Showing posts with label Louisiana Tech basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louisiana Tech basketball. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
In 1984, Mulkey's writing was gold
Just as in every phase of her life, she was very good at what she did. She could have been a sportswriter.
(Don't laugh. It is a noble profession. And don't you forget it. Somebody has to do it.
Her spectacular four-year basketball career at Louisiana Tech finished -- with a fourth consecutive women's Final Four appearance -- Kim was entering the next phase: Trying to make the United States women's basketball team for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
She made it ... and helped her team win the gold medal.
And during the journey -- the tryouts, the team selections, the practices, the exhibition games, the trip to LA, the Opening Ceremony, the time in the Olympic Village, and the Olympic competition itself, she told the story ... in the Shreveport Journal.
In 14 segments, beginning April 19, "Kim Mulkey's Olympic Diary" appeared on the Journal sports pages.
Here is the promo for the start of the series:
Kim had played for U.S. teams in international games for three years and had been one of college basketball's best women's players during that time. So she was a natural for the tryouts.
She was a natural for the Journal, too.
The idea was generated -- as were many stories in the paper in those late 1970s/1980s years -- by the paper's editor, Stanley Tiner.
We took it from there ... and so did Kim.
Believe me, it took some effort on her part. She had to write out, or type, her stories, and then make a call to the Journal sports department and, as I recall, dictate her words to us. On our end, it meant typing it into our computers and preparing it for the next day's editions.
We had the easy part. Kim could write. She needed very little help, maybe a little editing here and there. Of course, her stories were excellent ... good reads, in newspaper terms.
She was, after all, a summa cum laude college student; the sportswriters at the Journal were not.
So it was time-consuming for Kim, between her basketball tryouts and travels.
As I recall, her pay was a few million dollars short of what she's made as the women's head basketball coach at Baylor (and now LSU), or even a few thousand dollars short as an assistant coach for 15 years at Louisiana Tech.
I think she did it for the good of the country ... and the Journal. It was a free ride.
It was a pleasure to team up with her, and I remember that Journal readers enjoyed her stories. By then, she had been the "darling" of Louisiana Tech women's basketball fans for four years, the little point guard with the pigtails. The big winner, the champion.
Truth is, she had fans, too, in the Journal sports department (see Jerry Byrd's column) and also The Times, where our friend Jim McLain covered the Lady Techsters' story for many years.
So her stories were gold for us, and the U.S. team -- coached by Pat Head Summitt, by then not quite the legend she would become at the University of Tennessee -- earned its gold by beating South Korea in the title game (remember, Russian athletes boycotted the LA Games in '84). Kim wasn't the only Louisiana Tech player to mine that gold. So did center/forward Janice Lawrence.
(Lawrence was the Final Four's "Most Outstanding Player" when Tech and Mulkey won a second consecutive national championship in 1982. The Lady Techsters lost to Southern California, led by Cheryl Miller, in the 1983 championship game, 69-67, and 1984 semifinals, 62-57.)
Here is how Kim ended her final "Olympic Diary" story, which ran in the Journal on August 8, the afternoon after the previous night's gold-medal game and ceremony:
You probably know the rest. A lot of her dreams have come true ... and now, at LSU, there are more dreams and more goals. The Journal is no more, having folded in 1991. Kim Mulkey's story rolls on ... and it's been a golden adventure.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
A victory for Louisiana ... and LSU
Kim Mulkey: LSU women's basketball coach.
LSU athletics needed some positive, out-of-sight news, don't you think?
Think that will do for positive?
It is about as big a splash LSU could make right now, and you can expect LSU women's basketball to be playing for national championships soon enough ... at least that's what Mulkey's career indicates.
To review her record would take too much space (see LSU's news release below). Just call it "outstanding." She's about as big a winner as there is in our sports world. Put her right there with Nick Saban, Pat Summitt, Gene Auriemma ... just to name a few in college athletics.
Much is being made, of course, that Kim is coming "home." For those of us with Louisiana Tech ties, that's not exactly how we see it. LSU wasn't her college home; Louisiana Tech is.
So there might be Tech faithful out there who are as thrilled about this move as LSU people are. There are people like me, though, with split loyalties. So it's OK.
Famously, or infamously, in 2000, Kim could have been the Louisiana Tech women's head basketball coach, the natural successor to Leon Barmore -- the coach she played for, and then was his 15-year assistant.
Tech, at that point, was the longtime women's powerhouse in Louisiana (and one of the nation's powers). And Kim had helped make it so.
But she couldn't come to contract terms with Tech. The recall here is that she wanted a multi-year deal; Tech was only doing one-year deals. It didn't please Kim, and she bolted instead to Baylor ... and another La. Tech connection.
At Baylor, she succeeded Sonja Hogg, who had been the original Tech women's coach and built the program, which hit greater heights once she hired Barmore as top assistant (and later co-head coach).
Sonja was the Baylor head coach for six years, but -- without Barmore at her side -- wasn't nearly as successful in terms of wins-losses. But she was instrumental and supportive in helping bring Mulkey to Baylor.
Mulkey at times over the years publicly has voiced her displeasure/bitterness about the Tech contract flap. That did not sit well with some Tech folks ... but only temporarily because -- no matter what -- Kim is a beloved figure at Louisiana Tech. And because people realize that over many years, Kim can be quite outspoken about what's on her mind.
She's taken criticism for some of that, and she's had to explain herself. But here is what I assure you: She also is beloved at Baylor, and the prediction is she soon will be beloved at LSU.
Speaking of predictions -- and I am not making this up -- about two months ago when LSU women's team was going through another middling season, I told a friend (can't remember who it was) that LSU would be making a women's basketball coaching change at the end of the season and that Kim Mulkey would be the next LSU coach.
Honestly, I said that. Of course, it was pure speculation, wishful thinking. But Kim's ties to Louisiana and LSU (where her son, Kramer Robertson, played baseball -- shortstop -- en route to a pro contract -- St. Louis Cardinals' organization) were good reasons.
One of my friends, a former basketball coach -- state-championship high school coach and, for a brief time, a college assistant -- did not believe Mulkey would take the LSU job. He told me that Saturday, and also stated what he has said often: That LSU does not really care about basketball.
I have never agreed with that. Sorry, coach.
The men's program isn't always a big winner, but there is a history of four Final Four appearances and some of the greatest college players in the game (Bob Pettit, Pistol Pete Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal for starters). In many of Dale Brown's 25 years as head coach, the Tigers were NCAA Tournament entries.
And the women's program made five Final Fours in a row in 2004-08 ... under three different head coaches.
LSU's men's program right now is under much scrutiny and controversy since coach Will Wade's "strong-ass offer" comment became public and the reports of his having provided payment for 11 players to come play at LSU.
(Add the Les Miles off-the-field crap and the reports of LSU football players' sexual assaults/transgressions, and athletic department cover-ups, and it's embarrassing. Inexcusable.)
Hello, NCAA and FBI investigations ... ongoing. Cannot understand how LSU has stuck by him.
So my suggestion to some friends is that Mulkey could coach the women's team and the men's team. Thank you. Kim could do it.
As for LSU being serious about basketball, I think we have our answer, at least for the women's team. Money talks.
When the powers-that-be decide that the men's program should abide by NCAA rules -- or what the rules are supposed to be -- and makes a move on Wade, that will mean it, too, is headed in the right direction again.
