Flashback Friday! From The Archives: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

My November 2007 interview with former Bucks and NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Enjoy!

Gonna be a busy week!

This week's schedule of appearances:

• Wednesday and Thursday at 4:30, it's the Sports 32 Roundtable.
• Friday night it's back in for Todd Wright on Sporting News Radio at 9.
• Saturday, it's Brewers post-game duty on WMLW
• Sunday morning at 10:30 I'm back on CBS-58's "Sports Fanatics"

Hope you can catch me sometime!

NFL Lockout: Winners and Losers

Who are the big winners and losers in the now-ended NFL Lockout?

As Jim Anchower Would Say....

...Hola amigos, it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but last week was mostly spent on getting back on the air, prepping both myself and my new studio for Friday's return to Sporting News Radio. If you don't know who Jim Anchower is, just Google it. I think you will find that his work is nothing short of Pulitzer-worthy.

Modern technology is a wonderful thing, enabling a broadcaster to host a radio show from virtually anywhere. That having been said, if you don't have any engineering background whatsoever, that process can be challenging. Suffice it to say, thanks to the folks that are much smarter than me in such matters in Cleveland and Houston, we got on the air.

I'll be back on Sporting News Radio tonight handling the sports updates, then back hosting in place of Todd Wright this coming Friday night as well. As always, you can listen to SNR 24/7 online at http://www.sportingnewsradio.com/, as well as on Sirius Channel 94, if there isn't a local affiliate near you (such as in Milwaukee).

I'll have a lot to say about the NFL lockout ending tonight here on the website as well, however, I did miss my regular "Flashback Friday" entry last week. Today from the archives, my article from last August's Inside Wisconsin Sports on former Hartland Arrowhead baseball coach Tim O'Driscoll, who was forced to suddenly retire before last season started.

One Tough Loss

By, Doug Russell

Defending state summer baseball champion Hartland Arrowhead experienced their first loss before the season ever started. This loss will not be reflected in any standings, but rather in the hearts and psyche of one of the most successful programs in Wisconsin history.

When you look at the numbers, they pale in comparison to the relationships. The players that he coached and still keeps tabs on. The students, some 10,000 in all, that learned economics from him. The 38 years spent on a baseball field that now bears his name.

Tim O’Driscoll was so much more than a coach. When a hastily called meeting began the morning of Wednesday, May 12 it was like no other in the almost 50 years O’Driscoll has been associated with Hartland Arrowhead High School. Two nights earlier, O’Driscoll’s doctor called his house just before dinner. It was a call that would send shockwaves throughout Wisconsin high school athletics.

While he still respectfully declines to discuss his specific health problems, O’Driscoll simply says, “It’s something I have to deal with now.” In a tear-filled emotional meeting with his beloved players, students, and staff, O’Driscoll announced he had to immediately step down as the Warhawks baseball coach after a state-record 742 wins in 36 years at his alma mater.

“I made it through about three minutes,” O’Driscoll recalls. “We met in my old classroom.  A lot of kids were in there. Some other kids came in there. Some teachers were in there as well. I got really emotional. It was really tough, saying goodbye to the kids.”

Senior pitcher Matt Jarchow was in the room when O’Driscoll said he could no longer continue. “I was shocked,” Jarchow says. “When I was in grade school I thought he would be long gone by the time I got to varsity, and then after playing for him last year and seeing how much he loves the game, I thought he would never leave. I felt for him because I know he wanted to coach more.”

O’ Driscoll says if he scaled back his involvement, it’s feasible his health could still handle being in the Arrowhead dugout. However, his doctor warned him that in no uncertain terms, his days of hitting ground balls and throwing batting practice before games were over. For a coach that always prided himself in being able to keep up with kids less than half his age, there was no decision to be made. To this day, Tim O’Driscoll has to hold back his emotions when talking about retiring, but readily admits it was a decision that was the right one.

Former player Jim Lindner, who played for O’Driscoll in 2004, was stunned when he heard the news. “I had to read the headline twice to make sure I read it correctly and it’s still weird to think about now,” Lindner says. “Then of course the shock turns into concern and you hope everything returns to normal, even if he can’t coach. I’m happy Coach O’Driscoll had a long and successful career, but I can’t help but feel sorry that he couldn’t retire on his own terms.”

Despite his health struggles, O’Driscoll, taking a page from Lou Gehrig, says he’s been the luckiest guy in the world.

