UIUC Tales

#52      
This is why I come here. I love hearing about small town 1970 highschool basketball
We should have Dan create a thread titled "Living Life Through my Yester Years" people could talk about the 6 boards they had in the Illinois Church League Championship game in Peoria in '97.

Or "Who Dunked on Me." Mine would be Chukwudebe at Greenville College summer camp. I'm 5'11", its not like he had to try very hard
 
#53      
We should have Dan create a thread titled "Living Life Through my Yester Years" people could talk about the 6 boards they had in the Illinois Church League Championship game in Peoria in '97.

Or "Who Dunked on Me." Mine would be Chukwudebe at Greenville College summer camp. I'm 5'11", its not like he had to try very hard
Scott Skiles scored 45 on me in 1985 Dust bowl game. Also broke my nose with an un intentional elbow. Thats my claim to fame
 
#54      
We should have Dan create a thread titled "Living Life Through my Yester Years" people could talk about the 6 boards they had in the Illinois Church League Championship game in Peoria in '97.

Or "Who Dunked on Me." Mine would be Chukwudebe at Greenville College summer camp. I'm 5'11", its not like he had to try very hard
When we were in the 8th grade Keon Clark dunked on us in a game. At that point, I could just barely get the bottom of the net with my best jump. That dude was a freak of nature...dunking at age 13.
 
#57      

Tacomallini

Washington State
Scott Skiles scored 45 on me in 1985 Dust bowl game. Also broke my nose with an un intentional elbow. Thats my claim to fame
Brian Cook held open the door to Lincoln Hall for me. And a few years later I sold a six-pack of Red Stripe to Stephen Bardo at the on-campus Piccadilly Liquors (RIP) when Bardo first got into broadcasting.
 
#58      
Brian Cook held open the door to Lincoln Hall for me. And a few years later I sold a six-pack of Red Stripe to Stephen Bardo at the on-campus Piccadilly Liquors (RIP) when Bardo first got into broadcasting.

I did my student teaching in Peoria in 05'. DJ Richardson was in one of my classes. (8th grade social studies) He sat front and center. Good kid.
 
#61      
I ran into Eric Montross in a hallway at Hinkle Fieldhouse when I was in junior high at a science fair. He was there with the rest of the team from Lawrence North. Big dude.
 
#65      
I sold Rennie Clemons and Robert Bennett a 40 ounce from the Hometown Pantry. When I gave Bennett his change he dropped it everywhere. His hands were no better off the court than on the court, but man could he jump.
 
#66      
I had no idea we were in the presence of such cool people. Tell me more about your personal experiences in the recruiting thread

Please-tell-me-p4fxcq.jpg
 
#68      

The Sprouting Divot

Invisible and Bulletproof
Miracle Mile
Scott Skiles scored 45 on me in 1985 Dust bowl game. Also broke my nose with an un intentional elbow. Thats my claim to fame
Perhaps he was intoxicated? I remember Orange Crush (probably back when it was still spelled with a "C") gave him a tremendous amount of grief during a game immediately after one of his off-court incidents or another. I think they chanted DUI at him every time he touched the ball for what seemed like the entire duration of the game.

I encountered Frank Williams at the Jewel-Osco on Green & Neil with a surprising degree of regularity one winter.
 
#70      

orange100

time to hop on the wife
I walked out of my apartment one summer day and Arch (RIP) and Krupalija were "working" for the complex I guess, sweeping up leaves in the outdoor hallways. Arch was incredibly friendly and chatted with me for a few minutes.
 
#71      
Had a class for a few days with Corey Bradford (he eventually dropped it). It was a SPCOM/THEAT class. One of the first days we did some sort of team building exercise where you had to get the entire class across the room with all our ankles tied to the people next to us (or something along those lines... this sounds very weird now that I am typing it). People had various ideas of how best to cross the classroom. I came up with a system that was quickest and most efficient. When we reviewed everyone's idea Corey said he thought mine was the best because it was quick, but also took teamwork. I remember the TA (who was a real BLANK to me for whatever reason) said, "Just because it is the fastest doesn't mean it's the best." I remember she gave me a hard time for missing class on 9/11 when the school sent out an email telling students classes for the day were optional.

I also had a journalism class with Brandon Lloyd. Not sure anyone remembers seeing ESPN laughing at his broadcasting clips outtakes where he couldn't get a sentence or two out without having to stop and start over... haha. I remember on the first or second day, our instructor told him something along the lines of, "My friend has told me I have to call you Mr. Sticky Fingers" since he was so good at hauling in passes. Brandon was a heck of a nice guy I recall.

Matt Sinclair was not a nice guy... although that was probably more my fault. Found myself in line next to him at Bamba's at 2am after some terrible loss in late 2003. Everyone else was saying how great he was, and sucking up to him. After the loss that day (and I'm sure a night of heavy drinking) I was not quite in a mood for singing anyone's praises. I asked, "So Matt? Who is our next head coach when they fire Ron Turner?" Probably not a wise question to ask. His response was something along the lines of, "He only asks something like that because he knows I can't break his nose and get away with it." Still not sure how I did escape any sort of beating from someone in line that night.