Mulkey -- and Wade, while he's there, if he's there -- have much work to do to bring in players to refresh their programs. The lenient transfer rules these days should make that easier than in past years.
Would not be a big surprise at all if Mulkey builds this program in a hurry. No doubt about it, she knows how to win.
---
https://lsusports.net/news/2021/4/25/athletics-hall-of-famer-kim-mulkey-named-lsu-womens-basketball-head-coach.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1Xllqor2NT36z1aV3geUhJYCghBlBTTN7vwUYNkmVG6bhhNKhyVRwkXdU
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Lambright, Part XI: The ties to Southern Miss
(Part XI)
Tim Floyd, a basketball coach who is a basketball coach's son, is indebted to a football coach.
Maxie Lambright, he says, "changed my life."
Tim's photo on his bio page on the UT-El Paso men's basketball web site lists his hometown as Hattiesburg, Miss., and his college as Louisiana Tech, 1977.
In both those places, he knew Coach Lambright -- as a family friend, the Southern Mississippi offensive backfield coach, and then at Louisiana Tech the head football coach and -- more importantly for Tim -- the athletic director.
Lee Floyd spent 14 seasons as Southern Miss' head basketball coach, beginning in 1949 when Lambright was still playing football for the Southerners and then, after eight years out of coaching (Tim's first eight years), from 1962 to '71 -- including five years while Maxie was on the USM football staff.
"He and [wife] Gerry were dear family friends of my mother and father," Tim said recently, recalling the Lambright-Floyd friendship. "He [Maxie] was the reason I ended up at Louisiana Tech.
"When I was a kid 11 or 12, Coach Lambright would visit with my father; they were drinking buddies," Tim said, "and I'd listen to them talk. He [Maxie] was extremely bright. They'd talk about coaching philosophies, and he was fascinating."
And he was inspiring (more on that in a moment).
Lee Floyd's teams won 246 games, 98 more than they lost. He would be proud of his son, who in his 23rd season as a college head coach has led his teams to 452 victories -- 186 more than they've lost -- and eight NCAA Tournaments.
And the son was an NBA head coach for five seasons, the first four with the Chicago Bulls to start the transition from the era of coach Phil Jackson/superstar Michael Jordan/six NBA titles.
So Tim is the Floyd who basketball people know now. He's in his seventh season back at UTEP, the school where his father played in the early 1940s -- before the school was even known as Texas Western, the name before UTEP -- and where Tim began his fulltime coaching career as an assistant to the legendary Don Haskins in 1978.
But he was coaching as a student assistant at Louisiana Tech in 1977 after two seasons as a reserve -- he played little -- on the Tech team. He was on scholarship ... thanks to Lambright.
Lee Floyd was increasingly crippled by arthritis as his coaching career wound down. His teams, his players, were bulky and tough and talented -- regular opponents of Tech -- but by 1971, he no longer could coach.
He died three years later. Tim was a walk-on basketball player at Southern Miss, but -- in an era when coaches were not being paid fortunes -- paying for his education was a challenge for Mrs. Floyd.
Tech's basketball program was on NCAA probation (for recruiting violations while Scotty Robertson was the coach in the early 1970s), and the Tech staff, headed by Robertson's successor, Emmett Hendricks, was prohibited from recruiting off-campus. But Tim transferred to Tech.
"Coach Lambright told Emmett he was going to put me on scholarship, and he did," Tim said.
He mostly watched as Tech's teams competed well and his close friend, Mike McConathy, became one of the best players in Tech basketball history.
(Floyd and McConathy would always remain close, both becoming veteran, respected college coaches. In early December, McConathy took his Northwestern State team to UTEP and left town with a victory.)
Tim can tell stories -- and did -- about his father or Maxie making trips to New Orleans to purchase and stock up some liquid refreshments to bring back to Hattiesburg (in a "dry" county) and hide away for future use, and about the Floyds' visit to stay with the Lambrights one Friday night before a USM-at-Tech football game the next afternoon.
"This was Halloween night, and my mother brought in a blanket with a black cat wrapped up in it," he said, with a laugh. "When Maxie walked in, she sprung that cat loose.
"Maxie was really superstitious, so he jumped. Tech lost the game the next day. I don't think he talked to my mother for months afterward."
(Look it up. USM handed Tech its only loss of the 1969 regular season, 24-23, on Nov. 1.)
"It seemed like he [Lambright] always made the right decision. ... He had a great sense of humor, really dry, and he was well thought of at Southern Miss," Tim remembered.
Coach Lambright wasn't the only one who changed Tim's life at Louisiana Tech. So did his teammates, his friends and the Tech basketball staff ... but mostly, it was Beverly.
He began courting and then married Beverly Byrnside, whose father George was a Tech student and football/track-field athlete a decade before he returned to the university as an administrator for 37 years, the last 25 as vice-president for administrative affairs.
The Floyds have a daughter, Shannon, and a granddaughter.
With UTEP in Conference USA with Tech, Tim's teams now have a regular rivalry with the Bulldogs. Although he has returned to Ruston often to see family and friends, his first trip back in 21 years as an opposing coach, in 2015, was eventful. He's been known to be a bit rough on referees and in this game (a Tech victory), he was told he would be departing early -- ejected after a mad scene.
Tim is 62 now, but Coach Lambright's words when he was a young man made an impact.
"I remember his speech when he retired from football; it was memorable for me," he said, "and I might use some of that when I get out [of coaching]."
And there was a night when Maxie, at the Floyd residence, recited a few lines that made a specific impression.
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him.
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child. Teach him.
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him.
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a leader. Follow him.
Tim Floyd, a basketball coach who is a basketball coach's son, is indebted to a football coach.
Maxie Lambright, he says, "changed my life."
Tim's photo on his bio page on the UT-El Paso men's basketball web site lists his hometown as Hattiesburg, Miss., and his college as Louisiana Tech, 1977.
In both those places, he knew Coach Lambright -- as a family friend, the Southern Mississippi offensive backfield coach, and then at Louisiana Tech the head football coach and -- more importantly for Tim -- the athletic director.
Lee Floyd spent 14 seasons as Southern Miss' head basketball coach, beginning in 1949 when Lambright was still playing football for the Southerners and then, after eight years out of coaching (Tim's first eight years), from 1962 to '71 -- including five years while Maxie was on the USM football staff.
"He and [wife] Gerry were dear family friends of my mother and father," Tim said recently, recalling the Lambright-Floyd friendship. "He [Maxie] was the reason I ended up at Louisiana Tech.
"When I was a kid 11 or 12, Coach Lambright would visit with my father; they were drinking buddies," Tim said, "and I'd listen to them talk. He [Maxie] was extremely bright. They'd talk about coaching philosophies, and he was fascinating."
And he was inspiring (more on that in a moment).
Lee Floyd's teams won 246 games, 98 more than they lost. He would be proud of his son, who in his 23rd season as a college head coach has led his teams to 452 victories -- 186 more than they've lost -- and eight NCAA Tournaments.
 |
| Tim Floyd: From USM to La. Tech to UTEP (and a few basketball coaching stops in between) |
So Tim is the Floyd who basketball people know now. He's in his seventh season back at UTEP, the school where his father played in the early 1940s -- before the school was even known as Texas Western, the name before UTEP -- and where Tim began his fulltime coaching career as an assistant to the legendary Don Haskins in 1978.
But he was coaching as a student assistant at Louisiana Tech in 1977 after two seasons as a reserve -- he played little -- on the Tech team. He was on scholarship ... thanks to Lambright.