“I was able to teach and coach varsity baseball at Hartland Arrowhead, which I consider to be the finest high school in Wisconsin,” O’Driscoll says. “Neither one of those things I ever considered a job. It was a way of life. How many people wake up and don’t like what they’re doing? I’ve been the luckiest guy to have been able to teach and coach for 36 years at my high school.”

The resume speaks to his effectiveness. On it are two state championships (1979, 2009), a pair of runner-up finishes (1975, 2006), and six overall trips to Stevens Point. His Arrowhead teams won 14 conference championships. He has been enshrined in both the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Land O’ Lakes Hall of Fame.

Listening to his former players however, the wins, championships, and enshrinements don’t come close to telling the full story of the man generations of Hartland Arrowhead students refer to as simply “Mr. O’D.”

“More than anything, I remember him as a really good person that cared about his players and genuinely had their best interests in mind,” former player Brian Steinbach says. Steinbach was just one of two players (Scott Crook was the other) that played varsity all four years for O’Driscoll. Steinbach eventually went on to captain the baseball team at the University of Michigan in the mid 1990’s.

“My first reaction upon hearing about his health scare was concern for him as a person and his family. His decision to retire echo's the advice and guidance he would give to someone else -- a true measure of his consistency,” Steinbach says.

O’Driscoll’s sudden retirement not only shook Hartland Arrowhead, but also his colleagues throughout the game. Legendary Cedarburg baseball coach Jack Freiss got to know O’Driscoll back in the early 1980’s when the Warhawks and Bulldogs began playing each other in non-conference games.

“Tim is what everyone wants to be and that is a winner,” Freiss says. “His record speaks for itself but to do it with the enthusiasm he had made him special. Tim was able to continue coaching all these years because he knew how to use his knowledge of the game mixed with keen sense of understanding the needs of the kids and also not over-coaching them.  He taught the game and let the kids play it.” 

Scott Doffek was arguably O’Driscoll’s best player. He spent five years in the Los Angeles Dodgers system, eventually reaching Triple-A Albuquerque. For the last four seasons, Doffek has been the head baseball coach at UW-Milwaukee. He says that O’Driscoll not only taught him about baseball, but about life.

“He always treated people fairly and a genuine concern for how you were doing as a person as well as a player,” Doffek says. “I believe sports are a great way to learn about life.  If you know what is going on in your players’ lives and actually care about them, they will play harder and with more passion for you as a coach.  They know you care about them.”

Jake Rosch agrees. A 2004 Hartland Arrowhead graduate, Rosch not only had O’Driscoll as a teacher and coach, but also had the chance after his 2004 graduation to work as one of his assistant coaches. “He went out of his way to better your life, which made it hard for you to ever let him down,” Rosch says.

All in all, there have been 17 father-son combinations that played for Tim O’Driscoll at Hartland Arrowhead. A total of 8 players have been drafted in to the professional ranks. What turned out to be his final game couldn’t have been penned by the best Hollywood screenwriter. Arrowhead, trailing 4-1 heading into the bottom of the 7^th (and final) inning to Milwaukee Marquette, tallied 4 runs to win the state championship, 5-4.

Looking forward, rather than back, O’Driscoll says he has his concerns about what the lies ahead, but not for him.

“I’m worried about the future of high school athletics because it’s gotten too individually competitive,” O’Driscoll says. “I’m all for winning, but I think we’re losing a lot of the fun that high school sports are supposed to provide. We’ve got coaches that are out there running around stomping their feet, kicking dirt around, using bad language. That’s just not necessary.”

As for what is next for Tim O’Driscoll, he will continue with his “other” job as the official scorer for the Brewers at Miller Park, a position he has held since 1987. However, if you think you will be seeing him at any other baseball diamond, forget it. He admits that it will be too emotional for him to come see Hartland Arrowhead play this year. He also has no timetable for a return trip to O’Driscoll Field to watch his beloved Warhawks play, but suspects that it won’t be until every player that ever played for him has graduated.

“The one thing that means more to me than anything; the state championships; the wins – anything – are the relationships,” O’Driscoll says. “Everywhere I go, whether it’s the grocery store, church, Miller Park, anywhere…the fact that former players and parents of former players care enough to say hi and ask how I’m doing. That means everything to me.”

