1973-74 Jayhawks were a Team: Coach Ted Owens and players planning a 50-year reunion to celebrate their time in the spotlight.

This story was published in KU Today & Tomorrow (2023-24 edition) about the 50th anniversary of the miracle 1973-74 Final Four Jayhawks, the "Comeback Kids." Thanks so much for my kind editor Jean Teller for giving me the go-ahead with this pitch and story. The 1973-74 Kansas basketball team was my first KU hoops love, and the memories of my childhood heroes like Rick Suttle, Norm Cook, Roger Morningstar, Dale Greenlee, Danny Knight, Tommie Smith and Tom Kivisto have stayed with me forever. This team, even though I was only 7 years old at the time, taught me to believe in miracles, that anything possible can happen. KU and head coach Ted Owens responded from a dismal 8-18 season in 1972-73 season and showed true toughness, tremendous chemistry, and most important, a beautiful brotherhood that remains strong 50 years later. A special thanks to my friend and childhood hero Dale Greenlee for a wonderful 90-minute interview reliving the joys of yesteryear. Dale is one of the kindest and most personable individual I’ve ever met!  I’m so grateful for Dale and the time he shared with me during this story, and also with our interviews and talks over the years. Dale sent me a highlight video of the 1974 and 1975 seasons in 2009, which proved invaluable to this story for its exclusive insight and some great quotes by Owens.

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On a beautiful July day in Indianapolis, Dale Greenlee has finished playing nine holes of golf (two birdies) with his daughter, Julie, who’s visiting from Atlanta. He’s looking forward to his 70th birthday in a couple of weeks.

 

Greenlee, branch manager in industrial sales for FCX Performance, treasures Julie’s birthday gift — an autographed basketball of NBA legend Julius Erving — as he thinks back 50 years ago and reflects on his 1973–74 Kansas basketball Final Four team (23–7). He and his teammates staged the most dramatic comeback in school annals and one of the biggest turnarounds from the previous season (8-18 in 1972-73) in NCAA history. The 1973-74 team was the first team in 23 years to earn a Final Four berth after a losing season.

 

“It seems like yesterday, especially when the NCAA Tournament starts,” Greenlee says. “It’s like it’s been a few years; the memories keep flooding back. I see Kansas playing in the tournament and think, ‘Oh my gosh, it wasn’t that long ago we were there, but it was.’ It makes you feel young when you watch KU. I think (Coach) Bill Self could put me in and maybe I could get one shot. I couldn’t guard anyone anymore.”

 

The Return Season

Greenlee, one of the fiercest competitors in KU history and once called the league’s “best pure shooter,” was a sophomore in 1972–73, playing on the team that lost every close game — a “season of challenges.”

 

The returnees completely “redoubled our dedication in the offseason ... to become a better basketball player,” and the “effort and quality of play in practice was better.”

 

With the top four scorers returning and the additions of sweet-shooting 6-foot-6 community college transfer Roger Morningstar and 6-foot-9 high school star Norm Cook, KU was still picked by area media to finish fifth or worse in the Big Eight.

 

KU coach Ted Owens, now age 93, was named Big 8 Coach of the Year five times during his tenure at KU. He started senior co-captain Tom Kivisto and Greenlee as guards, Morningstar and Cook as forwards, and junior center Danny Knight, with “Super Subs” 6-foot-10 Rick Suttle (team-high scorer in conference play) and 6-foot-4 Tommie Smith, who all gave instant spark when they rotated into play.

 

“The Comeback Kids” first routed Murray State, 103–71, during which Cook (Big 8 Freshman of the Year) had a magical freshman debut with 21 points (10–10 FG); then the team won a huge home battle with No. 10 Kentucky, 71–63.

 

“That was critical to our confidence,” Greenlee says. “We’re thinking, ‘We can play with anybody.’” 

 

After next losing at No. 3 Indiana, Greenlee says, “We played pretty well (going forward).” However, after losing to Colorado, 73–71, on December 26, 1973 — KU’s second straight loss — Kivisto told John Hendel in his 1991 book: Kansas Jayhawks: History-making Basketball,  that doubt crept in and he called a team meeting.

 

“We decided we’re going to go with some kids … who worked hard … (and) have a little bit of fun,” Kivisto said at the time.  

 

KU won 14 of the next 16 games, including a pivotal 72–71 win at Iowa on January 2, 1974. Kansas (0–7 in road games the previous season) finally won a close road game and against a Big Ten foe.

 

“This game made our season,” Kivisto said. He was an All-Big 8 and Academic All-American that year.

 

The close wins and tremendous team chemistry continued with five players averaging in double figures for the first time in school history. Knight was the team-high scorer at 12.4 points per game. Kivisto, a prep All-American, was the consummate leader who sacrificed scoring to help everyone.

 

“Tom was our most valuable player,” Greenlee says, “… and never happier when giving an assist.”

 

Playing on a “team without a star,” Greenlee remembers that “nobody cared who scored. We played like brothers. We were really a tight group, watched out, and cared about each other. We hung out off the court, my comrades in arms. You worked, practiced, traveled with, that’s a lifetime experience.”

 

Greenlee has warm memories of living with teammates at Jayhawker Towers, attending KU football games, and visiting the homes of Owens and assistants Sam Miranda and Duncan Reid. The coaches viewed the team as “family.”

 

The Big Eight Title

On March 6 at Allen Fieldhouse in what the Wichita Eagle termed “The Game of the Year,” KU beat K-State, 60–55, clinching the Big Eight title. Students stormed the court, the KU team cut down the nets, and the players were carried off the court. 

“We’ve won a lot of championships, but this means more than any we’ve ever had,” Owens said in the jubilant locker room.