Lee Floyd was increasingly crippled by arthritis as his coaching career wound down. His teams, his players, were bulky and tough and talented -- regular opponents of Tech -- but by 1971, he no longer could coach.
He died three years later. Tim was a walk-on basketball player at Southern Miss, but -- in an era when coaches were not being paid fortunes -- paying for his education was a challenge for Mrs. Floyd.
Tech's basketball program was on NCAA probation (for recruiting violations while Scotty Robertson was the coach in the early 1970s), and the Tech staff, headed by Robertson's successor, Emmett Hendricks, was prohibited from recruiting off-campus. But Tim transferred to Tech.
"Coach Lambright told Emmett he was going to put me on scholarship, and he did," Tim said.
He mostly watched as Tech's teams competed well and his close friend, Mike McConathy, became one of the best players in Tech basketball history.
(Floyd and McConathy would always remain close, both becoming veteran, respected college coaches. In early December, McConathy took his Northwestern State team to UTEP and left town with a victory.)
Tim can tell stories -- and did -- about his father or Maxie making trips to New Orleans to purchase and stock up some liquid refreshments to bring back to Hattiesburg (in a "dry" county) and hide away for future use, and about the Floyds' visit to stay with the Lambrights one Friday night before a USM-at-Tech football game the next afternoon.
"This was Halloween night, and my mother brought in a blanket with a black cat wrapped up in it," he said, with a laugh. "When Maxie walked in, she sprung that cat loose.
"Maxie was really superstitious, so he jumped. Tech lost the game the next day. I don't think he talked to my mother for months afterward."
(Look it up. USM handed Tech its only loss of the 1969 regular season, 24-23, on Nov. 1.)
"It seemed like he [Lambright] always made the right decision. ... He had a great sense of humor, really dry, and he was well thought of at Southern Miss," Tim remembered.
Coach Lambright wasn't the only one who changed Tim's life at Louisiana Tech. So did his teammates, his friends and the Tech basketball staff ... but mostly, it was Beverly.
He began courting and then married Beverly Byrnside, whose father George was a Tech student and football/track-field athlete a decade before he returned to the university as an administrator for 37 years, the last 25 as vice-president for administrative affairs.
The Floyds have a daughter, Shannon, and a granddaughter.
With UTEP in Conference USA with Tech, Tim's teams now have a regular rivalry with the Bulldogs. Although he has returned to Ruston often to see family and friends, his first trip back in 21 years as an opposing coach, in 2015, was eventful. He's been known to be a bit rough on referees and in this game (a Tech victory), he was told he would be departing early -- ejected after a mad scene.
Tim is 62 now, but Coach Lambright's words when he was a young man made an impact.
"I remember his speech when he retired from football; it was memorable for me," he said, "and I might use some of that when I get out [of coaching]."
And there was a night when Maxie, at the Floyd residence, recited a few lines that made a specific impression.
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him.
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child. Teach him.
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him.
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a leader. Follow him.
-- Attributed to: Omar Khayam, 13th century philosopher
"I went upstairs to my room and wrote that down," Tim said, "and I've kept it all these years. I have used that as a guide many times, as I evaluated players, or in any job that I've taken. It's just a guide for life."
---
Back to football. Invariably, Maxie Lambright's career was tied to Southern Mississippi -- player, assistant coach, opposing coach.
Tech had more natural longtime rivals -- Louisiana schools -- but Southern Miss and Tech have played 48 times (including every year from 1946 to 1972).
And Southern Miss has dealt the Bulldogs a lot of grief over the years, such as end-of-the-regular season losses in 2015 and 2016. The series count: USM 33, Tech 15.
Tech teams knew when they faced those guys in black and gold, it was going to be a physical, mental challenge.
But Lambright's record as Tech head coach vs. his alma mater was 5-4. That had to be so satisfying for him.
Consider this: As consistently good-to-great as Coach Joe Aillet's Tech teams were, his record vs. USM was 4-18. In a seven-year period (1952-58), Tech scored only once. And that one score came in a painful loss, 7-6 in 1955's second game -- the only Tech defeat that season.
Just as painful was the second time Southern Miss ruined Tech's perfect record -- 1964 when the 8-0 Bulldogs lost 14-7 in Hattiesburg.
That one was controversial; Tech's Billy Laird always was sure he had scored on QB sneaks, on third and fourth downs, near the end of the game. The obviously biased officials -- just kidding, USM folks -- didn't think so.
Would Coach Aillet, had the TD been called, chosen to go for a two-point PAT play and the victory -- or loss? I suspect he would have. Moot point.
It is also interesting that the only Aillet teams to post consecutive victories vs. USM were in 1959 (another 9-1 team) and 1960 -- Lambright's first two seasons as a USM assistant.
The first time Maxie sent a Tech team against USM was a Thanksgiving Day game in Shreveport in 1967, the final game of the regular season, and it was a 58-7, seven-interception embarrassment.
Four of those INTs -- two returned for touchdowns -- were by USM defensive back Larry Ussery, who was a Fair Park High graduate playing on his "home" field at State Fair Stadium. It was a cold, very windy day -- and there were 28,000 empty seats.
That game in mind, it made Tech's 27-20 victory at Southern Miss in 1968 that much sweeter. The Bulldogs' victory was more one-sided than the score looks; USM scored in the final minute.
From then, it was a "go figure" series the rest of the Lambright-Tech era:
-- 1969: Tech was unbeaten (5-0) and powerful in Terry Bradshaw's senior season. But a middling USM team came to Ruston and, with a methodical field-long drive in the closing minutes won on a field goal, 24-23 (remember Tim Floyd's story above).
-- 1970: Tech had lost seven games in a row, most of them close (6, 2, 3, 4 and 3 points), and USM had beaten No. 4-ranked Ole Miss and QB Archie Manning two weeks earlier. But the Bulldogs went to Hattiesburg and, somehow inspired, won easily 27-6.
-- 1971: A Tech team that was 7-1 going in lost at home to USM, 24-20.
-- 1975: A Tech team that was 5-0 lost at home to USM, 24-14.
-- 1976: Tech was 4-5 going in, but won in Hattiesburg, 23-22.
And, in what was the tiebreaker in the series during the Lambright era, Tech won 28-10 at home in 1977. Maxie had the edge on the school he loved so much. But by then, he loved Tech as much -- or more.
(Next: The final career stop)
"I went upstairs to my room and wrote that down," Tim said, "and I've kept it all these years. I have used that as a guide many times, as I evaluated players, or in any job that I've taken. It's just a guide for life."
---
Back to football. Invariably, Maxie Lambright's career was tied to Southern Mississippi -- player, assistant coach, opposing coach.
Tech had more natural longtime rivals -- Louisiana schools -- but Southern Miss and Tech have played 48 times (including every year from 1946 to 1972).
And Southern Miss has dealt the Bulldogs a lot of grief over the years, such as end-of-the-regular season losses in 2015 and 2016. The series count: USM 33, Tech 15.
Tech teams knew when they faced those guys in black and gold, it was going to be a physical, mental challenge.
But Lambright's record as Tech head coach vs. his alma mater was 5-4. That had to be so satisfying for him.
Consider this: As consistently good-to-great as Coach Joe Aillet's Tech teams were, his record vs. USM was 4-18. In a seven-year period (1952-58), Tech scored only once. And that one score came in a painful loss, 7-6 in 1955's second game -- the only Tech defeat that season.