On June 6, Tim and Caryl O’Driscoll celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary. They have two grown daughters, Meghan and Kelli. This summer, O’Driscoll will help his grandson learn the game of T-Ball. In every way, being around a young ballplayer with a bat just seems appropriate for a teacher and coach that was able to stay as enthusiastic and relevant as he was the day he began coaching JV ball in 1973.

“I really don’t think kids have changed all that much in the last 38 years,” O’Driscoll says. “I really just think people are people. If you treat them fairly, and explain to them why they may not be playing over some other kid, they’ll understand. I really don’t think kids have changed at all since I started coaching.”

Making Sense of the NFL Lockout

Maybe this will help?

Random Tweets from the Thursday Night in the NFL:

PriscoCBS Pete Prisco

Wasn't this supposed to get done if players got 50-percent of the money without $1billion coming off the top? this deal gives them that.

Greg_A_Bedard Greg A. Bedard

High-ranking NFLPA source told me 45 min ago: "Tell everyone to calm down. Haven't come this far to derail a deal."

GregJennings Greg Jennings

This lockout is an absolute mess. Players are just ready to play the game we love & get back to entertaining the fans who truly support us.

jasonjwilde Jason Wilde

I'm sure others have said this already, but just had a player tell me, "It's not even the same deal we talked about with the owners."

AdamSchefter Adam Schefter

Bills S George Wilson on ESPN: "This is nothing more than an attempt to get the fans to turn on the players." Doesn't expect a vote Friday.

PackerReport Packer Report

#Packers Murphy: It’s great for the Packers to have labor peace. We’re looking at a 10-year agreement — I think that’s great for everybody.

michaelombardi Michael Lombardi

This is the NFL version of Bush vs Gore. Whoever wins Florida wins.

@SI_PeterKing Peter King

Just wrote a revised story for SI.com, including the Berthelsen email. This deal is in major trouble. (No duh.) Will post link soon.

JeffPassan Jeff Passan

I hope fans are smart enough to realize what the NFL did to the NFLPA today was essentially kick them in the nuts and ask them to smile.

SBJLizMullen Liz Mullen

Hearing the union reformation process the owners want would deprive players of any real opportunity to bargain over CBA issues. #NFL

jayfeely Jay Feely

A 10 yr agreement has implications on current players, future players ad past players. It is our duty to proceed with caution and logic. »

jayfeely Jay Feely

A lot of criticism of greedy players not taking deal. We are being prudent business men. We need to review the offer & it's new terms first

PriscoCBS Pete Prisco

I'll be honest. I think the owners gave in a lot. I am surprised at what they gave.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From the pages of The Sporting News...

Upon my return Friday to SNR, I found another old page from The Sporting News...this one featuring excerpts from my interview with the great Tom Seaver:

Blast from the Past!

I found this today going through some old boxes...I thought it was appropriate considering I'm heading home to Sporting News Radio on Friday night, filling in for Todd Wright (9p-1a, CT)

Circa 2005. Also known as "when Doug still had some hair left!"

So Long, IWS

By now, some of you have heard that the magazine I have had the privilege of writing for the last 18 months, Inside Wisconsin Sports, will no longer be printed.

That any new magazine was able to last in this economic climate for more than six years is nothing short of miraculous, until you spend some time with the incredibly talented and passionate publishing professionals I had the joy of working for. The newspaper and magazine industry is suffering in no small measure because of today’s instant gratification society where the printed page is becoming a dinosaur. For a monthly like IWS, that’s a shame because we were never a news publication – we just tried to tell the best stories we could about the things we, as Wisconsin sports fans, care about.

IWS covered Wisconsin sports at every level – from preps to pros – and everything in between. The photography was phenomenal, with the likes of David Bernacchi, Chad Hug, Mike Roemer, and David Slutka gracing our publication with their talent. I had the honor of working with some of these artists on photo shoots, and can tell you that they made the pages of IWS sing.

To my editor, Mike Beacom, I just want to say a very sincere thank you for giving me the chance to explore my passion of writing features about things I care about. From my look at the rise and fall of the Milwaukee Braves, to telling the rest of the state about the incredible tennis guru of Neenah, Warren Whitlinger, Mike’s vision and support will never be forgotten.

To our publisher Chad Greipentrog, managing editor Emily Attwood, and creative designer Kelli Cooke: Thank you for making IWS something I was so proud to tell people about. It is an association that while brief, was extremely satisfying and rewarding to me, and something I will always look back on with pride.