 

“We went up on the Hill afterwards,” Greenlee says, where 7,000 fans celebrated at midnight. “Nobody wanted to sleep. It felt as if you almost won the national championship because you had to win the conference to get into the NCAA Tournament.”

 

The best was just beginning.

 

After KU beat Creighton, 55–54, in Tulsa during the Jayhawks’ opening game (they received a bye in the first round), the Kansas team went up against the high-scoring Oral Roberts squad for the Midwest Regional title on ORU’s home court, the Mabee Center, which remains “The Game” in Tulsa.

 

ORU led 81–74 with 3:19 left. The Jayhawks scored the last seven points to tie the game in regulation and went on to win 93–90 in overtime.

 

“We had a season when we’d come back a lot,” Greenlee says. “I’ll never forget the timeouts. I’d look at Kivisto. He’d look at me, we’d look at Roger, and Rick and Norm. We figured we’d do what we had to do to get back in it.”

 

The Jayhawks were overjoyed afterwards. Owens called the victory against a great team on its homecourt the “gutsiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

 

“You’ve climbed the next mountain,” Greenlee says now. “The first mountain was winning the conference. (Now) you’re standing at the peak of the mountain and ... moving on to the Final Four.”

 

In the 1991 Hendel book, Kivisto said, “It was as talented Final Four group, with the exception of our team, as there ever was in a Final Four.” The rosters of the Final Four teams included numerous future first-rouned NBA picks as as well as future Hall of Famers Bill Walton and David Thompson. The Final Four wasn’t near the huge media event it is today, so there was just a small sign at the Holiday Inn at Greensboro, North Carolina, where the Jayhawks were staying, that read: “Welcome, Kansas Jayhawks.” 

 

On March 23, No. 6 KU played No. 3 Marquette in the undercard game in Greensboro, while No. 1 N.C. State took on No. 2 UCLA in what was billed the “Dream Game.”

 

“We were thrilled to be there,” Greenlee says. Newspaper headlines used “Mystery Team” to describe Kansas.

 

After KU led 24-23 at halftime, Marquette coach Al McGuire directed his players to a full-court press on Kivisto and Kansas lost 64-51. In the 1991 book, Owens said, ‘We did not have a lot of other ballhandlers except Tom Kivisto, so what they did was full-court pressed and trapped him. It was good strategy on their part. They trapped him and took the ball out out of his hands and put the press of ball handling on other people…”

 

 The Jayhawks fell against UCLA in the consolation game, 78–61, after leading by eight points at halftime.

 

Even with both losses, the KU players felt immense pride though. Owens said later, “This team probably gave as many thrills and excitement in the great history of Kansas basketbalI. It was this kind of unity, spirit, and togetherness which made us such a great team.”

 

The Brotherhood

Greenlee says the team’s brotherhood remains strong.

 

“Definitely for life,” he says. “That’s not something that changes.”

 

The squad regularly comes back for reunions and is planning a 50-year reunion in Lawrence this season. Greenlee talks to his close friend Morningstar every week and speaks to to other teammates on a regular basis. He also keeps in touch with Owens. He says his former roommate Tommie Smith still calls him “roomie,” and the team has a group text.

 

“You slide right back into the relationships (at reunions),” Greenlee says. “There’s that feeling of joy, warmth, the hugs. You’re right back where you were in 1974.”

 

Greenlee can’t hold back his emotions when expressing what that miracle comeback season 50 years ago meant to him and his lifetime “brothers.”

 

“It was one of the greatest moments of my life,” he says. “I believe we had as good a group of guys that ever wore Kansas on their chests. I’m proud to have been part of that group.”

 

1973–74 Basketball

Overall Big 8                 Home    Away     Neutral Post-Season        NCAA Tournament

23-7      13-1, First          12-1      7-3        4-3        2-2                    2-2, Final Four

 

Note: This KU team had its 50-year reunion on Jan. 5, 2024 weekend. The 1973-74 Final Four Jayhawks were honored at halftime on James Naismith Court, when No. 2 KU played TCU at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 6. Hunter Dickinson scored with 3.4 seconds remaining, lifting the ‘Hawks over TCU 83-81. It was a great day to honor those (and my) beloved Jayhawks of 50 years ago! Thank you Coach Owens and all my heroes from that 1974 team. You made my childhood so might brighter and you are in my heart forever! Not only were you the consummate TEAM, you are great people. That's what counts in the end.

My tribute to former great KU assistant coach Sam Miranda

In Part II on Sam Miranda, I write about my tribute to him after he passed in 2009. This was published in Jayhawk Illustrated.

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The news hit me hard and sharp, jolting me wide awake in the late night hours on May 29.

It was near 3 a.m. when I went online and read that former KU assistant basketball coach Sam Miranda had died of cancer the previous day at age 78. I stayed awake the rest of the evening and the next day with Miranda occupying all my thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Miranda was not just a Jayhawk assistant under Ted Owens from 1964-77. He was a legendary recruiter and master teacher who won over recruits and players with his supreme salesmanship, enthusiasm, persistence, tireless work ethic, honesty, and demanding tough love.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Miranda in November of 2000 for a Where Are They Now? feature for Jayhawk Insider magazine. I’ve often thought of that interview the last decade and how much fun I had hearing Miranda’s recruiting stories. And I thought Sam enjoyed reminiscing about his KU days maybe just as much.

He was full of energy that night, full of life, full of love and passion for his family and Kansas basketball. While he was no longer affiliated with KU after he resigned in 1977, Miranda never once stopped believing, cheering, and supporting the school he gave his heart and soul to for 13 years.

He laughed some while recalling his recruiting stories of former Jayhawks like Rick Suttle, Roger Morningstar, Tom Kivisto and Dale Greenlee — four of my first KU basketball heroes and stars on the 1973-74 Final Four team.

