But still, this man from Kansas knew how the game of basketball should be played. Quite normal since he once played it himself for the man who invented the game -- Dr. James Naismith.
And consider this: It was only a few years after that day in 1891 when Naismith nailed a couple of peach baskets to balconies in Springfield, Mass., that this boy started throwing a leather ball through an iron hoop.
It might not have been the popular sport to play, but there was something in this game that intrigued him, something that pushed him to endlessly wonder about its mechanics. What's the best way to make a shot? Should the hands spin the ball or merely throw it at the hoop? How could you refine this system to beat opponents yet stay within these rustic parameters of the game? Such questions raged in this young boy's mind. And eventually, the answers led him to become one of the greatest teachers the game of basketball has ever seen.
AS A COACH, they said he had no equal. As a man, he had his quirks -- brown suits off the rack, nervous searches in parking lots for hairpins that he thought foretold good fortune for his team. And as a person, he was a dictator who pushed his teams to brilliance on the court.
He was born the son of a school teacher in the quaint town of Halstead, Kansas. Where's Halstead? According the Unofficial Halstead Web Page, this small town is "located in southern Harvey County; approximately 15 minutes west of Newton, just south of U.S. Highway 50. Wichita and Hutchinson are both within about 25 minutes drive."
Not exactly the kind of place that sounds easy to find, nor is it one where you would want to spend a vacation. And back in 1919 it also was not the kind of place you stayed in as a young man, unless, of course, you were planning on marrying a tractor or opening up a feed store.
So, he made the leap -- a giant leap back then -- and went off to college in Lawrence. They had a men's basketball team there and a coach by the name of Forrest "Phog" Allen, the guy who went on to win 771 games.
HE DIDN'T PLAY MUCH, and that worked out just fine. All those minutes on the bench gave him a chance to study the game, to study Allen and to study the assistant coach that Kansas brought in during his senior year. That "assistant" was Naismith.
Now, growing up in 1920s Kansas made a man tough, no matter which road in life he decided to walk. A hard life was a normal life and sometimes, being hardened young can break one's spirit. Other times, it can forge a will no one could change.
In this coach's case, it was the latter. Simply put, many of his players -- and quite a few newspaper reporters -- considered him to be a son of a bitch. Someone you didn't want to spend your time with, unless you were interested in learning the game of basketball.
"Those newspaper guys up east try to get people to believe that the only reason I win is because I'm an SOB. But I know a lot of losers who are SOB's, so that's not the answer," he once said in reply.
In 1923, having learned this game from the best minds at the time, he left the quaint town of Lawrence and began his coaching career at Freeport (Ill.) High. It was there he discovered that wearing brown suits was lucky and anything else was not. A few years after that, a major university would come calling and he would go to this place where he would make basketball history.
BUT BEFORE WE GET INTO THAT, there is the cloud of racism that to this very day still haunts his name. Some of it may be justified, some of it is likely exaggerated. It just depends on your point of view and your understanding of America in general and the early 1900s in particular. It was a time when racism was acceptable, before the country learned from its mistakes and corrected such an obvious wrong.
There's one story that says he called the New York Journal-American and asked a young Jimmy Breslin -- a sports clerk at the time -- if the paper could put an asterisk next to "colored" high school players' names so he could cross them off his recruiting list.
And there's another story that says he put a black kid on the team in Freeport during a time when whites and blacks rarely did anything together, especially play sports.
Believe what you want. We will leave this issue for others to debate. But one thing no one will challenge are his credentials, for they are truly outstanding. And if you don't know why, then click here for the rest of this story.
I heard Pete Rose's dad was a semi-pro baseball player, but I don't think that's right. Do you know?
-- From CincyRed at some unknown edu around the Queen City.
Sure do. His father was a semi-pro football player, not baseball.
You were wrong in your answer last week about how Dennis Rodman got his nickname "Worm."
-- From Hank who has one of those Hotmail accounts.
Nope, sorry, pard. We know it for a fact: His grandmother gave him that name because of the way he squiggled around while playing pinball. Email him if you don't believe us. His email is worm@rodman.org.
Do you think the Yankees will be back in the Series this year?
-- From Ray B. at that aol place.
I can't see any team stopping Chicago with the firepower the White Sox have loaded up with. Adding Albert Belle to that roster is like giving the Kansas Jayhawks a Michael Jordan for the rest of the NCAA Tournament.
I really like your column. I read it every Sunday. When are you going to do one about Shaquille O'Neal?
-- From a Shaq-man at an O'Neal.com.
Yo, Shaq. Chill, man. You already made the Top 50 list of the NBA all-timers. Start doing something with your career other than living large and we'll think about it.
1) What years did he lead his team to victory in the NCAA Tournament? Give up?
2) Who broke his record of making 20 appearances in the Big Dance? Give up?
3) How many times was he voted coach of the year? Give up?
4) How many SEC titles and SEC Tournaments did he win? Give up?
5) How many games did he lose? Give up?
Mike Emmett has been kicking around sports departments in newspapers and online operations around the U.S. for years. Got something to say to the Irishman? Email him with a click here.
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