Just as painful was the second time Southern Miss ruined Tech's perfect record -- 1964 when the 8-0 Bulldogs lost 14-7 in Hattiesburg.
That one was controversial; Tech's Billy Laird always was sure he had scored on QB sneaks, on third and fourth downs, near the end of the game. The obviously biased officials -- just kidding, USM folks -- didn't think so.
Would Coach Aillet, had the TD been called, chosen to go for a two-point PAT play and the victory -- or loss? I suspect he would have. Moot point.
It is also interesting that the only Aillet teams to post consecutive victories vs. USM were in 1959 (another 9-1 team) and 1960 -- Lambright's first two seasons as a USM assistant.
The first time Maxie sent a Tech team against USM was a Thanksgiving Day game in Shreveport in 1967, the final game of the regular season, and it was a 58-7, seven-interception embarrassment.
Four of those INTs -- two returned for touchdowns -- were by USM defensive back Larry Ussery, who was a Fair Park High graduate playing on his "home" field at State Fair Stadium. It was a cold, very windy day -- and there were 28,000 empty seats.
That game in mind, it made Tech's 27-20 victory at Southern Miss in 1968 that much sweeter. The Bulldogs' victory was more one-sided than the score looks; USM scored in the final minute.
From then, it was a "go figure" series the rest of the Lambright-Tech era:
-- 1969: Tech was unbeaten (5-0) and powerful in Terry Bradshaw's senior season. But a middling USM team came to Ruston and, with a methodical field-long drive in the closing minutes won on a field goal, 24-23 (remember Tim Floyd's story above).
-- 1970: Tech had lost seven games in a row, most of them close (6, 2, 3, 4 and 3 points), and USM had beaten No. 4-ranked Ole Miss and QB Archie Manning two weeks earlier. But the Bulldogs went to Hattiesburg and, somehow inspired, won easily 27-6.
-- 1971: A Tech team that was 7-1 going in lost at home to USM, 24-20.
-- 1975: A Tech team that was 5-0 lost at home to USM, 24-14.
-- 1976: Tech was 4-5 going in, but won in Hattiesburg, 23-22.
And, in what was the tiebreaker in the series during the Lambright era, Tech won 28-10 at home in 1977. Maxie had the edge on the school he loved so much. But by then, he loved Tech as much -- or more.
(Next: The final career stop)
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Charlie Bishop: Always "the gentle giant"
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| A good free-throw shooter -- especially for a 7-footer -- Charlie Bishop, left, against Southwestern Louisiana in February 1967, Louisiana Tech's biggest victory in his title-winning freshman season. That's Richard Peek (44, in white). The game drew a sellout, overpacked crowd to old Memorial Gym. (Photo provided by La. Tech sports information department) |
When Charlie Bishop died a couple of weeks ago, it was sorrowful news for those of us who remember him. Seven-foot people are a rarity.
He was a basketball player in the 1960s, a star at Louisiana Tech University, and for many of us, a bit of a legend. He was, as several friends noted, "a gentle giant."
The end came on Valentine's Day when his system shut down. Many woes -- the death of a wife and then a long string of physical challenges, including amputation of much of his right leg and a broken bone in his left leg -- made the last two decades somewhat difficult for him. He was 68.
He had two children who are proud of him -- and he was proud of them; he became a grandfather; and he married again (Barbara) and gained four stepkids. And he almost never stopped hunting and fishing, and working.
We identified him, of course, long before as the "big kid" in basketball.
He was, in the spirit of this series, the third part -- the youngest part -- of the "Triple Towers," three near 7-footers on Tech's 1966-67 conference championship team. Charlie was the closest of the three to 7 feet.
---
I write without hesitation that at one time he was (1) the best basketball player from tiny Summerfield, La., and (2) the best 7-foot player from North Louisiana.
And then he wasn't.
Two all-time greats, both NBA stars and Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, erased that Bishop legacy.
A few years later, Robert Parish -- from Shreveport -- became the 7-foot all-timer in North Louisiana.
And about Summerfield, here's what you should know (and many do) ... that's Karl Malone's hometown.
Some 15 years younger than Bishop, Malone -- not quite "The Mailman" yet -- did what Bishop couldn't do at Summerfield High School -- he led his team to a state championship. In fact, Malone led Summerfield to three consecutive championships (1979-81) in Class C, the state's smallest classification.
And then Karl, picking up his famed nickname, delivered in college, too -- also replacing Bishop as the best player from Summerfield to star for Louisiana Tech.
But Charlie stood tall in his time.
He's still in the Tech record books, most notable for 33 rebounds in one game -- against Centenary as a freshman. I will vouch that 33 is the legitimate number; I kept the stats that night (and the guys from that era will tell you I wasn't charitable.)
A season later, he had 39 points in one game (at Louisiana College), one of his four 30-point games at Tech. He had 1,398 points (at that time, only three Tech players had ever scored more) and 1,115 rebounds in 97 games.
Some games he simply was the most dominant player on the floor -- just as he had been at Summerfield (but against lesser opposition).
As a freshman on the 1966-67 Tech team, he was the final piece in an otherwise veteran team that rolled to a conference championship, a 19-7 regular-season record, and Tech's first NCAA postseason tournament (College Division).
"What Charlie did that first year was important," said Leon Barmore, the senior guard, leading scorer and co-captain of that team. "He was very good at doing his job and blending in.
"He was good at being the second trailer on the [fast] break. He could make the jumper from the perimeter; his scoring wasn't just around the basket. He had a nice shooting touch."
In that season's most important game, a victory against a heralded, talented Southwestern Louisiana team that was led by the first African-American players to play against all-white teams in our area, Charlie had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
---
Summerfield has no stoplight, not even a blinking light. Some call it a small town; I'd call it a place. Might be 1,000 people. It is at the top of once oil-rich Claiborne Parish, nearly into Arkansas.
You have to be going there; it's rural.
But college basketball coaches knew the way in the mid-1960s, or found where the Rebels were playing. Because this very tall young man was scoring 30 points a game, just overwhelming opponents. He showed promise to be a centerpiece for a program.
Louisiana Tech head coach Scotty Robertson was a regular Summerfield visitor and got to know the Bishop family well.
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| The scholarship signing photo, spring 1966: (from left) Louisiana Tech coach Scotty Robertson, big Charlie, Summerfield principal-coach Bill Bailey (photo provided by Jan Bailey Carter) |
The Summerfield principal-coach -- yes, one and the same -- was Bill Bailey, a standout Tech basketball player in the early 1950s, and he still loved the place. There was a student -- team manager in basketball -- at Tech, Brian "Butch" Smart. His job, we kidded him, was to recruit Charlie Bishop.
And so there was Charlie, in his red-and-white Summerfield letter jacket (large, extra long), sometimes sitting behind the Tech bench for home games. At times his parents were there, too, and very tall younger sisters Sandra and Cindy.
All the area schools wanted him -- and maybe he wasn't a major-college prospect -- but Charlie and the two Bishop girls were a cinch to go to Tech.
He was Robertson's prize recruit ... until Mike Green three years later.
And let's be honest here -- Tech paid a price (literally). The NCAA investigated the recruiting and a few years later, the Tech program went on NCAA probation for "extra" benefits given -- if I recall -- to Bishop (and his family) and Green.
(Both Bishop girls played basketball for Summerfield, too, and were the leaders of teams that played in four consecutive Class C state championship games -- with titles in 1967 and '68, and as runner-ups in '69 and '70.