These were players I put on a pedestal; they became larger than life to me as a very impressionable 7-year-old boy growing up in Lawrence. They could simply do no wrong. At the time, I gave no thought as to how these players arrived at KU or who was responsible in recruiting them. Heck, I was too young to think about that. I just watched in awe and wonder as Suttle and company drove KU on a magical ride to the Final Four. 

Years later, I became a diligent student of KU basketball history and read voraciously every book and article I could find about the Jayhawks’ past. That’s when I learned about Miranda’s influence on KU basketball, how he started the Illinois pipeline to Kansas and got Jo Jo White to sign with Kansas without ever seeing him play in person. 

Then I had the good fortune to interview Miranda and many of his former players in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and learned even more about this unsung hero of Kansas basketball.

In 2000, he was voted by a blue-ribbon Jayhawk panel as the best assistant coach in Kansas basketball history.

 “There’s been a lot of fine, fine coaches, and whomever that panel was, I appreciate their thoughtfulness very much,” Miranda told me in our interview in 2000. “That’s a fine honor when you think of 103 years of Kansas basketball, and to be selected as the top person, that’s quite a good feeling.”

Miranda’s basketball roots were planted in Collinsville, Ill., where he was Prep Player of the Year for the St. Louis metro area his junior year of high school in 1947 and named first-team All-State in 1948. Miranda, who was inducted as a player into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1973, became a star guard at Indiana under legendary coach Branch McCracken. He earned second-team all-Big Ten honors as a junior in 1951 and was named first-team Little All-American in 1951 and 1952.

Miranda’s dribbling ability gained national acclaim; in 1950, he was selected to demonstrate ball handling skills in a General Mills educational sports film. After his senior year in 1952, Miranda toured against the Harlem Globetrotters as a member of the College All-Star team.

 He spent two years in the U.S. Army before embarking on a coaching career in the Illinois high school ranks for eight years, where he built lasting relationships and contacts with his players and fellow coaches. Miranda then became an assistant coach at New Mexico for two years before new KU head coach Ted Owens hired him as his top aide in 1964 after taking over for Dick Harp.

Miranda actually first met Owens (KU assistant at the time under Harp) for about five minutes when he was an assistant at New Mexico during a trip to Lawrence, where he was scouting the Jayhawks in preparation for the Lobos game with Kansas in Albuquerque on Dec. 19, 1963.

New Mexico won, 59-54.

“That was the biggest game and biggest win the University of New Mexico ever had up to that point by far,” Miranda said.

After that 1963-64 season, Miranda stopped at an interstate restaurant north of Chicago on a recruiting trip and picked up the paper and read that Harp had resigned and Owens was the new KU head coach.

“I just thought at the time, ‘Man, what a great break for Ted. A relatively young person to get that kind of job,’” Miranda said. “And then about four or five days later, I got a call from him in regards to (joining his staff). He wanted to recruit the Illinois and St. Louis area, where I had some success recruiting. He came out to Albuquerque and we visited a night or so. I came back the next weekend (to Lawrence) and looked around and decided to come to KU.”

Miranda went right to work, securing a commitment from fellow Collinsville native and high school All-American Rodger Bohnenstiehl, and then soon lured White from St. Louis.

He was just beginning. 

Focusing primarily in the Illinois and St. Louis area, Miranda brought in a boatload of talent from Illinois the next 13 years. In fact, the 1974 Final Four team comprised 10 players from Illinois, including seven of the top eight.

"I was from Illinois and knew it was a great basketball state," Miranda once told writer Taylor Bell of the Chicago Sun-Times. "I knew a lot of high school coaches. I figured we had to outwork people. I was on the phone every night from 7 to 10 talking to players in Illinois. We had practice on Friday afternoon. Afterward, I'd catch a flight in Kansas City, fly to Illinois, see a game, visit with parents, 

go to dinner, then fly back on a 12:45 flight to Kansas City."

Miranda simply outworked his competition. He was quite passionate about recruiting. 

“I enjoyed recruiting,” Miranda told me. “It’s a challenge. You go in a home the summer time prior to their senior year. You’re in there with all the big schools and you’re trying to be one of the five to come out and visit your school. When you walk out on a summer evening, you know if you’ve done a good or bad job. It’s an exhilarating feeling when you walk out and you’ve done a good job of recruiting and get the kid to commit and say, ‘Yes, I’ll come visit Kansas.’”

Bell said Miranda was peerless in his profession.

“Since I began covering high school sports in the 1950s, I've become acquainted with the process and some of the best football and basketball recruiters who ever persuaded a highly impressionable teenager to leave his family, friends and hometown for a name on a map that the youngster didn't know existed. In some cases, there wasn't even a name,” Bell wrote.

“Sam Miranda was the best of all. ... Miranda built Kansas into a Final Four program in the 1970s by recruiting many of the best high school players in Illinois, including Springfield's Dave Robisch, East Aurora's Tom Kivisto, Collinsville's Rodger Bohnenstiehl, Kenwood's Donnie Von Moore and Kewanee's Tommie Smith. He set the standard for recruiters who followed him. He wrote the book. Nobody worked harder. In an era where there were virtually no restrictions on recruiting, Miranda literally camped out on a recruit's doorstep. Before anyone else, he understood the two most important axioms of recruiting: 

“1. The first coach in the door usually is the one who signs the kid.

2. You must learn who will make the final decision—athlete, father, mother, grandmother, uncle, high school coach, AAU coach—and form a close relationship.”

Miranda spoke to me about that recruiting philosophy.

“In recruiting, I always thought in any family, there’s basically one person who is the key person in recruiting the youngster,” Miranda said. “You recruit the young man and then you recruit the person who is going to help (him) make that decision.”

