The tradition continues because of Frank Bennett right now.
40:14
Well, you, you did it all, my friend.
40:17
You really did. In spite of all the nights we
40:20
spent at the kitchen, we Burke turned out pretty good.
40:22
Well, could that that helped us. What it hey, it helped us to
40:29
receive and be rejected both ways.
40:32
That motive is that motive is to be the man.
40:35
We are exact. You receive and then sometimes
40:39
you're rejected. You get rejected.
40:40
You got that? Right.
40:41
And we say no more, we move on. We we sure do move on, MA.
40:47
One last thing, when you mention Tony Baroni and what he did with
40:51
you, it all goes around the year.
40:55
Tony Baroni was really instrumental in A&M getting
41:00
started on that brand new field house, You know what I mean?
41:03
They played that. Old one reason I went there.
41:04
They played in that old dump and they're building that field
41:07
house. And then he treated you and
41:09
probably a few other people not the right way.
41:11
And guess what? He never got to coach in that
41:14
new field house. No, he didn't.
41:16
He got fired. I remember the day he got fired.
41:18
Never got to work there, so sometimes what goes around comes
41:21
around, Kel. Thank you.
41:22
I'm glad you said that. That's what Ron comes around,
41:25
baby. Well, how you treat people.
41:28
Treat them right, you know, like you had something here I wrote
41:30
about you. Oh, golly, I had some nice
41:34
things written about you. I tore them up, all the bad.
41:38
No, honestly, tell them one last story, will you please?
41:45
About when you were like the third guy on the bench at
41:48
Baylor, and that's when we first met each other.
41:52
Yeah. Go ahead.
41:55
Well, I said, I didn't know. You come here from Sycam.
41:58
I never seen you. But again, you're officiating
42:01
the game at Baylor. I don't know who we're playing,
42:03
but you made a call and I was just an assistant coach and I
42:07
stood up and I guess started giving you the the, the woo.
42:11
I started giving you a few choice words and you came over
42:16
to the bench and you leaned over to Jane.
42:18
You said, Jane, I can put up with your bullshit.
42:22
He's my friends, but I'm not going to put up with his.
42:24
Tell him to sit down. You tell him to sit down is
42:27
right and that's how we met each other and then it's great how we
42:31
met each other and and a great friendship that we've acquired
42:35
over these years. I consider you one of my really
42:38
great lifetime friends, Kelvin. And yes, Sir, and I, you and
42:41
your family, you and your family are great people.
42:43
I love them. Well, my family loves you and my
42:46
daughter Kim. She sent Will over to you.
42:49
And then what? Whatever happened that year, we
42:50
won't talk about that right now because.
42:52
That's OK, Will. Will's doing fine.
42:54
I see. Oh, he's not at Missouri.
42:55
He's doing real fine, Kelvin. Yeah, he's doing.
42:57
Real well, he's going to be OK. Oh, yeah, he's doing.
43:00
I'll tell you how well he's doing down there.
43:01
Kelly Will. Oh, golly.
43:05
My daughter asked me to come down there last year, so I went
43:08
down there for dinner. So he's got this girlfriend.
43:12
I'm going to tell you right now. No, no, I mean, she's if, if, if
43:17
10's a standard, she's at 20. Can't wait.
43:20
So we all go out to dinner. Not only is she a beautiful
43:22
girl, she's smart and she's just as polite as she can be and
43:27
understand she just met me, you know, I mean, I'm like a
43:30
strange, strange old man showing up.
43:33
And I I think she had met my daughter Kim maybe once.
43:36
Yeah. Well, the way she acted at
43:38
dinner and it was just, it was phenomenal.
43:40
So afterwards, I, I called her over.
43:42
I said, come here, I need to talk to you.
43:45
I said, what are you doing with him, honey?
43:50
You can do a whole lot better than than that Will.
43:55
Is that Will the handsome kid? Man, He's got it all going on.
43:59
Yeah, well, ask him. He'll tell you.
44:01
He, he believes it, too. He believes he's got it all.
44:05
But he is a he's a great kid. And yeah, he he really is.
44:09
I I wish that he could have. And my other grandson, Luke, who
44:12
really loved the game of basketball.
44:14
I I wish those guys could have played for somebody like Kelvin
44:17
Lee. That's all I'm going to say.
44:18
Was that you? Make sure you tell them I said
44:21
hello. I should.
44:22
Come back when I get back to Saint Louis, and I'm coming
44:24
soon. Zedge, I'm going to give you a
44:26
call. OK, we'll go down to Masters.
44:28
It's not, it's in the same spot, but it's not called the place
44:32
that. I don't fall on out there.