Also had Kurt Kittner call a few times on my radio show on WPGU (107.1 the Planet back then) to chime in on whatever the heck I was going on about.

Ran into tallest player in Illinois history Nick Smith at Clybourne right after Self left and BW came in. Not often when I have to actually crane my neck to look up at someone! Asked him what his thoughts were on the change. Seemed like a nice guy.

Fun times!

I lived my freshman year at Bromley, and saw Nick Smith quite a bit there. It was always with the same girl, so I'm not sure if it was his girlfriend or just a study partner, but you couldn't not stare at them because she was so short. She was maybe 5 feet tall. So seeing this 7'1 guy walk around with her was something.

And I can attest that Sinclair and Luke Butkus were not nice guys. They were always at Joe's causing problems, getting into fights, just being drunk bullies. Most of the football team back then were chills guys, just not those 2. One of my buddies hung out with Eugene Wilson and Christian Morton alot, and he used to make fun of Geno because Geno would never cuss. It was always "darn this" "darn that". Never would utter a curse word, which for college guys that's quite an accomplishment
 
#72      
I was at U of I from 05-09. In the summertime we used to play at CRCE cause the IMPE wasn’t available. Those were some really damn good games.

One day Jeff Jordan, Chester Frazier, Rodney Alexander (cool dude, had class with him) and Calvin Brock come in.

It’s really unbelievable the course of events that happened over the next few hours.

I’ve never seen somebody as athletic as Calvin Brock in my life. He takes like 3 steps to get down the court and dunks on everybody. At one point in the game they throw him an alley. I see it coming and instead of running away I start to back pedal. I jump off the back pedal and break up the lob. All I hear is people say “WTF” and we run back down on O.

Later in the day Jeff Jordan comes at me leading a break. I pick him up at the free throw line and force him right. He’s quick as hell but somehow I stay in striking distance. He tries to finish with his left on the right side. I put his shot off the glass and yell gimme that sh*t. Even I was surprised though.

Finally, this version of Chester Frazier was big ten all defense Chester Frazier. There’s a dude who played at CRCE regularly named Q, I think his real name was Quentin. He is lighting Chester Frazier up to the point that Frazier is going bath and forth between pissed and disbelief. The number of tough shots Q made that day will live in my head forever. We played by ones to 11 I swear he had 10 alone in one game. Just wild but I wouldn’t trade any of those memories for the world.
 
#73      

ChiefIlliniwek

Omaha, Nebraska
I lived my freshman year at Bromley, and saw Nick Smith quite a bit there. It was always with the same girl, so I'm not sure if it was his girlfriend or just a study partner, but you couldn't not stare at them because she was so short. She was maybe 5 feet tall. So seeing this 7'1 guy walk around with her was something.

And I can attest that Sinclair and Luke Butkus were not nice guys. They were always at Joe's causing problems, getting into fights, just being drunk bullies. Most of the football team back then were chills guys, just not those 2. One of my buddies hung out with Eugene Wilson and Christian Morton alot, and he used to make fun of Geno because Geno would never cuss. It was always "darn this" "darn that". Never would utter a curse word, which for college guys that's quite an accomplishment
I recall hearing bad things about Butkus too... Seems he thought everyone owed him everything just because of his last name.

My roommate my freshman year was a walk on for the football team. I think he played a few snaps in the Northwestern game that year, but he had shoulder issues that kept him from going to the MicronPC.com bowl that year. Actually I think the coaches decided for him he wouldn't be attending the game since he wasn't going to be on the team going forward. It was real rollercoaster of emotions for him that year. They cut him and brought him back on a few times as I recall. They were not very nice to him (and he was a HECK of a nice guy).

Funny story... the MicronPC.com champion rings the team got that year had some sort of massive delay in getting sent out. The polish on them was problematic or something the first time they were made, and they needed to be re-ordered. On April fools day the rings still were not in yet, so I decided to call our answering machine (remember those?) and pretend I was Defensive Coordinator Tim Kish informing him that the coaches made the decision not to re-order his ring since he wasn't going to be on the team going forward. He fell for it, and nearly smashed our phone and answering machine before I was able to tell him it was an April Fool's joke. After a bit of calming down he thought it was hysterical and called his mom to play her the message. She (like Geno in your above post) was not someone who cussed. Very straight laced, religious, proper woman. She yelled so loudly on the phone I heard it from across the room, "THAT MOTHER F**KER!! YOU CALL THAT SON OF A B**CH WE ARE GETTING THAT RING!" When she found out it was me behind the joke she said, "Oh that stinker!" haha. When his ring finally arrived it was so big I couldn't even wear it around my thumb.