Winter Sports Quiz / Figure Skating: 1) What U.S. woman won
the World Championship in 1977 and 1979? 2) What U.S. male
won the World title in 1969 and 1970? 3) Who followed Peggy
Fleming as U.S. champion from 1969-73? 4) What former pairs
skater married Terry Bradshaw? 5) What U.S. male won
Olympic gold in 1948 and 1952? Answers below.
Wild Man / John Brisker
Gather round, kids, and hear the tale of John Brisker, the 6”5″,
215 lb. forward out of Detroit (by way of University of Toledo)
who played for six seasons in both the ABA and the NBA. If
you feel as the editor does that today”s NBA players sometimes
seem out of control, here is one guy who makes Isaiah Rider look
like a saint.
Brisker was an all-star while suiting up for the Pittsburgh Pipers /
Condors during 1969-72. He lit it up for 29.3 and 28.9 points per
game his second and third seasons, combining a bruising inside
game with deadly long-range bombs. But there was a lot more.
Teammate Charlie Williams: “He was an excellent player, but
say something wrong to the guy and you had this feeling he
would reach into his bag, take out a gun and shoot you.”
Once, future all-star Billy Knight was practicing with the Pipers
while attending the University of Pittsburgh. “The first time I
played a game against Brisker, he just turned toward me and
busted me in the mouth. (And then) he just stood there, waiting
for me to do something about it. I didn”t do anything. He just
scared me.”
Brisker liked to pick on the big guys. So Pittsburgh brought in
an ex-football player to take care of him during training camp
before he busted up their lineup. The first time he would step out
of line, the footballer was to level him. Former ABA team
official Dick Tinkham describes what happened next.
“So the two are going at it and the football player said, ”The hell
with you, I”m gonna get my gun.” And Brisker said, ”If you”re
getting a gun, then I”m gonna get my gun.” Then the two guys
ran off in different directions. The coaches called off practice.”
Along with Warren Jabali and Wendell Ladner, Brisker was the
roughest player in an already tough league. Dallas coach Tom
Nissalke relates how the team owner would give him a
checkbook so Nissalke could pay out bonuses for outstanding
play right after the game. [This was the ABA remember, quite
different from today.] Well, one day the team was on a big
losing streak with Pittsburgh as the next opponent. The coach
had to shake things up.
“The first guy in this room who decks Brisker will get $500.”
Lenny Chappell (normally a reserve at the time) asked if he
could start. At the jump ball to open play, Chappell flattened
Brisker with a punch. None of the officials saw what happened.
[They were all looking up, after all.] The bad boy was out cold
and Dallas ended up breaking their losing streak.
After three years in Pittsburgh, Brisker went to Seattle of the
NBA for the 1972-73 season. His play rapidly deteriorated as it
became well-known that he was using drugs heavily. [Brisker”s
scoring average dropped to 12.8, 12.5, and 7.7 for the three years
he was there.] At the age of 28, he was out of basketball.
Then in March 1978, Brisker headed to Liberia, claiming he was
going to start an import / export business. What is then known is
that he called his girlfriend from Uganda some 4 times that April.
That”s the last anyone heard from him.
Rumor has it that he became a mercenary. Others say he was
invited by that great basketball fan Idi Amin to play hoops for
him, only to be killed by a firing squad when Amin was toppled
in ”79. [I think Amin is now in exile in Saudi Arabia, by the
way.]
For the purposes of clearing up his estate, a King County (WA)
court declared John Brisker legally dead in 1985. If you think
he”s still alive and know his true whereabouts, drop us a line!
[Source: “Loose Balls,” Terry Pluto. A fantastic book on the
history of the ABA.]
Marques Haynes
Sportswriter Jerry Izenberg had a piece the other day on that
great Harlem Globetrotter, Marques Haynes, now 77. Haynes
was, quite simply, the best dribbler of a basketball who ever
lived (though Curly Neal has his fans.Tiny Archibald was
pretty good too). And Haynes was the first Globetrotter selected
for the Basketball Hall of Fame. Izenberg writes of his ability.
“The hands of Marques Haynes could dribble a basketball so
close to floor level that you”d have sworn he was controlling it
with a magnet.”
Haynes attended Langston College in Oklahoma. The Trotters
and their owner Abe Saperstein took particular notice of him
when Marques led Langston to a 74-70 win over them one year.
Langston”s coach, C. Felton Gale, was a real taskmaster.
Everything had to be just so. All free throws shot underhanded,
layups were to be performed the same way in a game as in
practice. And there were absolutely to be no two-handed set
shots from beyond 15 feet. Haynes told Izenberg of a
particularly funny moment.
