Musings from Grizz BB past

[Atlanta Griz1]

If you are not over the age of 55, you might want to skip this thread. I thought it might be interesting for the old-timers to post some of my remembrances from the glory years of Griz BB that I was close to at the time.

* The 4 Southern Ohio players who we were able to get to visit Montana in the 1975-78 time frame, all would have been Griz starters. As I mentioned, only one (Chris Powers) signed with Montana, but left after his sophomore season. His picture is still on the Mo Club wall in the 1975 team picture. Also visiting was a 6'11" center, whose name I can no longer recall. He signed with Middle Tennessee, and started there a couple of years. Another kid, a 6'7" power forward from Archbishop Alter H. S. in Kettering, Ohio (where Jim and John Paxton played), last name of Schaefer, was a starter for Wright State. The other kid, a shooting guard, whose name I can no longer recall, signed with the University of Detroit, and I believe played for Dickie.

* A very tragic story was a kid who was going to visit Montana, but cancelled his visit at the last minute. His name Keith Moon, a 6'10" center from Fairmont West High School, the same school as Mike Lee attended. I can remember sitting in Brandy's kitchen in his house on Keith Avenue, and listening to Brandy's phone call to Keith in which Moon told him that he was going to cancel his visit to UM, and sign with the Evansville Purple Aces. I can still hear Brandy saying to Keith "so, you are going to go play the pivot for Evansville, huh?" Such old school talk.... playing the "pivot"! LOL The tragedy was that Moon died in his freshman year along with the entire Purple Aces team in that tragic airplane crash. If he had signed with the Griz, he would probably still be alive today.

* Because I was very close to Chris Powers, who looked at my family as his family away from Ohio during his brief stay in Missoula, I hung out with him a lot. Chris and Michael Ray Richardson became very close friends, and I remember many nights hanging out with Chris and MMR in their dorm rooms. MMR was really nice kid, who was a stutterer around people he did not know, or in large groups. But, in that dorm room, I don't remember his stuttering. He was very shy because of his speech difficulties, but was a really good guy once you got to know him.

* I kept up my friendship with Jud after he went to MSU, and he got me tickets behind the Spartan bench one year when they played a regional NCAA playoff game in Dayton, and I was visiting my parents there. Can't recall the year.

* Jim Brandenburg lives in Austin, Texas now, having lost his wife several years ago.

Hope this didn't bore you too much.

 

[Grizbeer]

3 memories stand out to me:

* when MRR finished with UM he signed mini basketballs at DeMarois Olds downtown (the hard plastic kind). I waited in line forever to get one, but I must have dunked that thing a thousand times on my nerf hoop in the basement, but never wore out the signature. I probably had that ball for 10 years, wish I still did.

* Sitting in the top row of the south bleachers, and some other kids playing around with the ceiling tiles. One kid throws a piece of ceiling tile at another, he ducks and it hits me in the side of the face. the kid apologized profusely, but that insulation burn is a bitch. I was glad to see the ceiling tiles go during the remodel, but the acoustics have never been the same for concerts.

* Chasing the Bud Man around the corridors (with a bunch of other kids), I figured out which direction he was going and cut him off - and like a dog chasing cars I didn't think about what to do when I caught him - he completely trucked me. The good part is I realized chasing the Bud Man was stupid and spent more time watching the games.

 

[EverettGriz]

We spell "Griz" with one "z"

Otherwise, good post.

 

[citygriz]

Oh, I thought you were going to talk about Frosty Cox, Ray Lucien, Terry Screnar, Duane Ruegsegger, Ed Samelton, Marv Suttles, Danny Balko, Dusty Dan Sullivan, Russ Sheriff. I didn't realize this was about the modern guys.

 

[UMGriz75]

Oh, I thought you were going to talk about Frosty Cox, Ray Lucien, Terry Screnar, Duane Ruegsegger, Ed Samelton, Marv Suttles, Danny Balko, Dusty Dan Sullivan, Russ Sheriff. I didn't realize this was about the modern guys.

Puppies!

Yes, I first watched UM Basketball in the "new" Field House when Frosty Cox was coach, I was a young lad. Years later, Russ Sheriff was my coach at Hellgate. One of my teachers there, later good friend, was Ed Buzzetti, a "Golden Bobcat" basketball player. Jud Heathcote was my mentor for UM Basketball and I was there during the "transition" from Lou Rocheleu to Jud, a marvel all by itself for all sorts of reasons. Michael Ray was definitely a talent, but when asked questions directly, "something" did not click. Yes, he would start to stutter.