Every Friday, here at DougRussellSports.blogspot.com, I have what I call a “Flashback Friday” when I dip into the archives and bring you something you might not have seen before. I’m thrilled to be able to bring you some of the stories I was allowed to tell by Mike Beacom over at IWS.

On another totally unrelated note, my prayers for a speedy and complete recovery go out to my friend Jen Lada. Jen suffered a broken collarbone and other injuries while involved in a serious biking accident on Saturday morning. Her doctors told her that her helmet probably saved her life. Just some food for thought the next time you head out on the road yourself. Wear your helmet!

From The Archives

This appeared in the August 2010 issue of Inside Wisconsin Sports Magazine

An Improbable Lifelong Alliance

By Doug Russell

It can be said without serious argument that Bud Selig and Herb Kohl are the two most powerful people in Wisconsin sports history. Improbably, they’ve also been the closest of friends their entire lives. How is it possible that two kids from Milwaukee’s west side could grow so powerful without growing apart?

When you consider all of the individuals involved in the history of Wisconsin sports, no two individuals have had more power than Bud Selig and Herb Kohl. Both saved their respective sports from professional extinction in Milwaukee. Selig nearly single-handedly brought baseball back to town in 1970, five years after the Braves had left for Atlanta; Kohl’s purchase of the Bucks in 1985 prevented an almost certain move because of the financial woes of playing at the tiny Milwaukee Arena.

Selig moved on to become Baseball Commissioner in 1992; Kohl was first elected to the United States Senate in 1988. But what is most improbable is that the two have been the closest of friends for nearly their entire lives.

It all began on Milwaukee’s west side in 1940.

“We were brought up on the same block,” Kohl recalls. “I was on 51^st and he was on

52^nd Street

, just north of Burleigh. We were just a few houses away from each other. ‘Through the alley’ as they say. We became friends when we were maybe 6 years old.”

Selig agrees. “Our parents were friendly,” he says. “We were raised about 100 feet from one another, and I think that from the fourth grade on, we went to school together.”

“Bud’s father and my father did some business together,” Kohl continued. “We took over a car dealership site at 76^th and Greenfield in West Allis when they abandoned it for a newer site for their showroom. We opened up a food store in their storefront. So there was that relationship between our folks, and Bud and I just would hang out all the time and mostly talk about sports.”

The two started out talking baseball at Sherman Elementary School, then on to Steuben Junior High School, Washington High School, and then finally to the University of Wisconsin, where they roomed together for their final three semesters at the Jewish fraternity Pi Lambda Phi.

It was quite a fraternity house, considering other members at the time included Steve Marcus, current Chairman of the Marcus Corporation; Franklyn Gimbel, Chairman of the Wisconsin Center District; and Lew Wolff, current owner of the Oakland Athletics.

Among them all, however, Selig and Kohl stood out as the closest of friends.

“I knew they would always be great and close friends of each other,” Wolff says today. “And they were two of the most dedicated to getting their education of anyone I ever knew. Both were high achievers and had and have high standards in anything they did at Madison. Thus, we all knew they were headed for success in anything they decided to do.”

A Bond formed by Baseball

In the 1940’s, baseball truly was the National Pastime. The NBA didn’t even exist until 1949, and professional football hadn’t yet capitalized on television to increase its popularity to the masses. With no major league team to root for yet, the American Association’s Milwaukee Brewers were the hometown team.

“Oh, we went to Borchert Field together a lot,” Selig says. “We would take the bus down to Borchert Field a lot back in those days. We also went down to Chicago a lot. We would take the train, the old North Shore line because in those days you could do that. Herb and I used to go to a lot of Cubs games down at Wrigley Field.”

Kohl, despite owning an NBA franchise for the last quarter-century, readily admits that baseball, shaped by those countless afternoons at Borchert field, was his first love. “We were just kids growing up and we enjoyed doing that sort of thing,” Kohl says. “Somehow we managed to become very good friends in the process, and it’s been a friendship that has held itself strong throughout a lifetime.”

It is a friendship, however, that had to withstand an early controversy.

The Curious Case of Jack Halser

Who is Jack Halser, and why is a sixth-grader from 1942 still the most hotly debated topic between the Commissioner of Baseball and a United States Senator? It all goes back to the playground at Sherman School.

