After first looking at four former KU standouts' childhood hoop heroes, we now examine five more ex-Jayhawks and who they idolized growing up.
GREG GURLEY (1991-95)
A tremendous athlete at Shawnee Mission South who once scored 49 points in a game, Gurley was a top-100 recruit by analyst Bob Gibbons. Gurley, who chose KU over Notre Dame, USC, Syracuse and six Big Eight Conference schools, persevered at Kansas through severe back pain, which limited his athletic skills. Still, the 6-5 guard was a consummate team player and impressive three-point shooter who competed on the 1993 Final Four squad.
“I was a huge Magic Johnson fan,” said Gurley in a 2003 interview, who admitted he also loved the North Carolina Tar Heels growing up and attended a UNC camp in Chapel Hill in sixth or seventh grade when Roy Williams was an unknown assistant.
“I was a huge Laker fan — most of my friends were big Larry Bird fans, I kind of went the other way. Growing up, I was always bigger than everyone else and I was a guard. That’s the way Magic was, and I just liked to watch him play and tried to emulate him. My dad was a coach. I scored a lot of points, but I also passed the ball a lot. I tried to keep everyone involved, just like Magic did. He scored a lot, but yet he kept everyone involved. He was just the ultimate floor leader. I obviously didn’t have the flair that he did. That’s the guy I really tried to copy.”
PAT RICHEY (1990-94)
A versatile 6-8 forward and tireless worker from Lee’s Summit, Mo., who could pass, dribble and shoot, Richey chose the Jayhawks over Missouri and Kentucky. Richey, who was rated the 62nd best senior prospect nationally by Gibbons, played on two Final Four teams in 1991 and 1993.
Like Gurley, back problems hindered Richey at KU.
“Danny (Manning) was probably my favorite player when I was in high school,” Richey said in a 2003 interview. “In high school, I played point guard. I was the starting point guard; I was able to dribble down and pass it off, go post up type of deal. Depending on who was guarding me determined what position I was playing. I always felt I had the versatility say of a Danny Manning, who could step out and shoot and play down low as well. My career never turned out as good as his did, but I always tried to kind of mimic my game after his.”
SEAN PEARSON (1992-96)
A former high school star from LaGrange, Ill., Pearson chose the Jayhawks over Michigan. Pearson, who appeared in the acclaimed documentary, “Hoop Dreams,” was rated the 58th best prospect nationally as a senior by Gibbons while considered one of the top-five prospects in the Chicagoland area.
The 6-5 small forward averaged 24.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game his senior year while shooting 57 percent from the field for Nazareth Academy. He led Nazareth to a 28-1 record, including 27 straight wins.
Pearson, who was a member of the Big Eight All-Improved Team in 1994-95 and a member of the Big 8 All-Bench Team in 1993-94, was a long-distance bomber who made 117-of-371 three-point attempts during his career. A member of the 1993 Final Four team, Pearson’s best season came as a junior in 1994-95 when he averaged 9.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.
Pearson ranks with some of the best in KU history when he made six three-point field goals in a conference game against Colorado on Jan. 21, 1995, and when he went 5-of-5 from downtown against Oklahoma State on Jan. 26, 1994. Only Ben McLemore and Rex Walters made more threes (six) in a game without a miss.
A defining moment in Pearson’s life happened when he was age 13 and attending the prestigious Five-Star Camp. He will never forget what guest speaker Rick Pitino told the campers.
“There were probably 1,700 kids in there, and he had us all stand up, and then made everyone sit down except for one kid,” Pearson said in a 2000 interview. “He told us out of all us in here, only one person is going to make it to the NBA. ... At that moment, I realized that basketball wasn’t meant for everyone to play professionally. Everyone can play the game, only a select few can play professionally.”
This well-rounded person idolized George Gervin and later Magic Johnson growing up.
“He was my favorite,” Pearson said of Gervin, the former scoring machine known as ‘Ice Man.’ “I tell people Michael Jordan did a lot of things, but George Gervin did the same things without dunking the basketball.”
BRIAN MARTIN (1981-84)
A Wichita native, Martin played for Northwest High School and was Honorable Mention All-State who averaged 13.6 points and 9.5 rebounds his senior year. Recruited heavily out of high school, Martin next played at Hutchinson Community College.