 

[Atlanta Griz1]

Another fact that most of Griz Nation does not know, is that Michael Ray came very close to leaving Montana after his frosh season. He looked up to Jud as a father figure, and was really upset when Jud left for MSU. He begged Jud to take him to MSU with him, but Jud refused (thankfully). After his buddy Chris Powers left and went back to Ohio, I figured that MRR would leave for sure. But, somehow, Brandy was able to convince Sugar Ray to stay. I know that Michael's mother was very instrumental in convincing him to stay.

 

[Atlanta Griz1]

Oh, I thought you were going to talk about Frosty Cox, Ray Lucien, Terry Screnar, Duane Ruegsegger, Ed Samelton, Marv Suttles, Danny Balko, Dusty Dan Sullivan, Russ Sheriff. I didn't realize this was about the modern guys.

God, you must REALLY be ancient! My two older brothers attended UM from 1960-64, and they talk about how good Ray Lucien and Lowery were, but those two played before my time. I remember taking a class from Bob Cope and Lou Rocheleau (sp) entitled "Coaching of basketball" Lou handled the defensive portion and Cope the offense. Pretty good course, but Lou's section was way better, if you could stand the acrid smell of alcohol at 11:00 am.

 

[Atlanta Griz1]

Are there any former Zoo members from the 1970s posting here? The only two members I am aware of are Mike Pantaleone (sp), founder of The Zoo, who coaches women's soccer at at JC in Prescott, AZ, and Mike Higgins, who lives a block away from me and who is a close personal friend today.

 

[bearister]

I sat with the Zoo from 73-76. What a great time that was. Students would line up an hour before the doors opened, and there would be a mad scramble for Zoo seats once they let people in. In those days for I think it was $15 a quarter you could get a student pass that got you in to all of the sports events during the quarter, so in effect you got season tix to football and basketball for $30 bucks. Great deal!


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[citygriz]

Oh, I thought you were going to talk about Frosty Cox, Ray Lucien, Terry Screnar, Duane Ruegsegger, Ed Samelton, Marv Suttles, Danny Balko, Dusty Dan Sullivan, Russ Sheriff. I didn't realize this was about the modern guys.

God, you must REALLY be ancient! My two older brothers attended UM from 1960-64, and they talk about how good Ray Lucien and Lowery were, but those two played before my time. I remember taking a class from Bob Cope and Lou Rocheleau (sp) entitled "Coaching of basketball" Lou handled the defensive portion and Cope the offense. Pretty good course, but Lou's section was way better, if you could stand the acrid smell of alcohol at 11:00 am.

Heh, heh. No, I get this info via an old bearded guy with snow-white hair who shows up at our fave bar down here for all the Griz football games, sitting alone off in a corner, muttering to himself, throwing down brewski after brewski, intermixed with chocolate sundaes. The regular Griz fans have learned to steer clear of him, as have I, cause he's just a fukcin bore who never asks a single question, just rambles on and on, but before I learned my lesson, he told me the following: Duane Ruegsegger broke Frosty Cox's heart, by becoming ineligible just before the season Cox had been building toward, when he thought with Ruegsegger and Danny Balko he could make a run at the old Skyline Conference championship. He says he was friends with Ray Lucien, describes him as the quickest Griz basketball player he ever saw, and wonders whatever happened to "good 'ole Lightnin'." Adds that we were just lucky ever to get Lucien, because he and his buddy John Lands from Louisiana just happened to get off a train on their way to Washington, where Lucien had relatives, when they sorta liked Missoula and wound up staying. Says Steve Lowery was one of the best centers ever at Montana, with an arsenal of slick post moves, but you never knew if he was going to show up sober, eligible or at all. Fun-lovin' dude, ole swaggerin' Steve. Believe me, I've paid dearly for this information!

 

[Atlanta Griz1]

I was told by a credible source that Frosty Cox did not even try to sign Wayne Estes, saying that Wayne was "too fat" for college BB.

 

[citygriz]

I was told by a credible source that Frosty Cox did not even try to sign Wayne Estes, saying that Wayne was "too fat" for college BB.

I do not believe this is true. Remember, this was the Harry K. Newbern era of de-emphasizing athletics. Estes's class may have been the first to feel the effects, and so Montana was not able to offer Estes a full-ride. I have heard that Missoula was Estes's first choice, but for the scholarship situation.

 

[Atlanta Griz1]

I was told by a credible source that Frosty Cox did not even try to sign Wayne Estes, saying that Wayne was "too fat" for college BB.