This was pre-Lady Techsters days, so they were just students at Tech. Sandra went on to play for pay with the All-American "Red Heads," a Globetrotters-like women's touring exhibition team in which all the players -- aha -- had red hair.)
Charlie arrived at Tech -- young, inexperienced, goofy at times but affable, able to take the teasing he often received from teammates and taunting from opposing crowds.
"He was a big, good ol' country boy who was very easy to get along with," Bud Dean, a starter at forward as a senior the same season (1969-70) as Charlie, told a sportswriter from The Shreveport Times recently.
Longtime Ruston Daily Leader sports editor O.K. "Buddy" Davis, a Tech student in the mid-1960s: "My lasting memory of Charlie was some oversized shorts that would invariably droop and he'd have to make necessary adjustments on the run."
And Butch Smart -- a future outstanding coach and subject of one of my early blogs http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2012/05/hes-taken-life-to-max.html -- was his advisor/guide/protector. He made sure Charlie was where he was supposed to be and doing what he was supposed to do.
With Coach Robertson pushing him, and fellow big men Richard Peek and Bob Watson and the other team veterans showing the way, Charlie was a fit.
---
There were -- and are -- people who felt Bishop didn't fulfill his potential at Tech, that he was lazy. I don't agree.
As a senior, he teamed Green -- then a 6-10 freshman sensation, and in my opinion, Tech's best-ever player (better there than Malone or Paul Millsap) -- and that season ended with a 17-5 record and conference championship, too. So it was two titles in four years for Bishop.
He led the team in scoring one season, in rebounding twice, and he made all-conference.
"He was a rawboned, raw talent when he got there," said Jon Pat Stephenson, who started at small forward in Bishop's freshman season, "and he was pretty darned good when he left.
"Charlie just tried really hard, harder than any of the others in the bunch. He probably improved more than anyone we had there in that time. ... I think Scotty did a great job with him."
Tommy Gregory, a forward who teamed up front with Bishop two seasons and practiced against him often: "Charlie helped us to the conference championship that year but could not play in the playoffs as a freshman. Stupid NCAA rules then as well as the no-dunk rule the following year."
Jim Pruett, a starting guard for two seasons with Bishop: "Charlie was a good human being and a very good basketball player. He had a good touch around the rim and greater [shooting] range than most big guys of that era. If he got hot, stopping him was a tough proposition."
Pruett also recalled this: "Gentle giant. ... Periodically, something (probably Scotty) would set him off and it would be almost funny to see him angry ... because it just didn't fit him."
---
In the 1970 NBA Draft, the Cincinnati Royals -- then coached by Boston Celtics legendary guard Bob Cousy -- picked Bishop in the sixth round.
As Barmore, visiting with Charlie at a nursing home in his final months, recounted for The Shreveport Times: "He told me about going to Willis Reed's camp in the Catskills and every night he played in pickup games with Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Walt Frazier and Oscar Robertson. Can you imagine playing with all those guys?"
Then Charlie tore up a knee, and needed surgery. He never went back to basketball.
Maybe he lacked the drive for rehab or felt the game, the NBA player, were too fast, too talented, for him to compete.
Soon he was married, had a family, stayed in the Ruston area and worked -- at T.L. James Construction, on oil platforms in south Texas, at Louisiana Pacific and then for the last couple of decades at Pabco Insulation, located in Grambling. Mostly he was a heavy equipment manager.
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| Charlie, with his children -- Lee and Hope |
"Daddy, as far as I can remember, always followed Tech's program," Lee said. "He would listen to games on the radio. ... I know he missed basketball just by the excitement I would see in him when he listened to Tech games, as well as the few times he took us to the games."
Charlie's daughter, Hope Neuroth, is 45. Lee is 41, 6-foot-3 and a 17-year policeman in Monroe, La.
Tommy Gregory: "I was truly touched by his son when he spoke at Charlie's funeral. A really moving testament of Charlie's life."
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In that eulogy, Lee told of his father's modesty: "... I learned of Daddy's basketball accomplishments through passing." How strangers would stop him and ask if he was the Bishop from Summerfield and Tech, as if 7 feet wasn't a clue. (With his bushy red beard, though, maybe he was not recognizable.)
Lee: "Daddy as always would stand there with his hands on top of one another in front of him rocking slightly back and forth and would reply 'yes, m'am' or 'yes sir.' And would politely excuse himself from the conversation."
Lee later added, "... But that was Daddy. He didn't brag or boast unless it was about his kids, nephews, nieces or [four] grandchildren."
Lee spoke of Charlie's tough discipline at times with an "attitude adjuster" paddle, and of learning from his father about "a strong work ethic," "a strong family bond," "the value of self-worth, integrity, respect for others, and the satisfaction of doing for yourself.
"... But most of all Daddy and Mama taught us to have a sense of selflessness to put others ahead of yourself and for that I am truly grateful."
He taught Lee about hunting, fishing, marksmanship, skiing, building and fixing things, how to cut steel and weld, how to start a garden, and how to barbecue the Southern way -- charcoal and wood, no gas.
But in some ways, Lee said, he was "very 'old school.' He'd get our kids or Hope's kids to show him how to use an I-phone, how to do things on it."
Most importantly, he taught about pain, life ... and death.
"Daddy was a very loving father who taught me growing up the meaning of chivalry by example," Lee said. "He always would open doors for mama brought her flowers and candy and loved her passionately even after she was called home 16 years ago."
---
His health problems mounted over the years. The original knee problem evolved into two painful knees, for years. In 2006, Charlie had double knee replacement surgery. A fall led to a re-injury in his right knee and an implant replacement.
More trouble with that knee, subsequent surgeries in Houston -- and then the amputation of the lower part of that leg, and he began to learn to use a prosthetic leg.
"He eventually fell and broke his hip and had to have hip surgery," Lee said. "He never walked again after that."
Then he fell over in his wheelchair and broke his left femur, requiring a bone graft to repair, in September 2015.
That led to respiratory issues during the operation, a prolonged hospital stay, recovery time and physical therapy in an assisted living center, and finally a return home right before Thanksgiving.
Pneumonia in January 2016 sent him to the hospital -- for good.
That led to respiratory issues during the operation, a prolonged hospital stay, recovery time and physical therapy in an assisted living center, and finally a return home right before Thanksgiving.
Pneumonia in January 2016 sent him to the hospital -- for good.
"He did not let it get the best of him," Lee said of all the problems. "He still did things he liked -- went fishing, shooting," and he was ready to go after deer again this year with a new rifle.
A friend suggested that Charlie, over the years, "was kind of a loner, withdrawn from society" and that perhaps "his life had not turned out like he thought it would."
Jim Pruett said that "Charlie and I reconnected a few years ago when Scotty was sick, and we talked periodically ever since. I did not know he was nearing the end.
"Last time I saw him, at Butch [Smart]'s funeral [late May 2013], he was in a wheelchair with his wife rolling him around. Strange sight to see a 7-footer in a wheelchair.
"Still, he was as friendly and as gentle as ever. I will miss him."
Almost strangely, in his last years, Charlie was deferential to his old friends and teammates, addressing them as "Mr. (last name)" instead of by first name. He was told -- repeatedly -- he didn't need to do that, but it remained that way.
Maybe it was because it was manners, that's how he was taught. It was his gentle way.
"I always enjoyed visiting with him," said Leon Barmore. "He was such a polite man."