The 6-9 center and late bloomer transferred to KU and had a solid three-year career who posted career averages of 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. A great shot blocker, Martin swatted 83 shots in 84 games. Martin was drafted in the ninth round of the 1984 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers before starring in the CBA.
He played three games for the Seattle SuperSonics and five games for the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1985-86 season, recording six points, four rebounds, and one block for his career.
“I used to always pretend to be Jack Sikma in high school,” Martin said in a 2000 interview. “A teammate of mine in high school loved Seattle, so we’d always be Seattle. It was kind of neat. When I was on Seattle’s team (in the NBA), my high school teammate called. He wanted me to get Jack Sikma’s autograph for him.”
And playing with the Sonics got Martin a fleeting taste of being an NBA celebrity.
“We were at an exhibition game,” Martin recalled. “We were playing Portland somewhere in Oregon. I don’t remember where. It was a high school gym or small college gym. I always put my warm-up pants and my jersey on to go out and shoot an hour before the game or half hour before the game. As I was walking out, all these little kids were coming around wanting my autograph. There were about 30 kids around me and I was signing autographs.
“All of a sudden, I was in a middle of an autograph, this kid just ripped it out of my hand and the whole crowd just left. I turned around and Jack Sikma had walked into the gym. They all wanted his autograph. They didn’t know who I was. He just ripped it (autograph) right out of my hand. I think I got like the first three letters of my first name in. Here I was felling pretty special, like I was a stud, and here (Sikma) walks in and puts me in my place.”
RODGER BOHNENSTIEHL (1965-68)
This 6-6 scoring machine from Collinsville, Ill., had a superlative high school career, leading his team to a 75-14 record. Bohnenstiehl had his heart set on attending Missouri and staying close to home when new KU assistant and fellow Collinsville native Sam Miranda called him after resigning from his assistant job at New Mexico.
Miranda, who recruited Bohnenstiehl when he was at New Mexico, knew he couldn’t let his big prize slip away.
“He said, ‘I’m leaving New Mexico and going to Kansas,” Bohnenstiehl said in a 2001 interview. “I said, ‘Well, that's great Sam, because I’m not going to New Mexico either because my dad is very, very ill, and my mother wants me to stay close. I’m going to call Bob Vanatta (head coach at Missouri) and see if he’s still got a scholarship.’
“He said, ‘No you’re not. You come out to Kansas. I want you to see that before you do anything,’ so I flew out and fell in love with the place. This was like early June when I went out there, and there were a bunch of guys around there-- Riney Lochmann, Wesley Unseld (he never played at KU) and guys like that. I hung around with them. They were great guys, people I wanted to be with and a part of.”
So Bohnenstiehl signed with KU and became a star. After playing behind Walt Wesley at center his sophomore year in 1965-66, he started at forward the rest of his career. Bohnenstiehl was All-Big Eight as a junior (16.4 ppg), a captain his senior year in 1968, and finished his career as the No. 9 leading scorer in school annals with 1,006 points. He set a Big Eight field goal percentage record at 56.6 percent that stood for many years.
Possessing an uncanny quick turnaround jump shot, Bohnenstiehl was nicknamed “The Machine” by Voice of the Jayhawks Tom Hedrick. Hedrick said he was “quick as a hiccup.”
“That (turnaround jumper) was the only way I could score because I played against people that were a lot bigger than I was,” Bohnenstiehl said. “You had to do something to get your shot off. ... I just tried to be as quick as I could. I wasn’t fast, but I was quick.”
Above all, this former KU standout was a winner who played for the love of the game.
“I wasn’t much for stats or watching how many points I scored,” he said. “I just loved the game and tried to play it my hardest.”
Bohnenstiehl, who developed that turnaround jump shot in high school after endless hours of practice, talked about his idol growing up.
“We had a guy when I was in high school named Bogey Redmond,” Bohnenstiehl said. “My freshman year in high school, they won the state. They were 32-0. I kind of idolized him as a player. He was 6-6 and 220, and I was about 6-6 and 180. He was kind of my idol. I always wanted to be like him, but better. I think in order to be a player, I think you got to have somebody that you kind of idolize. You got to kind of mimic after him. I didn’t like the pros. At that time, there wasn’t any college basketball on TV, but it was on the radio. I used to listen to the Cincinnati Bearcats.”
No comments:
Post a Comment