“I was the captain of my team and Selig was the captain of his team,” Kohl recalls. “So there came the day in April or May where we faced off in the championship game, his team against mine. It was on a Saturday morning. We all got there for the warm-ups, and I noticed there was this huge, huge fellow who was getting ready to pitch for them. I had never seen this kid before. He must have been about 6 feet tall, and when you’re in the 6^th grade, that’s really big.”

“He’s accused me to this day of using a ringer,” Selig counters.

“So I said to Selig,” Kohl retorts. “‘Who’s that kid warming up?’ He says ‘Oh, that’s Jack Halser. He’s just some kid I found on the street because our regular pitcher isn’t going to be here this morning.

“So we argued about that for a while, and finally Selig says ‘Quit your moaning, let’s play ball.’ On a spring morning, when someone says ‘let’s play ball’ it’s an intoxicant. So I finally agreed to play and this guy Halser strikes out every one of our guys!”

“Jack Halser was a kid in the sixth grade with us and he was on my team,” Selig fired back. “Herb seems to think he was some sort of ringer because he came in and dominated. He must have been the Sandy Koufax of our time, I guess. He came in and Herb lost. So, for the last 65 years he’s been trying to figure out why!”

Tongue somewhat in cheek, Kohl came right back at his lifelong friend. “Selig cheated me out of that game. I never forgot the kid, and I’ve held it against him all these years.”

While Selig and Kohl won’t ever see eye-to-eye on the Jack Halser incident from all those years ago, the fact that their Abbot and Costello routine is so finely honed after so long speaks to how close the two continue to be.

“We’re always kidding one another,” Selig concluded with a chuckle. “Why am I not surprised he brought up Jack Halser?”

1965-1970

After the 1965 baseball season, the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta. The NBA hadn’t had a team in Milwaukee since the Hawks short stay from 1951-1955. Professional sports in Wisconsin consisted solely of the Lombardi-era Packers. However, Bud Selig still longed for baseball. After his beloved Braves left town, he set out in a relentless pursuit to return his hometown to being a major league city.

“He worked at it all the time,” Kohl says. “Even while working at his car dealership, he worked at it all the time. Baseball was always his passion. He traveled around, got to know the Major League Baseball family. There were about 10 of us; I was one that was a part of his group that was gong to finance a deal, if it ever happened.”

It was about that same time that Kohl approached the NBA about an expansion team, meeting with then-Commissioner Walter Kennedy. While Kohl helped lay the groundwork for the Bucks, he was happy to step aside and let Wesley Pavalon and Marvin Fishman become the co-founders of the franchise. As it turned out, it wasn’t necessary for Kohl to step up and own the team for another 17 years.

Rise to Power

Bud Selig was a mere 35 years old when he was able to acquire the Seattle Pilots in April of 1970. While the re-named Brewers struggled throughout most of their first decade of existence, Selig had achieved his singular goal at the time; Milwaukee was major league once again.

Conversely, the Milwaukee Bucks were an almost instant success. Aided by the most important coin-flip in Wisconsin sports history, which gave them the right to draft UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), the Bucks were a 13-time playoff participant with one World Championship under their belts by 1985. Despite their success on the court, the Bucks financially were struggling and in danger of leaving. One persistent rumor at the time was relocation to Minneapolis, who boasted the mammoth Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as a potential home arena. By contrast, the Milwaukee Arena was the smallest in the NBA and lacked any modern-day amenities.

Committed to keeping Milwaukee as an NBA city, Herb Kohl bought the Bucks for $20 million, joining his lifelong friend, Bud Selig, as the two owners of Milwaukee’s major professional sports franchises.

The rest, as they say, is history. Using his public good will from saving the Bucks as collateral, as well as millions of his own dollars spent on the campaign trail, Herb Kohl first won election to the United States Senate in 1988. In each of his subsequent three re-elections, Kohl has easily cruised to victory, the gap between him and his opponent widening with each run.

In 1992, Bud Selig became acting commissioner of baseball after the forced resignation of Fay Vincent. In 1998, he took the job on a permanent basis. Despite not always being popular with baseball players or fans, Selig enjoys unprecedented support amongst the 30 Major League owners, having won unanimous re-election every time his contract has come due.

Through it all, in good times and in bad; from their days on the Sherman School playground hustling ringers to their trips as teenagers to Borchert Field; from their days as college roommates in Madison to running their respective family businesses in Milwaukee; from owning both of the city’s major professional sports teams to their rise to national prominence; the one constant in the lives of Bud Selig and Herb Kohl have been each other.