A friend suggested that Charlie, over the years, "was kind of a loner, withdrawn from society" and that perhaps "his life had not turned out like he thought it would."
Jim Pruett said that "Charlie and I reconnected a few years ago when Scotty was sick, and we talked periodically ever since. I did not know he was nearing the end.
"Last time I saw him, at Butch [Smart]'s funeral [late May 2013], he was in a wheelchair with his wife rolling him around. Strange sight to see a 7-footer in a wheelchair.
"Still, he was as friendly and as gentle as ever. I will miss him."
Almost strangely, in his last years, Charlie was deferential to his old friends and teammates, addressing them as "Mr. (last name)" instead of by first name. He was told -- repeatedly -- he didn't need to do that, but it remained that way.
Maybe it was because it was manners, that's how he was taught. It was his gentle way.
"I always enjoyed visiting with him," said Leon Barmore. "He was such a polite man."
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Richard Peek: A man for many seasons
(Fourth in a series)
One cold March day in the mid-1970s, Richard Peek was off duty from his fireman's job and went fishing with a buddy on the banks of the Trinity River in Dallas.
Within their sight, a boat overturned, and two men and a little boy went under the water.
Peek had trained as a paramedic at the start of his 33-year career with the Dallas Fire Department. He saw the danger; without hesitation, he dove in the water.
He saved one man and the boy. Unfortunately, the other man -- the boy's father -- drowned.
Richard came home still wet and disheveled. His wife, Carole, asked what happened. "He was real quiet about it," she remembers. He said, 'I had to go in the water.' No further details.
Three days later, Carole found out what had happened. The story had been reported in the papers and friends of the Peeks were calling.
President Gerald Ford soon sent a letter of commendation. The Carnegie Foundation offered a financial reward. Richard refused to accept it.
"Anything he did as a fireman or as a person, he didn't talk about himself," Carole said.
---
We're here to write about him. We remember Richard Peek as a basketball player, the 6-foot-11, 230-pound center who played two seasons for Louisiana Tech University, the second as one of the "Triple Towers" of the 1966-67 conference championship team coached by Scotty Robertson.
That was his senior season and he was -- my view -- the quietest, most steady player on that team and perhaps its most important player, a skilled and tough inside force.
He was the only one of those Bulldogs to play professionally, one season with the Dallas Chaparrals.
Beyond basketball, he was a man of many interests. He lived a full life -- as an outdoors person, an adventurer, an achiever, and particularly as a family man.
Richard Peek died on Feb. 16, 2014, in Tyler, Texas, at age 70, after a steady, debilitating health decline -- Parkinson's and then Lewy body dementia.
It was a tough and challenging last few years, physically and emotionally, for Carole as she had to try to move his big body when he was unable to do so on his own.
They had moved after his Fire Department retirement and three decades of living in Garland, Texas -- east side of greater Dallas -- to a place in the country near Chandler, just outside of Tyler. That was to be nearer kids and grandkids, but the difficulty of his illness forced another move even closer, to Whitehouse.
He and Carole -- friends since junior high days in Pensacola, Fla. -- were married for 49 years, with three children (Michael, 47; Julia Ann Cole, 45; and Jeffery, 41) and seven grandchildren. Jeffery is the tallest of the kids, at 6-7.
---
Richard came to Louisiana Tech following two years in the University of Florida program. After sitting out a year as a transfer, practicing with the Tech team along with 6-10 Bob Watson (who became eligible a half-season earlier than Peek), it was easy for his teammates to be impressed.
"He was a very good player, a pretty polished low-post player," said Leon Barmore, one of the guards in those years. "He had post moves that a lot of guys in that time didn't have. He'd leave guys guarding him in the post just standing there."
Jimmy Pruett, the other starting guard: "Richard Peek was a very good player, steady, dependable. All-[conference]. Could score, defend, rebound, and was all about winning. ... Not particularly outspoken. ... He wanted to do the right thing and win."
Tommy Gregory, a reserve forward who often teamed with Peek and had to guard him in practice: "I remember him as a hard-working player, good around the hoop and a good rebounder with a good mid-range shot. He was a tough, unselfish player."
Peek led Tech in rebounding both of his seasons, and averaged 17.4 points a game as a junior and 14.1 the next year on a balanced team that went 20-8 overall and 11-1 in the conference (Gulf States).
As a senior, he was the steady center who could be dominant, but sometimes it was excitable 7-foot freshman Charlie Bishop who had the big games.
Part of Peek's role was as a mentor to Bishop, working on moves around the basket for the inexperienced rookie.
"Coach Robertson told Richard when he came to Tech that he hadn't coached players that big," said Carole, "so Richard was sort of an assistant. He helped devise some of the drills for the center.
"He really loved playing for Scotty Robertson."
He did not love playing for Norm Sloan -- "Stormin' Norman" -- at Florida.
Richard had starred at Pensacola's Escambia High School (later Emmitt Smith's school), and his size and ability made him a prime recruit for the Gators, who'd never had much success in the sport.
After a year on the freshman team, he lettered on the Florida varsity as a sophomore -- a 12-10 team, 6-8 in the SEC (tied for ninth in a 12-team league). And he wasn't happy.
Sloan was the coach and, said Carole, "Richard didn't like the players he was with. He was his own person, and there was so much mischief going on." So he looked to transfer.
The connection to Tech was Escambia coach George Hill, who was friends with Tech first-year assistant coach Don Landry. Escambia, in Peek's years there, had played against Landry's St. Aloysius (New Orleans) teams two years in a row.
So when Hill called Landry asking if Tech might be interested in a 6-11 center, the answer was "sure." "I knew what a good player he was," said Landry, and Robertson had Peek come to Ruston for a visit.
"They wined and dined him at a ranch there," Carole recalled, "and he was a big hunter and fisherman. He saw that area was good for that."
It was a fit, along with Robertson's promising program.
---
More from his teammates:
"Richard and I were close; we were roommates [on the road-game overnight stays]," said Barmore, the future Hall of Fame women's basketball coach. "We umpired kids' baseball games together one summer. Can you imagine a 7-foot guy squatting behind home plate?"
"He knew how to handle the ball, and knew how to pass it," said Jon Pat Stephenson, the starting small forward in Peek's two seasons. "He could handle a lob pass than the other two [centers, Bishop and Watson]. We beat a lot of teams with those lobs."
Barmore and Stephenson each remembered one Peek move with the ball in the low post. "He would dip his left shoulder and spin back the other way," Barmore said. "He'd leave guys guarding him just standing there."
"He made that look easy," Stephenson said, "and he'd have a layup or a dunk."
Pruett: "As I recall, his points were mainly in close, certainly inside 10-12 feet, although he was not a great leaper. An excellent college player, but maybe not quite agile enough or strong enough for the NBA.
"Kind of the classic big man of that era -- and our best big guy while he was there. I only got to play with him one year. He was definitely the key player added -- from outside our area -- in making us a championship team.
"He was really a nice person, kind of quiet, easy to be around, although I was only around him (and his wife) at basketball-related times."
"He was a very mild guy, he was very coachable," said John Whitmore, a sophomore on the 1966-67 team. "He fit in perfectly with the guys who had been around for a couple of years, and he was a very skilled post player."
"Richard was a great player -- strong, focused and could do it all," said Terry Ewing, a reserve forward who played one season with Peek and practiced against him two years. "He was very much a team player, but when he got the ball around the bucket he knew how to finish.