In Suttle’s case, Miranda won over his mother’s respect. Suttle was leaning towards Jacksonville, which had been to the Final Four in 1970, before eventually signing with KU.

“I recruited him hard for three years,” Miranda said. “Finally in the end, (Suttle’s mom) said, ‘You’re going with Sam. That’s it.’ ... She just had confidence in us.”

Miranda landed White through the confidence and trust of his high school coach, Jodie Bailey.

“About the third or fourth time I was back to see Jo Jo, we’re at a restaurant talking and I’m going over why I thought he should come to Kansas and everything,” Miranda said. “Jodie Bailey was sitting there and he said, ‘Jo Jo, that sounds good to me.’ And that was it. That kind of sealed it.”

There was another reason why White signed with Kansas.

"I went to Kansas because I couldn't talk to any other coaches. I was always on the phone with Sam," Bell reported White once saying.

While Miranda was instrumental in recruiting and signing countless prospects over the years, he selflessly credited Owens for KU’s recruiting success.

“Of course, the head coach is naturally the vital guy because he’s got to make an impression,” Miranda said. “I don’t care how good an assistant coach is in recruiting, if the head coach doesn’t make a great impression, it’s going to be hard to get the kid. And Ted always did a great job recruiting.”

With his fierce coaching personality, Miranda was the perfect blend to Owens. As former Jayhawks like to say, Owens was the nice “good cop,” while Miranda played the “bad cop” role.

“Owens was the nice guy that tried to be mean,” Morningstar said. “We all kind of laughed at. Coach Miranda, you never looked at crosswise. He had the fear of God in all of us.”

But he also had the unyielding respect and love of all his players.

Just ask Morningstar.

“He was a great guy and meant so much to a lot of us,” Morningstar wrote me in an email after Miranda’s death.

Just ask former KU center Roger Brown.

 

Brown was one of countless post players who made huge strides under Miranda’s tutelage. Brown credits Miranda, who worked primarily with KU’s big men — as a key factor in his development.

“He said (during the recruiting process) he was going to be out there every day working with me,” Brown said during an interview in 2002. “I didn’t take him seriously. I just took it in passing, but when I got there and realized how intense he was as a coach and that he was true to his word, I said, ‘OK, then.’

“He spent a lot of time with me and Dave (Robisch) every day. I think that was a big factor in my development. I think that was a major thing that he gave attention to all the players, especially the big men.  I think that was instrumental.”  

Just ask Von Moore.

“If it wasn’t for Sam I would not have ever gotten off the bench at Kansas,” Von Moore commented last April in Suntimes.com after a story on Miranda. “I can still hear those familiar words: ‘Don't you think we should put Donnie in the game.’ Every time he said it Ted would put me in the game. He taught me how to play the game and believed in me. But most importantly he taught me honor, dignity and respect. He was my role model and I carry a part of him with me to this very day. When I coach and when I teach. 

“What a gift. Thanks Sam.”

Just ask Greenlee.

“Sam Miranda is one of the finest men I have ever known,” Greenlee commented in Suntimes.com in May. “I had broken my ankle my senior year of high school playing football, so all of the colleges that had been recruiting me for basketball backed off. My high school football coach in Rockford, Illinois, Bill Swaby, grew up with Coach Miranda in Collinsville, and got Sam to take a look at me. Coach showed faith in me and allowed me to come to KU for a fantastic four years of my life. Best break I ever had. Thanks Coach Miranda, for everything. 

“You're the best!”

Just ask Bohnenstiehl.

“Sam was a great man to play for,” Bohnestiehl said during an interview in 2003. “He made you work. He was very disciplined. You had to work hard.”

Just ask White.

“Ted is like a second father to me, he and coach Miranda,” White said after his jersey retirement ceremony at Allen Fieldhouse in 2003. “They (Miranda and Owens) were more than just coaches. 

They were friends to us, they were our confidant. Our relationship continues on, far beyond the KU days.”

Indeed, many of Miranda’s former players kept in touch and met with him when they visited Lawrence. Miranda cherished the lifetime relationships he built with his players and was so proud of their post-KU accomplishments.

 “I think the association with the players is probably the most important thing for any coach, really, particularly after your finished coaching,” Miranda told me. “The players that you do get and how they perform and how they work hard and how they do a great job for the university and their teammates is always something to reflect and look back on.”

“(It’s a) good feeling to see the guys go on and be successful in sports and out of sports.”

After the 1976-77 season, two Final Fours (1971 and ‘74) and 23 years in the coaching profession, Miranda left KU and went to work for Maupintour Travel. He was an outside sales manager for 17 years before retiring in 1994. 

He lived in Lawrence ever since with his wife, Polly.

“It’s been a very satisfying life,” Miranda said in 2000.

Miranda left an indelible impact with everyone he met along the way. One reader of the Respublica.com captured the sentiments of all who knew Miranda with a comment on the Illinois community blog’s website after Miranda’s death.

“Every basketball town, every town, deserves a Sam, but too few have them.”

Dale Greenlee still believes in miracles

Here is the Where Are They Now? story I wrote on Dale Greenlee in March 2000 for Jayhawk Insider. We had a great interview. It's always a thrill to talk to one of your childhood heroes, and that's what happened to me on this night. I was so elated and humbled when Dale wrote me a thank-you card about the article after it was published. That meant so much to me! I have his card posted on my wall at home; it serves as daily inspiration. Thank you for your kindness Dale and for sharing your stories and memories with me. I will always be grateful to you for that!

By David Garfield

The miracle game is indelibly etched in Dale Greenlee’s mind.

Greenlee, the former Kansas standout guard, will never forget KU’s stunning comeback overtime win (93-90) against Oral Roberts on March 16, 1974. The victory gave Kansas a berth in the Final Four against Marquette.