44:34
We are there. No fall.
44:34
Where's that place though? Tully's you want to go to?
44:37
Tully's with me. Yeah, I've been there with you.
44:40
OK. And I'll tell you what, the
44:42
first drinks on me and the rest are on you.
44:45
How's that? I got.
44:48
You, Calvin, I love you and stay well and keep doing what you're
44:53
doing for those kids down there. And if I ever am able to get
44:56
away, just for a little while, I'd love to come down there and
45:00
watch one of your basketball games this winter in Florida.
45:02
It would be awesome. And my daughter Jessica's
45:04
sitting here listening to this, and if she behaves well enough
45:08
and I ever come down to see you, I might let her take the road
45:11
trip with me. How's that?
45:12
It would be worth a while because the beaches are
45:14
beautiful. Beautiful beaches and and the
45:17
seafood is good. Really so you got some beautiful
45:19
what's the weather there today tell.
45:21
Me, I'm real close to Pensacola. Pensacola, FL.
45:25
How far from you to Pensacola? You get me a ride down there if
45:28
I want to go to. The beach?
45:29
Yeah, I'm about 15 minutes from Pensacola.
45:31
You take me to the beach. Yeah, it's right.
45:33
I'm right on the beach. I'm not too far from is that.
45:37
Hey, you know what? You're tempting me, my friend.
45:39
I'm going to. Bring.
45:40
Bring that. Bring that girl with you.
45:43
Bring. Jessica bring Jessica with me.
45:45
Should I have fun? What if I invite Kim to?
45:48
Kim, bring him. Bring him on.
45:51
Yes, Sir. All right, buddy.
45:52
Hey, listen, it's great talking to you a little a little serious
45:57
note now I'm I'm proud of you. I'm, I'm proud of the father you
46:00
are, you're, I'm really proud of your son and what he's done.
46:04
And you can convey that to him. I don't know him like I know
46:07
you, but you've raised a wonderful son there.
46:10
And a daughter, by the way, a beautiful daughter.
46:12
Who's a doctor now? Says she's a doctor.
46:14
Your your daughter's a doctor. Yes, she's an anesthesiologist.
46:18
You're. Kidding me?
46:20
No, she's making your type money now.
46:23
She's. Making my type money.
46:26
You know what if your daughter, Calvin Calvin Lee, if your
46:30
daughter, if your daughter's as smart that she became a doctor,
46:34
you you're married to a smart woman, She didn't get it from
46:37
you, right it. Definitely didn't come from me.
46:42
It didn't come from Kelvin Lee, but I'll tell you one thing,
46:45
your your wife might have a lot of smarts, but I'll tell you one
46:48
thing, she doesn't know basketball like Kelvin Lee.
46:51
Exactly. There you go.
46:53
There you go. We all have.
46:54
We all have our strengths and we also have our weaknesses.
46:57
Yes, Sir. OK my friend, I love you.
47:00
Have a great day and I'm going to say hello to a bunch of your
47:04
buddies here when I get a chance, OK?
47:05
Appreciate it. Thank you.
47:07
I love you too buddy. Take care, buddy.
47:09
See you. Take care.
47:10
Bye bye. Bye bye.
47:12
Well, what a great time spent with the great Kelvin Lee.
47:18
What a character. And I meet a good character,
47:21
that guy. Oh my goodness, he is.
47:25
He, he's, he's just an unbelievable guy.
47:27
And I, I meant that before, but why do I wish my grandsons could
47:30
have had a chance to play for Kelvin Lee?
47:32
What a, what a coach and what a, and he, and you know what, not
47:35
only is he a great coach, he's a great mentor.
47:37
He teaches all these young kids the right things and how to live
47:40
their life. And I, I don't know what else I
47:43
can say. I'm going to have to sign off
47:45
now. I want to thank my grandson
47:48
again, Jake Brown, who's made this possible.
47:52
I, I, I couldn't be doing this without Jake's everything he's
47:56
doing, he's paying for the room, he's setting up the, the podcast
48:02
when he edits them with Matt here, who's also a great
48:05
producer. I couldn't thank you more.
48:08
And the people who are listening to this, you know, you can
48:11
subscribe, go on YouTube, you can go on Spotify, Facebook,
48:18
Apple. When you get this, it'll be out
48:22
a week from tomorrow, comes out a week from Thursday.
48:26
If you like it, you know, subscribe and say like and then
48:29
share it with some of your friends.
48:31
Kelvin Lee is a very, very, very special person.
48:34
And I think you'll all enjoy and listen to this.
48:37
So I'll leave you with this. I leave you every week with
48:39
this. Today is the youngest you will
48:42
ever be.