"I got six stitches in practice when I wasn't quick enough to avoid his powerful elbow. Richard was a true gentleman who played hard but always played clean."
Ewing recalled that he worked with Peek "one summer painting land lines around tracts of timber for Ewing Timber. The men who worked for my Dad laughed that they had never seen markings on the trees that high up. We became very close during that time and he was a special friend."
He was drafted by the NBA's Baltimore Bullets ... in the 15th round, 148th player picked in 1967. Slim chance, so he opted to try the new American Basketball Association, the new team in Dallas.
The first Chaparrals -- forerunner to the now San Antonio Spurs -- were led by former University of Kentucky and St. Louis Hawks star Cliff Hagan (who was the player-coach) and included two players named Beasley -- Charles, from Shreveport (Fair Park) and SMU, and John, from Linden, Texas (near Texarkana) and Texas A&M.
Peek was a reserve, averaging 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds a game in 51 games. His averages were 5.4 and 5.3 for eight playoff games.
But one season was it. Before the next season, he was traded to the Kentucky Colonels, then traded again. Failing to make an ABA regular-season roster, he was asked to play in Italy. He refused.
And while he missed the game for a while, said Carole, "his knees were so bad; he hyperextended one knee three times, and his back hurt all the time. He was real unhappy [in the pros]."
---
His basketball career done, he looked for a new career.
Tried stockbroking, but it was a bad time -- and he didn't have that much money to invest. Tried selling insurance; didn't like it. He then went to work in a sporting goods' store, in the guns department; he had hunting expertise.
One day a few Dallas firemen came in, and he asked about their jobs. It was intriguing, and they told him the department was hiring.
He applied -- and one problem: He was too tall; they didn't have clothes to fit him. He offered to pay for custom-made clothes; he wanted that job.
They hired him, and he stayed for more than three decades. "He really loved that job," Carole said.
But not all of it at first. Trained originally as a paramedic, "he became insensitive after a while because he saw so many bad things," his wife said. "I told him he needed to ask out of that part of it."
His height was a plus in that his reach sometimes was a great help in putting out fires. But, as you'd expect, the danger was great, too.
"I don't know how many times he was in the hospital with burns and injuries," Carole recalled.
And there was a day when a Hunt mansion in Dallas was burning, and two of the men in Richard's company died. Richard was missing and his captain was about to head to the Peek residence to tell Carole ... when he was spotted sitting under a tree, overcome by heat and smoke inhalation.
But he was always one to stay physically fit. "He loved to be very active," Carole said. "He was not lazy."
He was a fisherman; he was in a bass-fishing club. He was a hunter -- duck hunting, quail, deer ("but mostly he liked shooting photos outdoors," said Carole). He liked mountain climbing, backpacking, rafting, skiing -- in southern Colorado; he was a runner (and convinced Carole to run with him). He lifted weights regularly.
He was -- picture this -- a 6-11 rugby player for the original team of the Dallas Harlequins, one of the area's first and most prestigious clubs. "He was always beat up," said Carole. "I remember the keg parties; they sang all those songs."
To help his ailing knees, his doctor advised him to get a bicycle, so he became an avid biker for a while. And then he was a real "biker" -- a motorcycle enthusiast who, with a friend, made numerous rides from Dallas to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the annual Motorcycle Week, and then continued on to Key West, and made the return trip. That's a long haul.
Because of his length, "custom-made" applied, too, to his bicycle and his BMW motorcycle. His son Michael now has that BMW.
Finally, in the years out in East Texas, he had a tractor to keep him busy on their piece of land. But the good times ran out with his health issues.
Carole Peek still lives in Whitehouse and has some treasured souvenirs: A red-white-and-blue ABA ball, a ball from Louisiana Tech, and Richard's first fireman's helmet, an old-timer made of leather.
"He was very grateful (for his life) and very sweet," Carole said.
He was, as those of us at Tech then knew in those days and today, a wonderful player and a wonderful person.
Next: Charlie Bishop, a gentle giant
One cold March day in the mid-1970s, Richard Peek was off duty from his fireman's job and went fishing with a buddy on the banks of the Trinity River in Dallas.
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| Richard Peek (44): A big man who could play in the mid-1960s (photo from Louisiana Tech sports information office) |
Peek had trained as a paramedic at the start of his 33-year career with the Dallas Fire Department. He saw the danger; without hesitation, he dove in the water.
He saved one man and the boy. Unfortunately, the other man -- the boy's father -- drowned.
Richard came home still wet and disheveled. His wife, Carole, asked what happened. "He was real quiet about it," she remembers. He said, 'I had to go in the water.' No further details.
Three days later, Carole found out what had happened. The story had been reported in the papers and friends of the Peeks were calling.
President Gerald Ford soon sent a letter of commendation. The Carnegie Foundation offered a financial reward. Richard refused to accept it.
"Anything he did as a fireman or as a person, he didn't talk about himself," Carole said.
---
We're here to write about him. We remember Richard Peek as a basketball player, the 6-foot-11, 230-pound center who played two seasons for Louisiana Tech University, the second as one of the "Triple Towers" of the 1966-67 conference championship team coached by Scotty Robertson.
That was his senior season and he was -- my view -- the quietest, most steady player on that team and perhaps its most important player, a skilled and tough inside force.
He was the only one of those Bulldogs to play professionally, one season with the Dallas Chaparrals.
Beyond basketball, he was a man of many interests. He lived a full life -- as an outdoors person, an adventurer, an achiever, and particularly as a family man.
Richard Peek died on Feb. 16, 2014, in Tyler, Texas, at age 70, after a steady, debilitating health decline -- Parkinson's and then Lewy body dementia.
It was a tough and challenging last few years, physically and emotionally, for Carole as she had to try to move his big body when he was unable to do so on his own.
They had moved after his Fire Department retirement and three decades of living in Garland, Texas -- east side of greater Dallas -- to a place in the country near Chandler, just outside of Tyler. That was to be nearer kids and grandkids, but the difficulty of his illness forced another move even closer, to Whitehouse.
He and Carole -- friends since junior high days in Pensacola, Fla. -- were married for 49 years, with three children (Michael, 47; Julia Ann Cole, 45; and Jeffery, 41) and seven grandchildren. Jeffery is the tallest of the kids, at 6-7.
---
Richard came to Louisiana Tech following two years in the University of Florida program. After sitting out a year as a transfer, practicing with the Tech team along with 6-10 Bob Watson (who became eligible a half-season earlier than Peek), it was easy for his teammates to be impressed.
"He was a very good player, a pretty polished low-post player," said Leon Barmore, one of the guards in those years. "He had post moves that a lot of guys in that time didn't have. He'd leave guys guarding him in the post just standing there."
Jimmy Pruett, the other starting guard: "Richard Peek was a very good player, steady, dependable. All-[conference]. Could score, defend, rebound, and was all about winning. ... Not particularly outspoken. ... He wanted to do the right thing and win."
Tommy Gregory, a reserve forward who often teamed with Peek and had to guard him in practice: "I remember him as a hard-working player, good around the hoop and a good rebounder with a good mid-range shot. He was a tough, unselfish player."
Peek led Tech in rebounding both of his seasons, and averaged 17.4 points a game as a junior and 14.1 the next year on a balanced team that went 20-8 overall and 11-1 in the conference (Gulf States).
As a senior, he was the steady center who could be dominant, but sometimes it was excitable 7-foot freshman Charlie Bishop who had the big games.