“It really is a wonderful story,” Selig says. “It’s a friendship that is now 70 years old. That’s pretty good.”

Quick Hitter Updates

This week has been kind of a whirlwind, but I did want to update you on two quick things.

#1 - I've been re-hired by Sporting News Radio to be a fill-in host. My first show back will be this coming Friday night, from 9p-1a CT, sitting in for Todd Wright. SNR is based in Houston, but I have been generously loaned a studio in Brookfield that I am able to broadcast from. The show will air on SNR affiliated throughout the United States, on Sirius Channel 94, and will stream online at http://www.sportingnewsradio.com/

#2 - I didn't look at my own calendar. My cousin's wedding is today, and I won't be back in time to make an appearance on CBS 58's "Sports Fanatics" program. Evan Fitzgerald and Kevin Holden have been incredible to allow me a weekly spot on the show and I hate it anytime I have to miss it. Nevertless, please be sure to catch it this week and every week at 10:30 Sunday mornings on WDJT-TV.


Off to Chicago for Jen's wedding!

Doug Returns to Radio

The Brewers sure went out there and proved that their road woes were just a first half aberration, right? Sheesh. As for the silver lining, it's just one game, and there always is tomorrow, right?

True, but at some point, if they plan on contending in 2011, losing to clearly inferior teams, and looking bad doing it is no way to show your fans that you have a shot to be playing ball in October.

Anyway...speaking of tomorrow, I will be on Phil Cianciola's daily "PhilCast" show hosted by OnMilwaukee.com.

For those asking me when I will return to radio, the answer will be announced with Phil tomorrow. Not to blow smoke up anyone's rear, because I've always had much too much respect for you guys to build you up to a "SPECIAL, MIND-BLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT COMING UP AT 7:05!!!" and then it's something like a new sponsor...which is great for us, and great for them...but really means nothing to you, the listener. Just sayin'...

What I can tell you right now is this:

• I am returning to terrestrial radio
• I am returning very soon, and will be hosting a sports talk show
• This is not a permanent, every day show at this point
• I am continuing to have meetings with stations and am very encouraged by our discussions

My final promise to you is this. I'll keep you in the loop. You guys have been an incredible source of strength for me and my family. Your words of kindness and encouragement have meant the world to us. It is a debt I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay.

Thank you!! And be sure to tune into the PhilCast tomorrow at www.OnMilwaukee.com!

Pictures from the All-Star Game!

Some pics from the All Star Game:

Brewers First Half Review

It's amazing to me how poorly things have gone for the Brewers...and yet...they're still in FIRST PLACE!

A Brewers Surge in Stripes...and Goo comes to town!

Ok...the Brewers (in their retro unis) have won two straight! I know I complained about the fact that all they wear anymore are the softball blue tops...and I dislike the '82 togs even more - BUT - whatever it takes, I suppose, right?

It certainly goes deeper than that, but the last thing the Brewers can afford heading into the All Star break (other than Ryan Braun's injury) is a losing streak. As I've said from the first day of the season, the NL Central is up or grabs. The only thing no one expected was the first half surge the Pirates have been on. Clint Hurdle is an early candidate for NL Manager of the Year...but there is a LONG way to go.

Moving on....Tonight's Summerfest highlight?? - GOO!

Daaaaaaamn!!!

That can't tickle...

King vs. Washington

Note: This article ran in the October 2010 issue of Inside Wisconsin Sports Magazine. - dr

King vs. Washington Boys Basketball

By Doug Russell

In the twenty years between 1984 and 2004, Milwaukee King and Milwaukee Washington High Schools accounted for 13 appearances in the WIAA Division 1 Boys Basketball Championship Game. Both programs have graduated players into the NBA; Mike Wilks from King, and Latrell Sprewell from Washington. King won the state championship in 1984, 1991, 1995, 2003, and 2004, while Washington won the title in 1985, 1987, and 1990. Both teams are regular participants in Madison, and with less than three and a half miles separating the two schools, their rivalry has become the most heated battle in the most competitive conference in boys’ basketball in the state.

“When you played Washington you knew you had to bring your ‘A’ game.”

That according to former Rufus King standout Jimmie Foster, who played for the Generals from 1994-1998. Foster is now an assistant to new UW-Green Bay coach Brian Wardle, but is never far from the rivalry that has defined the City Conference for more than a generation.