KU trailed 77-68 with 4:49 left in regulation before rallying and beating ORU on its home floor (Mabee Center). Greenlee, who finished with 18 points, made a layup and some key free throws to help send the game into overtime.

“Teams just didn’t come back like that,” Greenlee said of the era without a time clock and no three-pointers. “I’d look at (Tom) Kivisto. He’d look at me. We’d look at Roger (Morningstar), and Danny (Knight) and Rick (Suttle) and Norm (Cook). We didn’t feel we were out of the game. We figured we’d do what we had to do to get back in it.”

Destiny was on KU’s side as well. A sign painted on the Mabee Center floor said: “Expect a miracle.”

And KU did all year.

“We pretty much had a season when we’d come back a lot,” said Greenlee, now the branch manager for Simco Controls in Indianapolis, Ind.   

It was a miracle year (KU went 23-7 and won the Big Eight championship) for a team that finished just 8-18 the previous season. The Jayhawks, who had all five returning starters back in 1974, were bolstered with the addition of junior college transfer Roger Morningstar and super frosh Norm Cook.

“It seemed that there was no one player that had a real consistent year (1972-73),” Greenlee said about one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA history. “I bet coach (Ted Owens) had 20 different lineups trying to find a combination. ... My junior year (73-74), early on in the season we pretty much had a set starting five. We knew who we were.”

KU, which had five people in double figures (Knight led the team at 12.4 ppg), had a strong identity and was a “really tight group. We kind of watched out for each other. Coach once said, ‘We played like brothers.' No one really cared who scored.”

 

Greenlee finished third on the team in scoring at 11.8 and led the team in field goal percentage (49.9). One Big Eight coach actually called him the “league’s best pure shooter.” With Kivisto dishing assists at the point (school-record 18 against Nebraska on Dec. 29, 1973) and Greenlee at shooting guard, the two formed one of the best backcourts in the conference and arguably the smartest tandem in the country.  

Greenlee (a high school valedictorian in a graduating class of 700 at Guilford High School in Rockford, Ill.) and Kivisto were named Academic All-Big Eight that year. 

“I’ve always felt if players are smart, it just makes the game so much better,” Greenlee said. “We’re able to pick up things quicker, run the offense better and change defenses up.”

And then there were those unforgettable off the court memories. Greenlee recalls the time Suttle came late to practice one day. As punishment, the team made Suttle sing his high school song.

“He said, ‘I don’t know it,’ so we said, ‘Pick a song.’ He leaves the room and comes in singing “Hello Dolly.” Here’s Rick, 6’11, and he’s waving a handkerchief like Louis Armstrong. He had us roaring. He always kept you loose.”

Kansas, which lost to Marquette in the Final Four, struggled to find its identity without Kivisto at the beginning of 1974-75. However, KU (19-8) did win its last eight of nine games before losing to Notre Dame, 77-71, in the first round of the Midwest Regional.  

“I’ve not been much of a Notre Dame fan since,” Greenlee said.  “Doherty (Matt, the former KU assistant and current Fighting Irish head coach) is making it tough. We’re almost big Notre Dame fans now. ... I’m almost having to revise my 25 years of hatred.”

After graduating with a business degree in 1975, Greenlee spent a year working at Lawrence Savings before returning to his native Illinois. He’s been employed in industrial distribution since then for three different companies, most recently Simco Controls in Indianapolis, Ind. (his family to Indianapolis in 1990). Greenlee, who loves being involved in the goal-oriented side of sales and management, constantly uses sports analogies to his employees and reflects back to KU’s stunning win against Oral Roberts 26 years ago. 

“You never give up,” he said. “There are always situations that look hopeless, but if you keep working hard, good things will happen.”

A basketball junkie, Greenlee is growing accustomed to living in Big Ten country. His oldest daughter, Mandy, is a cheerleader at Indiana and youngest daughter, Julie, plays soccer at Purdue. In fact, Mandy asked her dad a few years ago if he’d like her to attend Kansas.

“It would have been nice, but distance wise, it’s very nice having both of my girls within an hour and a half of home. It gives my wife and I a chance to go to all of their activities.”

Greenlee’s family is very dear to him. His wife, Linda, is currently battling cancer and “doing fantastic.” Greenlee, who was a tough and fierce competitor at Kansas, calls Linda “probably the strongest person I’ve ever known.”

 “It’s not something, obviously, anybody would choose to do (radiation and chemotherapy), but when you do it, you face it with a positive attitude and just beat it like you would Kansas State or Oral Roberts.”

He adds softly: “We believe in miracles.”

A Closer Look at Dale Greenlee:

Years at KU : 1971-75

Career Notables: Member of 1974 Final Four team....Academic All-Big Eight in 1974 and ‘75...89.6 free throw percentage in ‘74 ranks No. 2 in KU history...No. 3 all-time career free throw percentage leader at 83.2.

Education: B.S. Business Administration, 1975

Family: Wife, Linda; daughters, Mandy, 21 and Julie, 19

Since Leaving KU: Greenlee spent a year working at Lawrence Savings before moving to native Illinois. He’s been employed in industrial distribution for three companies, most recently Simco Controls in Indianapolis. His family moved to Indiana in 1990.

Currently: Greenlee is branch manager for Simco Controls.

Hobbies: Basketball and golf.

Favorite KU memories:  “Beating K-State for the conference championship two years in a row (1974 and ‘75).”...Going to the Final Four in 1974: “We were thrilled to be there.”...Playing against legendary coaches like John Wooden, Bobby Knight and Adolph Rupp.

On the Jayhawks Today: “Roy Williams has done a fantastic job. ... KU graduates their players; it’s a quality program. There’s probably five major colleges that have that type of tradition.” 