Part of Peek's role was as a mentor to Bishop, working on moves around the basket for the inexperienced rookie.
"Coach Robertson told Richard when he came to Tech that he hadn't coached players that big," said Carole, "so Richard was sort of an assistant. He helped devise some of the drills for the center.
"He really loved playing for Scotty Robertson."
He did not love playing for Norm Sloan -- "Stormin' Norman" -- at Florida.
Richard had starred at Pensacola's Escambia High School (later Emmitt Smith's school), and his size and ability made him a prime recruit for the Gators, who'd never had much success in the sport.
After a year on the freshman team, he lettered on the Florida varsity as a sophomore -- a 12-10 team, 6-8 in the SEC (tied for ninth in a 12-team league). And he wasn't happy.
Sloan was the coach and, said Carole, "Richard didn't like the players he was with. He was his own person, and there was so much mischief going on." So he looked to transfer.
The connection to Tech was Escambia coach George Hill, who was friends with Tech first-year assistant coach Don Landry. Escambia, in Peek's years there, had played against Landry's St. Aloysius (New Orleans) teams two years in a row.
So when Hill called Landry asking if Tech might be interested in a 6-11 center, the answer was "sure." "I knew what a good player he was," said Landry, and Robertson had Peek come to Ruston for a visit.
"They wined and dined him at a ranch there," Carole recalled, "and he was a big hunter and fisherman. He saw that area was good for that."
It was a fit, along with Robertson's promising program.
---
More from his teammates:
"Richard and I were close; we were roommates [on the road-game overnight stays]," said Barmore, the future Hall of Fame women's basketball coach. "We umpired kids' baseball games together one summer. Can you imagine a 7-foot guy squatting behind home plate?"
"He knew how to handle the ball, and knew how to pass it," said Jon Pat Stephenson, the starting small forward in Peek's two seasons. "He could handle a lob pass than the other two [centers, Bishop and Watson]. We beat a lot of teams with those lobs."
Barmore and Stephenson each remembered one Peek move with the ball in the low post. "He would dip his left shoulder and spin back the other way," Barmore said. "He'd leave guys guarding him just standing there."
"He made that look easy," Stephenson said, "and he'd have a layup or a dunk."
Pruett: "As I recall, his points were mainly in close, certainly inside 10-12 feet, although he was not a great leaper. An excellent college player, but maybe not quite agile enough or strong enough for the NBA.
"Kind of the classic big man of that era -- and our best big guy while he was there. I only got to play with him one year. He was definitely the key player added -- from outside our area -- in making us a championship team.
"He was really a nice person, kind of quiet, easy to be around, although I was only around him (and his wife) at basketball-related times."
"He was a very mild guy, he was very coachable," said John Whitmore, a sophomore on the 1966-67 team. "He fit in perfectly with the guys who had been around for a couple of years, and he was a very skilled post player."
"Richard was a great player -- strong, focused and could do it all," said Terry Ewing, a reserve forward who played one season with Peek and practiced against him two years. "He was very much a team player, but when he got the ball around the bucket he knew how to finish.
"I got six stitches in practice when I wasn't quick enough to avoid his powerful elbow. Richard was a true gentleman who played hard but always played clean."
Ewing recalled that he worked with Peek "one summer painting land lines around tracts of timber for Ewing Timber. The men who worked for my Dad laughed that they had never seen markings on the trees that high up. We became very close during that time and he was a special friend."
Gregory: "I think it was [Southwestern Louisiana's] Elvin Ivory that dunked on him one night. Next trip down the floor, Richard returned the favor with that quick spin move down low that he had.
"... He was a great teammate and I really enjoyed playing with him. Won't ever forget seeing him folding up into his green VW bettle that he and Carole drove."
---
"... He was a great teammate and I really enjoyed playing with him. Won't ever forget seeing him folding up into his green VW bettle that he and Carole drove."
---
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| Richard Peek (33) with the 1967-68 Dallas Chaparrals; in front are Shreveport's Charles Beasley (12) and player- coach Cliff Hagan (16); beside Peek, John Beasley (44). |
The first Chaparrals -- forerunner to the now San Antonio Spurs -- were led by former University of Kentucky and St. Louis Hawks star Cliff Hagan (who was the player-coach) and included two players named Beasley -- Charles, from Shreveport (Fair Park) and SMU, and John, from Linden, Texas (near Texarkana) and Texas A&M.
Peek was a reserve, averaging 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds a game in 51 games. His averages were 5.4 and 5.3 for eight playoff games.
But one season was it. Before the next season, he was traded to the Kentucky Colonels, then traded again. Failing to make an ABA regular-season roster, he was asked to play in Italy. He refused.
And while he missed the game for a while, said Carole, "his knees were so bad; he hyperextended one knee three times, and his back hurt all the time. He was real unhappy [in the pros]."
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His basketball career done, he looked for a new career.
Tried stockbroking, but it was a bad time -- and he didn't have that much money to invest. Tried selling insurance; didn't like it. He then went to work in a sporting goods' store, in the guns department; he had hunting expertise.
One day a few Dallas firemen came in, and he asked about their jobs. It was intriguing, and they told him the department was hiring.
He applied -- and one problem: He was too tall; they didn't have clothes to fit him. He offered to pay for custom-made clothes; he wanted that job.
They hired him, and he stayed for more than three decades. "He really loved that job," Carole said.
But not all of it at first. Trained originally as a paramedic, "he became insensitive after a while because he saw so many bad things," his wife said. "I told him he needed to ask out of that part of it."
His height was a plus in that his reach sometimes was a great help in putting out fires. But, as you'd expect, the danger was great, too.
"I don't know how many times he was in the hospital with burns and injuries," Carole recalled.
And there was a day when a Hunt mansion in Dallas was burning, and two of the men in Richard's company died. Richard was missing and his captain was about to head to the Peek residence to tell Carole ... when he was spotted sitting under a tree, overcome by heat and smoke inhalation.
But he was always one to stay physically fit. "He loved to be very active," Carole said. "He was not lazy."
He was a fisherman; he was in a bass-fishing club. He was a hunter -- duck hunting, quail, deer ("but mostly he liked shooting photos outdoors," said Carole). He liked mountain climbing, backpacking, rafting, skiing -- in southern Colorado; he was a runner (and convinced Carole to run with him). He lifted weights regularly.
He was -- picture this -- a 6-11 rugby player for the original team of the Dallas Harlequins, one of the area's first and most prestigious clubs. "He was always beat up," said Carole. "I remember the keg parties; they sang all those songs."
To help his ailing knees, his doctor advised him to get a bicycle, so he became an avid biker for a while. And then he was a real "biker" -- a motorcycle enthusiast who, with a friend, made numerous rides from Dallas to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the annual Motorcycle Week, and then continued on to Key West, and made the return trip. That's a long haul.
Because of his length, "custom-made" applied, too, to his bicycle and his BMW motorcycle. His son Michael now has that BMW.
Finally, in the years out in East Texas, he had a tractor to keep him busy on their piece of land. But the good times ran out with his health issues.
Carole Peek still lives in Whitehouse and has some treasured souvenirs: A red-white-and-blue ABA ball, a ball from Louisiana Tech, and Richard's first fireman's helmet, an old-timer made of leather.
"He was very grateful (for his life) and very sweet," Carole said.
He was, as those of us at Tech then knew in those days and today, a wonderful player and a wonderful person.
Next: Charlie Bishop, a gentle giant
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