I do not believe this is true. Remember, this was the Harry K. Newbern era of de-emphasizing athletics. Estes's class may have been the first to feel the effects, and so Montana was not able to offer Estes a full-ride. I have heard that Missoula was Estes's first choice, but for the scholarship situation.

So, you are saying that the players Cox recruited that year were not on full-ride scholarships?

 

[Atlanta Griz1]

I was told by a credible source that Frosty Cox did not even try to sign Wayne Estes, saying that Wayne was "too fat" for college BB.

I do not believe this is true. Remember, this was the Harry K. Newbern era of de-emphasizing athletics. Estes's class may have been the first to feel the effects, and so Montana was not able to offer Estes a full-ride. I have heard that Missoula was Estes's first choice, but for the scholarship situation.

So, you are saying that the players Cox recruited that year were not on full-ride scholarships?

Another example of how fate plays such a role in our lives. If Estes has played for Montana, he probably would still be alive, would have been an NBA star, and would have been one of the best Griz BB players of all time.

 

[Ursa Major]

Frosty Cox? Frosty Cox??? Please tell me he had a brother named Rusty!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
That's awesome!!

 

[citygriz]

I was told by a credible source that Frosty Cox did not even try to sign Wayne Estes, saying that Wayne was "too fat" for college BB.

I do not believe this is true. Remember, this was the Harry K. Newbern era of de-emphasizing athletics. Estes's class may have been the first to feel the effects, and so Montana was not able to offer Estes a full-ride. I have heard that Missoula was Estes's first choice, but for the scholarship situation.

So, you are saying that the players Cox recruited that year were not on full-ride scholarships?

Yup. The high school class of '61 (Estes's class) was the first not to be offered full rides, rather "work-study" grants, where the athletes got partial scholarships, and had to work for that, like sweeping up the halls of dorms. Harry Newburn did not believe athletics should play a major role in an institution of higher learning. You can look it up.

 

[UMGriz75]

I do not believe this is true. Remember, this was the Harry K. Newbern era of de-emphasizing athletics. Estes's class may have been the first to feel the effects, and so Montana was not able to offer Estes a full-ride. I have heard that Missoula was Estes's first choice, but for the scholarship situation.

Harry Newburn did not believe athletics should play a major role in an institution of higher learning. You can look it up.

Robert Hutchins had famously exiled varsity football at the University of Chicago.

He moreover pulled Chicago out of the Big Ten Conference and eliminated the school’s football program, which he saw as a campus distraction. Hutchins heaped scorn upon schools which received more press coverage for their sports teams than for their educational programs, and the trustees provided the support he needed to drop football in 1939. The decision was hailed by many, and Hutchins today serves as a model for those who argue that commercialized college sports are incompatible with the academic and intellectual aims of institutions of higher learning.

Newburn fancied himself as one of the "progressive" university presidents in the "Hutchens" mold, and it was kind of a big deal in that era. However, at Chicago, alumni support and outside donations plummeted.
Moral to the story:

The College’s financial clout, which had been considerable prior to his tenure, underwent a serious downgrading with decreased collegiate enrollment and a drying up of donations from the school's principal Chicago area benefactors. As such, his critics view him as a dangerous idealist who pushed the school out of the national limelight and temporarily thwarted its possible expansion, while his supporters argue that it was his changes that kept Chicago intellectually unique and from taking on the vocational inclinations that he denigrated in his writings.

Assisting Hutchens in his 1939 decision was the fact that the football team was outscored in a series of games 306-0. Football came back to Chicago in 1969, Division III.

Interesting retrospect in the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/sports/ncaafootball/at-the-university-of-chicago-football-and-higher-education-mix.html?_r=0

 

[fanofzoo]

My friend recently gave me a section of the old bleachers from the remodel. Could be we all sat there at one time. Seats 17-20
I will always believe that it was from the front row of the "zoo", where your game was made if they had to inbound the ball in front of you.

 

[thunderball5001]

This may sound unrelated, but while researching my genealogy this thread came up under my search results. Does anyone have any information about Duane Rueggsegger? A basketball player in this area by that name knew my biological grandmother very well in the 1940's and I am having an incredibly difficult time learning anything about my family history. Sadly, I cannot reach out to my biological grandmother as she has passed. I know that a college sports message board isn't likely to connect me with anyone, but my sister and I have scrubbed the internet nearly clean. We're hunting down ghosts at this point so any and all information can help.