Former KU standout Dale Greenlee recalls his memorable college career

Dale Greenlee wasn’t the most talented player on his KU teams, but he was a great shooter and simply outworked everybody on the court. He was one of the fiercest competitors in school history who never saw a loose ball and floor burn he didn’t like.

His "pure intensity" on the hardwood earned him a spot on the Kansas coaches' Dream Team.

A key member of the 1974 Final Four team, Greenlee averaged 11.8 points per game (No. 3 on team) in a balanced Jayhawk offense where five players averaged in double figures. He also led the team in free throw percentage (89.6) and field goal percentage (49.9), while one Big Eight coach actually called him the “league’s best pure shooter.” He and teammate Roger Morningstar would have been tailor-made for the three-point shot if it had been implemented in that era.

An extremely well-rounded person and brilliant and well-read student, Greenlee was named Academic All-Big Eight his junior and senior seasons. He was also valedictorian in his graduating class of 700 at Guilford High School in Rockford, Illinois.

I had a wonderful Where Are They Now? interview with Dale in 2000 for Jayhawk Insider, where he talked fondly of his KU career and his family, and what’s transpired in his life since graduating from KU with a business administration degree in 1975.

I was so flattered and humbled when he wrote me a thank-you letter after the article was published. Here is what my childhood hero wrote me on March 25, 2000:

"Dear Dave, Thank you for writing such a nice article and thanks for sending the two copies of the Jayhawk Insider. My phone interview with you and reading the article brought back a flood of great memories about KU and all of the fine people I have met. You’ve captured my feelings about my family well. I wish you good luck in your future endeavors. Sincerely, Dale Greenlee."

I also wrote an article about Dale’s book, “Kiss the Sky,” in 2009, and sat with him and enjoyed a great conversation at his book signing at Hastings Bookstore in Lawrence. Dale then kindly sent me a highlight DVD of the 1974 and 1975 KU teams, something that overjoyed me. The great thing about highlights is all the KU shots go in, making my memories of my childhood heroes that much fonder and sweeter. As I’ve said many times, the 1974 Final Four team brightened my childhood immensely and had a profound impact on my life as an impressionable 7-year-old boy.

Here is the great letter Dale sent me with the DVD on April 4, 2009, just shortly after KU lost to Michigan State in the Sweet 16.

“Dear David,

Enclosed is the DVD of the KU highlight film from 1974 and 1975. I believe you will enjoy seeing the Jayhawks with short shorts back in the day! It is fun to relive those wonderful years

And thank you for all of the great articles you have written about our team. I believe we had as good a group of guys that ever wore Kansas on their chests. I’m proud to have been part of that group.

I was at the game here in Indy when Michigan State beat us. Saw Roger and Linda of course, and sat by Dave Robisch. I thought we had that game won, but it got away. But we will be awesome next year. And Bill Self certainly deserved coach of the year.

All for now. Hope all is well with you.

Sincerely,

Dale.”

In this two-part series on Dale Greenlee, I’ll first report on his fond recollections of his KU career. And then, in Part II, I’ll post the Where Are They Now? story I wrote on him in 2000.

Roger Morningstar, Greenlee’s teammate at KU and one of his best friends, on the former sharpshooter and fierce battler:

“He was a kid that wasn’t recruited heavily out of high school. He had a broken leg his senior year in football so he barely got to play basketball his senior year,” Morningstar told me in 2001. “He was an extremely great shooter, maybe a step slow, but technique wise, everything he did fundamentally was next to perfect. He played extremely well.”

Ted Owens, former KU head coach, on Greenlee's tremendous human spirit and will:

"The human will and spirit, while not initially apparent, can be very strong," Owens wrote in his 2013 book, "At the Hang-Up." "Dale Greenlee was someone we rated as the seventh-best player in his freshman recruiting class, but he went on to play more minutes than any of his teammates who had seemed to have greater potential. You can't judge the inner will a person has."

Greenlee on the great team chemistry his KU teams had:

“We were really a tight group, great group of guys. We kind of watched out for each other. Especially, the last two years, we really had a close group. Coach once said, ‘We played like brothers.’ We cared about each other. We hung out together off the court, did a lot of things together. Didn’t have a lot of the jealousies you’d see on some teams. Boy, you were thrilled if Tom (Kivisto) played great and Roger (Morningstar) played great, Rick (Suttle) played great, you were just thrilled, whereas you’d see some teams, you could almost see it, the camera zooms in and somebody's playing great, but then somebody else who isn’t scoring, even though they’re winning, doesn’t seem particularly happy. We just did not have any of that going on. Tom Kivisto, for one, is probably the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with. Our whole starting five was from Illinois. I saw Tom play in high school. I never played against him. He was a year older than me, but I saw him play in high school. I think it was the Supersectionals when he was at Aurora East. It was probably the greatest performance I’ve ever seen by a high school basketball player. I had no idea I’d end up being fortunate enough to play college ball with him. 43 points, I mean he did everything, he stole the ball, he made great passes, he hit great shots, he pretty much from the guard position, controlled a great basketball game. He was a great scorer in high school, but in college, he totally sacrificed himself because he could have been a much better scorer, but he realized the size we had. Coach’s philosophy was to pound it inside, take advantage of our size. Tom pretty much worked into that system, became the assist man, the defensive leader, helped a bunch of us play better. Tom was never happier than when he was giving an assist.

