It's hard to believe my Where Are They Now? story on former KU great Mark Randall was published 24 years ago in Jayhawk Insider. In the years since, I’ve thought a lot about Mark and what he’s meant to me. Soon after this article was published on Feb. 11, 2000, Mark called me at home at night and left a message on my answering machine that I will never forget. He first thanked me for sending the two issues of Jayhawk Insider to him, and that he was going to send one of the magazines to his dad. Then he humbly said he’s had a lot of articles written about him during his life, but that my story “might have been the best article ever written about me.”
“WOW,” I thought to myself.
I was completely blown away by Mark’s genuine kindness, and he’s been my hero ever since. He was obviously an outstanding player who thrived under new KU coach Roy Williams, who replaced Larry Brown after he left KU in 1988 to become the San Antonio Spurs head coach. Maybe no other player I’ve ever seen in KU basketball history since I began attending games in famed Allen Fieldhouse in 1973 was better at sealing his man in the low post than Mark. He was also a great shooter from 17 feet and in, a great passer (he and teammate Mike Maddow ran the high-low passing game to perfection), could handle the ball, crashed the boards, and ran the floor as well as any big man in the land. He was also as unselfish, tough, and as competitive and great leader as they come. I also loved Mark’s unbridled emotion on the court. I can still remember him pumping his fist after his pivotal basket in the second half of KU’s thrilling comeback win over Arkansas in the Elite Eight in 1991, a game the Jayhawks won and earned Williams his first Final Four berth in just his third season at Kansas.
But as great as Mark Randall was, he is even a better person. Ask anyone who knows the man, the father, and they will tell you the same thing. He’s very personable, extremely kind and gracious, and treats everyone equally. After I got Mark’s phone call that night in February 2000, I immediately emailed him late at night and thanked him so much for his kindness. He replied with an email in the morning, telling me: “You have a gift.” Again, I was so overwhelmed by his words. I’ve had my story on Mark framed at home for many years, along with his quote about my story “might be the best article ever written about me.” If I’m having a bad day, I can look up on my wall and see the article and quote on my wall and get a boost of joy and confidence.
Mark, I can truly say you made an indelible impact on my life, and I will never forget our interview and your extreme kindness. The world needs more people like Mark Christopher Randall, who famed late high school superscout Howard Garfinkel once said “plays every game like it’s for a Michelob Light.” Mark got a big laugh out of that when I first emailed him that quote.
After Randall culminated his stellar and memorable KU career with a supurb 18 point, 10 rebound performance in the NCAA finals against Duke in 1991, which left Blue Devils All-American Christian Laettener exhausted trying to guard Mark, Roy Williams said prior to the next season: “You don’t replace a Mark Randall. He did so much for the team on and off the floor."
Indeed, he did!
Here are some honors Mark earned at KU:
1991 NCAA All-Tournament Team
First-Team All-Big Eight 1991
Phillips 66 Academic All-Big Eight 1991
NABC third-team All-American 1990
Naismith Award finalist 1990
Lee Jeans Academic All-Big Eight (3.34 GPA) 1990
AP, UPI second-team All-Big Eight 1990
Dodge NIT MVP 1989
UPI second-team All-Big Eight 1989
BMA Holiday Classic MVP 1988
NBC Player of the Game versus Temple 1988
International Experience:
1990 World Championship (Bronze Medal) Buenos Aires, Argentina
1990 Goodwill Games (Bronze Medal) Seattle, Wash.
1989 World University Games (Gold Medal) Duisburg, West Germany
1987 Beijing National. Tournament (Big Eight Select team)
…
Randall finished his career as KU’s single-season (64.6 percent in 1988-89) and all-time field goal percentage leader (62.0), which both stood for nearly three decades, and sixth all-time leading scorer (1,627) and rebounder (723).
KU standout just wanted to be the ‘next Mark Randall’
By David Garfield
Mark Randall was destined for greatness as a senior at Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colo.
His coach, Mack Calvin, even hailed his star player as the “next Larry Bird.” Randall, who was a McDonald’s All-American and wooed by every major college program in the country, also evoked comparisons from scouts to former Denver Nugget Bobby Jones.
Randall, the former KU basketball standout and current scout for the Nuggets, said he never really felt the pressure of living up to all the hype.
“I was doing my best to be the next Mark Randall,” he said this recent Monday evening from his hotel room in Salt Lake City, just a few hours before leaving to scout the New Mexico State-Utah game. “To be mentioned in the same breath with guys like that, that’s an honor.”
While Randall didn’t feel the pressure, he said today’s impressionable young athletes might take being labeled the “the next Vince Carter” or “second coming of Magic Johnson” to heart.