“The two schools aren’t far from each other,” Foster continued. “We always played against each other on the playground. When it was time for us to play those games in high school, there was a rivalry built up because you had those relationships with each other off the court. Now we get the chance to play each other on the court representing your school? It was intense.”

So intense that frustration sometimes would spill over into the stands. Often times the disputes began even before the games would begin. At times, the disputes started several days before the game itself.

“The week of the game, tickets would go on sale and you would see lines out the door to get the few tickets available for those games,” longtime King coach Jim Gosz recalls. “Our gyms did not hold a lot of fans, so in order to secure a ticket, you had to get there bright and early the day they went on sale. I can remember fights and mad rushes in order to get their hand on those tickets.”

While the rivalry between the Purgolders and Generals has become the envy of the City Conference, and is arguably the best basketball rivalry in Wisconsin, it wasn’t always that way. Ironically it began with a King victory in Madison in 1984, but then became somewhat one-sided because of a key defection.

Mark Mitchell played at Milwaukee Washington from 1985-1988. At the time, Clyde Rusk was winding down his career as the Purgolders coach. What King fans didn’t realize was that Washington was about to replace one legend with another: theirs.

“King was trying to get to where we were,” Mitchell says today. “At that time, we had a system down. We had a lot of players play Division 1; we had a Hall of Fame coach (Rusk). My senior year, the King coach (James Gordon) took over the Washington job. That added a little flavor to it.”

After Gordon left King for Washington, longtime Generals assistant Derek Gallagher took over the reigns. He was replaced by Gosz in 1990, who remains to this day.

Mitchell still beams with pride as he recalls the first time Gordon took on his former team, ten games into the 1987-88 campaign. Although it was an ugly incident between the two rivals, Mitchell can chuckle at the memory today. “My senior year we had a fight during a game. It was a pretty well fought game, and of course the Purgolders came out on top!”

“King probably was gunning for us more because they won a state championship in 1984 with Coach Gordon,” Mitchell added. “But after that, it everybody wanted a shot at Washington. It would make your season if you could beat us.”

Washington’s dominance as the only team to beat in the City Conference came to an end with the arrival of Gosz. After Washington won state in 1990, King took the crown in 1991, and was runner-up in 1992 and 1994. However, Washington’s state championship in 1993 signaled that they were not about to cede control of Milwaukee to their rival without a fight.

“My first year, we played Washington twice, both in the last two weeks of the season, because one was a makeup of a snowed out game,” Gosz says today. “They beat us both times at the buzzer. That was a team that had Calvin Rayford, Silas Mills, and Jamal Turrentine. We were a young up-and-coming team with a bunch of sophomores. That set the tone for getting my feet wet in the City Conference.”

It was about at this time when Gosz gained a true appreciation of how good both teams were. He says that it became an admiration based on “mutual success and the quality of the player. A lot of great players have come from both King and Washington,” Gosz continued. “There has been a great respect that the players and the coaching staffs have had for one another.”

Gosz specifically remembers one game that was particularly intense early in his career. “It was over at Washington my second or third year as coach,” Gosz recalls. “Jamie Harrell hit a half court shot at the buzzer to send it into overtime. At Washington, they’re packed wall to wall. It was probably overfilled by 300 people. There was a big dispute at the scorer’s table to as to whether the shot was released in time. When the shot went in, there was pandemonium! The refs huddled, but they got the call right.”

To be sure, it was a true rivalry in every sense in the 1990’s. Between the two schools there were seven appearances in the state championship game, with each team winning two titles apiece.

Jimmie Foster played on one state championship team and one runner-up squad during his time with the Generals.  He remembers one particularly intense game during the 1996-97 season.   “Our junior year, in 1997, they had us down to their place and they had us down by 16 at the half, 50-34, and everybody started to leave because they thought the game was over. We came back to win, and everybody at school just couldn’t believe it. We knew it wasn’t over. Monday at school, everybody was in disbelief.”

While that game will go down as one of the epic battles between the two teams, for both the Generals and Purgolders perhaps the most historically significant contest occurred during the 1997-98 season. Washington played King with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove, despite Washington playing in the state title game just a few months earlier.

While Washington was the reigning state runner up, they still had their problems with King. The Generals had won 54 consecutive conference games until the Purgolders finally ended the string early in the season. “They caught us on a bit of a down-year,” Foster recalls. “But we ended up going to State that year, so we showed them who was the better team overall.”