“One thing I vividly remember about that team is nobody really cared who scored. We had five people in double figures. Whenever we played, they usually only had two players that were scorers. Chuckie Williams (K-State star) would average 25, and (Mike) Evans averaged 23, then it would drop down to about nine. Iowa State had Hercle Ivy averaging 25, and then it would drop off. We knew if you could take one person out of their game, we had a real good chance of winning. When teams played us, they couldn’t do that. Our top eight were almost interchangeable parts, which really made it difficult for people to key on any one person. If Roger wasn't hitting, then Tom was. If Rick wasn’t, Danny Knight was. If Norm (Cook) wasn’t, Tommy (Smith) was coming off the bench and scoring. That’s what made our team a difficult team for other teams to play.”

Greenlee on KU’s transformation from an 8-18 team in 1972-73 to a 23-7 Final Four team the following season:

”At one point, that was one of the top two or three largest turnarounds in NCAA history. One thing that was different, my sophomore year, it seemed that there was no one player that had a real consistent year  I bet coach probably had 20 different lineups during the season trying to find a combination. What that does for you, because the players weren’t consistent, we didn’t have a consistent lineup. Because there wasn’t a consistent lineup, the players don’t get consistent. When you did get your chance, there were a lot of us that were part-time starters shuffling in and out. When you were in, you pressed a little too hard, you were thinking you had to do something spectacular, whereas our junior year, early on in the season, you had a feeling we pretty much had a set starting five. We knew who we were. The players that were coming in first, second, third off the bench knew who they were, they knew what their roles were, and everybody seemed to be working real hard to do the best they could for the team. It didn’t seem to bother Rick (that he was KU’s Super Sub). Danny Knight would start, but Rick would actually play more minutes during the game, and sometimes, coach would play both at the same time. We’d run our double low post. Back in the 70s, it was a pretty nice luxury to have two 6-10, 6-11 people in at the same time.”

Greenlee on KU’s two conference championships in 1974 and 1975:

“Two of my best memories were beating K-State for the conference championship two years in a row. We hammered them when I was a senior, 91-53. K-State finished second. Coach Owens said afterwards that was one of the worse beatings by a good team of another good team. A good team will beat a bad team by 30 or 40, but for a good team to beat another good team by 38, that was a heck of a night. I broke Mike Evans’ nose early in the game. I picked off a pass at midcourt and he decided to draw a charge, and I kind of blew him into the third row. I felt bad that he was hurt, but they brought him someone who had hardly played, so we doubled Chuckie Williams the rest of the game, and that was pretty much it. He wore a hockey mask a year or two after that. They had two great guards, so it certainly helped us that he was out of the game.”

Greenlee on KU’s miracle win over Oral Roberts in the 1974 Midwest Regional Final 

(KU trailed 77-68 with 4:49 left in regulation before rallying and beating ORU on its home floor in overtime):

“Back then, there was no shot clock. No threes. Teams just didn’t come back like that. We pretty much had a season when we’d come back a lot. I’ll never forget the timeouts. I’d look at Kivisto.  He’d look at me, we’d look at Roger, and Donnie (Von Moore) and Rick and Norm. It’s like, we were always concerned, but we didn’t feel we were out of the game. We figured we’d do what we had to do to get back in it. The good news, bad news about Oral Roberts that year was I believe they led the nation in scoring. They were the kind of UNLV, Oklahoma before those people. They were the first team to really rack up 100 points a game. The good news for us is they were going to keep shooting. You could almost feel it. They weren’t going to try to not run the last two or three minutes off the clock. Our job was to play tough defense. Coach Owens and coach (Sam) Miranda said, ‘play good, tough defense, don’t make silly fouls, and then when we get opportunities on offense, try to push it up court and take advantage of those opportunities.’ We were fortunate. Tommy Smith hit some big buckets. We really had a nice flurry at the end. We hit most of our free throws, and we were able to go on and win it.  (Greenlee missed a 35-footer at the buzzer in regulation). I honestly don’t (remember that). I must have blocked that out of my mind. I had a pretty decent game scoring, but I would have liked to have hit that shot to win the game, but things turned out all right. I think you would have like to have hit that shot to win the game. I hit a couple of free throws in the last couple of minutes.

“I just remember both Ted and Sam being very positive,” Greenlee added. “We were very confident. We could execute what we need to do do.  Each time there was a huddle or timeout, I didn’t see any doubt. There’s some games, you just know we’re not going to get back in it. We never felt like that against Oral Roberts, and really didn’t feel like that any game that year.”

Greenlee on KU’s loss against Marquette in the Final Four:

“It is such a huge media event now. It was obviously a big deal to be in the Final Four back then, but it wasn’t like now. Now, all the games in the field of 64 are all televised. It’s such a buildup. We were thrilled to be there. We really felt we had an opportunity to beat Marquette. Actually, I believe we led at halftime. We came out and did not play very sharp the second half. Again, at the time once a team got ahead, if they had some good ball handlers, which Marquette did, they had a couple of awfully good guards, they could slow the game down, you ended up having to foul. It was only a two or three point game, then all of a sudden, it’s a 13-point game. We led one at halftime, and I didn’t think we played particularly well in the first half. Marquette kind of liked to slow it down. It was a low scoring game. We were playing a lot of zone in the first half, they came out the second half and started to hit a few jumpers, then we came out of the zone into a man to man. They were awfully good inside. They had Bo Ellis, Maurice Lucas, (Earl) Tatum. They had some great players underneath that made it a little tough to match. Their guards were really quick, not particularly strong outside shooters. We were playing some zone. They were much more difficult to match up with man to man.”