“I’ll never do that,” Randall said. “That’s something I have thought about extensively. Even though I’m in the profession of scouting talent, I’m going to guard against that... These kids — they need to be the next whoever they are, just like I didn’t want to be the next Larry Bird or Bobby Jones.”
Randall, who admits he patterned his game after Bird and Jones growing up in Colorado, is fortunate that his job with the Nuggets has afforded him the opportunity to come back to Allen Fieldhouse (he’s scouted three games this season), where he’s been able to relive “the best five years of my life.”
“Just sitting there now, and looking in the rafters and see the great names and all the banners up there, and to know you had a hand in a very small part of that, it’s just an awesome thing,” Randall said.
Actually, Randall played more than just a “very small part” in KU basketball history. He is the all-time field-goal percentage leader (62 percent), eighth-leading scorer, and also a member of the 1991 Final Four team (KU lost to Duke in the finals, 72-65). However, his road to greatness had some bumps in the way as a freshman.
Possessing great athletic skills in high school and a tremendous work ethic, Randall endeared himself to such scouting gurus as Howard Garfinkel (he said Randall “played every game like it’s for a Michelob Light”) and KU coach Larry Brown. The Jayhawk mentor even commented that “Mark Randall is as good as any prospect we’ve ever signed here. In my mind, he’s the number one prospect in America, and we’re very fortunate to have him.”
And then something very bewildering happened when the 1986-87 season began. Brown publicly questioned Randall’s toughness.
“There were some incidents that happened,” said Randall, preferring not to get specific. “Why he did that I’ll never know.”
After redshirting the 1987-88 championship season, Randall’s career was revived when Roy Williams became the new head coach at Kansas.
“Coach Williams was the best thing to happen to Mark Randall and I’ll say that time and time again,” Randall said. “Having him come in at the time in my career and in my life was just a huge thing. It was just a joy to play for him.”
Randall, who ran the floor as well as any big man in the country, thrived in Williams’ system and helped lead underdog Kansas to the NCAA championship game in 1991. He had a great swan song in scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but the Jayhawks came up short.
“I’m an emotional guy and I remember running around and balling like a baby,” he said. “My brother (Dave) was in the corner, and I got to hug him. That meant a lot because he was there at Kansas for two years while I was there.”
After being named to the NCAA All-Tournament team, Randall was eventually selected as the 26th pick in the first round by the NBA World Champion Chicago Bulls. Released by the Bulls after Christmas, Randall finished the season in Minnesota. He wound up playing parts of four years in the NBA (Bulls, Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Denver Nuggets), and two years in the CBA.
Cut two weeks into the lockout season last year by the Nuggets, Randall accepted coach Dan Issel’s offer to become a scout.
“I was tired of beating my head against the wall,” Randall said.
Randall, who loves being a part of the Nuggets organization (the team he idolized growing up) and scouting college players — “Now, I’m on the flip side sitting here looking at kids and saying, ‘Wow, can this guy help us? What does he got that we can become a better team?’” — believes the timing just wasn’t right in his NBA career.
“Larry Bird and Bobby Jones played the game the way it was supposed to be played,” Randall said. “That’s the way I feel like I played he game. I honestly feel that a guy playing the game that way now isn’t appreciated as the guy playing the game back then was...I always said I was born too late. I should have played back then when money wasn’t the big factor, but playing the game for the love of the game.”
A Closer Look at Mark Randall
Years at KU: 1986-1991 (Redshirted 87-88)
Career Notables: KU's career-field goal percentage leader (62 percent) and No. 8 leading scorer... First Team All-Big Eight in 1991 and member of the NCAA All-Tournament team that year.
Education: Randall majored in journalism. Update: Randall received his journalism degree in 2003.
Family: Randall and his wife, Kimberly, have a daughter, Samantha, 1 (she had her first birthday Feb. 4, (Update: Randall has a son, Dylan, who is two years younger than Samantha. I don't know if he has any other children.
Since Leaving KU: Randall played parts of four years in the NBA (Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Denver Nuggets) and two years in the CBA.
Currently: Randall is a scout for the Denver Nuggets and lives in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Update: Randall is Manager of High School Athletics for Denver Public Schools, and lives in Lone Tree, Colo.
Hobbies: competitive golf, family, handyman work.
Favorite KU Memories: “The fans are always going to be at the top of my list.” Playing in his first and final game (NCAA championship vs. Duke). “Not a lot of seniors know in their career that it will actually be their last game...” The 1989-90 team, which bounced in and out of the No. 1 and 2 spots most of the season.
On the Jayhawks Today: “I think they’re still learning and growing. As long as you can do that now and not towards the end of the season. You got to work the kinks out.”