Indeed, King did make a brief appearance in Madison, but lost to Middleton in the quarterfinals, 68-61. While that appearance at the state tournament assuaged some within the Rufus King program, to Foster, it was but a footnote.

“We were a little young,” Foster continues. “Coming off that junior year, we graduated four or five seniors, three or four of them went on to play Division 1 college basketball, including Mr. Basketball, Michael Wilks. We came back really young in ’98. We had only three returning varsity players, and only one returning starter, which was me. We were very, very young. We had a couple of freshmen were thrown in there, too.”

The names that played for both schools are legendary. Not just the players that went on to play professionally, most notably Latrell Sprewell and Michael Wilks, but others that will always have a place in the lore between two powerhouses of high school basketball. For Washington, the names include Robert Jackson, Dave Edwards, Freddie Owens, Kamaar Davis, Marlon Grice, Brian Garner, Calvin Rayford, J.R. Smith, Keyon Washington, Trevor Powell, Jason Price, and Avery Smith.

For the Rufus King Generals, names that will forever be etched into the fabric of their basketball past include Terrence McGee, Dupree Fletcher, Khalifa El-Amin, Jim Foster, Tevis Jones, Troy Cotton, Matt Goodwin, Mike Causey, and Ale Bert.

The rivalry has always been intense, and remains as such to this day when these teams go at each other. “It would be bananas,” Foster concludes. “From the student body to the teachers, everybody was primed and ready to go for Friday. It was either in the basement or the dungeon. Their place was the basement, ours was the dungeon. We were ecstatic, just waiting and waiting until Friday to go up against each other.”

Cover Story - Brewers GameDay!

If you are headed to Miller Park for this current homestand, be sure to pick up a copy of Brewers GameDay to read my cover story on Jonathan Lucroy that is running right now.

Since you asked...

I've gotten some feedback on the books behind me during my webisodes/Vlogs. All of the books reflect my interests, whether it is politics, sports, history, or just a good novel. While the bottom of my bookshelf is populated with books on things like The Beatles, college football, and ballparks (among other things), only the top two shelves are visible on camera. So...because you asked...here are all of the books that are behind me from the top two rows:

Top Row (L-R)

The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Angels & Demons – Dan Brown

Friday Night Lights – H. G. Bissinger

The Blind Side – Michael Lewis

When Pride Still Mattered – David Maraniss

Moment of Glory – John Feinstein

For Braves Fans Only – Tom Andrews

The Milwaukee Braves: A Baseball Eulogy – Bob Buege

Milwaukee Braves: Heroes and Heartbreak – William Povletich

Some Like It Cold – William Povletich

Green Bay Packers: Legends in Green and Gold – William Povletich

The American Association Milwaukee Brewers – Rex Hamann and Bob Koehler

The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, 1859-1952 – Brian A. Podoll

Green Bay Replay – Dick Schaap

The Juice – Will Carroll

Juiced – Jose Canseco

Game of Shadows – Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams

Love Me, Hate Me – Jeff Pearlman

The Rocket that Fell to Earth – Jeff Pearlman

Boys will be Boys – Jeff Pearlman

The Ultimate Super Bowl Book – Bob McGinn

Ball Four – Jim Bouton

The Boys of Summer – Roger Kahn

Eight Men Out – Eliot Asinof

9 Innings – Daniel Okrent

The Best Wisconsin Sports Aguments – Andy Kendeigh

Moneyball – Michael Lewis

Second Row (L-R)

Richard Nixon – In the Arena

Gerald R. Ford – A Time to Heal

Keeping Faith – Jimmy Carter

An American Life – Ronald Reagan

All The Best – George Bush

My Life – Bill Clinton

Decision Points – George W. Bush

JFK: An Unfinished Life – Robert Dallek

Write It When I’m Gone – Thomas DeFrank

An Hour Before Daylight – Jimmy Carter

A Life In Letters – Ronald Regan

Standing Firm – Dan Quayle

My Turn – Nancy Reagan

Barbara Bush – Barbara Bush

Reflections – Barbara Bush

Living History – Hillary Rodham Clinton

Presidents – Carter Smith

The President’s Book – Roger Mautz

Why is Mat Gamel Still Here?

The Doug Russell Television Show (Vlog) is Back!