Greenlee on KU’s expectations during the 1973-74 season:

“When we were juniors, we weren’t ranked at all in preseason because we were 8-18 the year before. We slowly climbed up. You got up to the 20th, 18th, 15th, got up I think as high as sixth was probably as high as we were ever ranked , even though we were in the Final Four. Looking back on it, it was probably a great situation to be in, as opposed to the next year. We came out second in one poll, fifth in another. You got the bullseye pointed on your chest every game. The fact we lost Tom trying to get some things sorted out made it a more difficult situation than being an underdog. As an underdog, you have nothing to lose. You can go play all out and give it your all and make good things happen. Sometimes the teams that are favored start playing a little safe, making things a little more difficult. I take pride in the fact we didn’t have any player that went on to have huge pro careers. We were a group of overachieving guys that liked to play together. That’s the fun of sport. That’s really what made it a fantastic year for us. ... We prided ourselves on that (play hard and tough). We had to be. We figured that was the only way we were going to compete.”

Greenlee on KU’s 1974-75 season:

KU played No. 3 Indiana in Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 4, 1974 and lost 74-70 in OT.

“I think Norm or Donnie had a shot right at the end of the game that would have won the game, but missed an eight or nine footer. Scott May had about eight or 10 in OT. Bobby Knight says to this day that was his best team, not the next year, when they went undefeated. That’s the year May broke his arm, and Kentucky beat them in the regionals.

“I think losing Kivisto really hurt us. (We had) eight of 9 players back. (We) won conference two years in a row. Early on in the season, we were trying find find a combination. Nobody had really stepped up to fill that point guard spot. We recruited number of point guards like Milt Gibson. I ended up playing it. I was not a natural point guard. I never played the point my whole life, when you’ve been a two or three your whole life, it’s a bit of a challenge. We got on a roll, we were really playing well, just couldn’t get past Notre Dame (in the first round of the NCAA Tournament).

“I’ve not been much of a Notre Dame fan since. That was tough. We had lost to Notre Dame when I was a sophomore at Notre Dame, when they shot 33 free throws, and we shot one. That left a bit of a bitter taste when you outscore somebody by 20 some points and end up losing. My senior year, to have your last game against Notre Dame. That may still be the record for  most people fouling out of a basketball game. That was one of the worse games as far as number of fouls. Back then, you really couldn’t even touch each other, you could bump a little bit. Now you watch the NCAA games, they all look like pro games. There’s so much grabbing, holding and shoving. Back then, you put your hand on him, it was a foul. I believe (Adrian Dantley) led the nation in scoring. He was a great scorer, he was a bit of a tweener. He wasn’t real tall, he was 6-4 or 6-5, but he was built like a horse. We tried big people like Norm Cook, 6-9, Dantley was too quick. If you tried small people, he was just too strong. He was really a tough person. Tough matchup. We just didn’t have an answer for him, and without a shot clock, without no three-pointers a team could pretty much really take advantage of both kind of matchmaking situations.”

Greenlee on Rick Suttle:

“I roomed with Rick. He was funny. I can still see Rick. He was late for a practice. To punish him, we had a pre-game meal and Rick was supposed to sing his school song as the punishment. He didn’t know his school song. I remember him going, ‘I don’t know it.’ We said, ‘So pick a song.’ He leaves the room and came in singing "Hello Dolly." Here’s Rick, 6-11. He actually left the room, came in waving a handkerchief like Louie Armstrong. He had us roaring. Probably every one in the room remembers that. Things like that, he was always good for something. He always kept you loose.”

Greenlee on his role on the team:

“My sophomore and junior year, with Tom playing the point, my role as the two guard was to do a good job defensively, basically to look and make sure you hit the open shots, hit the boards when you could coming from the two spot.”

Greenlee on teaming with Kivisto, both extremely smart players. Greenlee was Academic All-Big Eight in 1974 and 1975, while Kivisto was Academic All-Big Eight in 1973 and 1974. Kivisto, who earned an NCAA Post-Graduate Award in 1974, was also Academic All-American in ‘74.

“Definitely, I’ve always felt if players are smart, it just makes the game so much better. You can pick up things quicker, run your offenses better, we could change defenses up, you really knew you could count on other people to know what’s going on. It’s one thing to be physically talented, but all of us that’s played a sport would say physically talented people that maybe weren’t as mentally talented, consequently things don’t run as smooth. We could really count on each other to do the right thing and adjust to any game situation. Coaches always had a very comprehensive pre-game strategy. Tom and I and all of the players really understood, “OK, K-State, here are the things we want to accomplish.' When it was Iowa State or Colorado, whichever team, we knew their strengths and weaknesses.”

Greenlee on his memories of playing against great players and coaches:

“It was a great part of my college career to play against John Wooden, coach of UCLA, get to play against Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes, we got to play against Bobby Knight, we got to play against Al McGuire, we played Kentucky in Adolph Rupp’s last year. We got to play against some great coaches.”

Greenlee on KU’s Illinois pipeline:

“Illinois is such a much more populous state than Kansas. There’s just a lot more players. There’s literally hundreds of good players in Chicago and the rest of the Illinois area every year. At the time, the University of Illinois was pretty down. Their program was relatively weak. Most of their good players were leaving the state. When we played Marquette, three of their five starters were from Illinois. The joke was Illinois north versus Illinois west because everyone on the court was from Illinois. I think Illinois was 5-20 that year. They just weren’t keeping anybody around. DePaul, of course, had good players. There were good Illinois players from Kentucky. Quinn Buckner at Indiana was from Illinois. I played against Buckner in high school. Coach Miranda pretty much knew all the coaches (from Illinois). Dave Robisch had been to Kansas from lllinois, pretty much had a fairly consistent pipeline coming.”

Greenlee on his recruitment and his heroes:

“(I was) not heavily recruited. You get hundreds of letters, but once I broke my ankle, I missed almost the whole basketball season my senior year. ... I really liked the Boston Celtics and liked the Chicago Bulls. I liked the way Jerry Sloan played. He was such a tough, fierce competitor.’

Greenlee on his KU fandom:

“I root for the Jayhawks all the time. (Morningstar is) one of my best friends. I talk to Roger real often. That always brings back the KU days.”