“I waited four years and then in the last game of my college
career in the league tournament, it was coming down to the last
second and I let one go from near half court. Then I turned
toward the bench and saw him coming and I started running.
The ball went in, but I was running before that and so was he.
He chased me clear into the locker room.”
Back in the early days of the NBA, the Globetrotters were often
invited to play in games against NBA clubs because they were a
far better draw than the fledgling league. [By the way, remember
the days of NBA doubleheaders? You have to be at least 40.]
And from the NBA Encyclopedia I gleaned this gem. In the
summer of 1951, the U.S. Commissioner for Germany sought out
the Globetrotters to play an exhibition in Berlin. This was at a
time when there was still a tremendous amount of animosity
towards Americans for the devastation in Germany.
75,000 people nonetheless showed up in the very Olympic
Stadium where just 15 years earlier Adolf Hitler staged and then
snubbed the African-American Olympians. This time the crowd
gave the Trotters a rousing ovation.
Then at halftime, a helicopter flew over the open-air court,
unannounced, and let a solitary man in a tracksuit out. The man
started circling the track. And then the crowd realized who it
was.Jesse Owens. The winner of 4 golds at the 1936 Olympics
received a standing ovation. [I got goose bumps just typing this.
Can you imagine being there?]
Trotter tidbit: Goose Tatum had an 84-inch wingspan.
Morty Buckles and Wendell Scott
Buckles is an African-American stock car driver who will be
attempting to jump up to the big time over the coming years. He
finally got a major sponsor, Dr. Pepper, the first to do so for a
black race-car driver while working for a black-owned racing
team. Buckles will be participating in NASCAR”s minor leagues
this season. Actually, Jesse Jackson was working on this kind of
arrangement for seven years.
18 months ago, Dr. Pepper had agreed to sponsor a Busch Grand
National car owned by Washington Erving Motorsports (Joe
Washington and Julius Erving). But the drivers were white. Due
to financial problems the team suspended operations after last
season.
Now in case you don”t get the point of this story, suffice it to say
that there are currently no black drivers in NASCAR”s top
Winston Cup series. The only other black driver of significance
these days is Willy T. Ribbs, who toils at the truck level.
And the only African-American to ever win a NASCAR race was
Wendell Scott. Scott”s story is told in the movie “Greased
Lightning” with Richard Pryor portraying him. Wendell was a
legendary moonshine hauler in the Old South. But once he was
arrested after swerving at high speeds to keep from hitting a
bunch of drunks walking on the highway, then skidding off the
road into a house.
In 1963, Scott won his only race in Jacksonville, but he was
denied the opportunity to celebrate in victory circle because
officials said a scoring error was responsible for allowing another
to accept it. Everyone knew who really won it, however. The
promoters just didn”t want a black man kissing beauty queens.
And there is no controversy today on the true result.
But while we”re talking about NASCAR on this weekend of the Daytona
500, the early days of stock car racing were quite something. Back
in the 40s, the car owners would buy 4 tires from Sears & Roebuck on
a Saturday, race them on Sunday, and bring them back on Monday.
Wendell Scott”s daughter tells the story that for most racers,
there was no such thing as new tires. Legend Tiny Lund once
went to Goodyear and bought Wendell a set. It just so happened
that was the race he won! [Source: “The Last Lap,” Peter Golenbock]
Just Stuff
–Harry K, avid outdoorsman from the Great White North, is
anxious to show President Bush the ropes when Bush makes his
first trip to Canada for some serious angling. However,
“dynamite fishing might be too exciting for the President”s secret
service agents.” Ehh?
–So I”m perusing my Farmers” Almanac and I noticed that they
have listed for the Northeast, Feb. 4-7, the following, “Stormy
with heavy snow (12 inches or more).” On February 5, most
areas of the Northeast had 12 -24. Right on, farmers!
–From Harper”s Magazine: Price for which an 8-year-old
Colorado girl was offered for sale by her mother over the Internet
last year, $4,000. And this little tidbit. Hours after an Australian
fisherman fell overboard in August that his head was found in the
belly of a 98-pound cod…21. Pig.
–Johnny Mac just passed this along. From the AP, Evelyn
Tucci, 82-years-young, sank two holes-in-one during one round
of golf this past Tuesday.
Evelyn is a 32-handicapper and started by using a 4-wood to ace
the par-3, 112-yard 2nd hole. Then at the par-3, 157-yard fifth,
she nailed a driver. [Golf Digest sets the odds of making two
holes-in-one during a single round at 67 million to 1. Actually,
those are probably about the same odds of being eaten by a
shark. Now the odds of being attacked from behind by a cougar
while delivering newspapers must be somewhere in the
neighborhood of 842,000 to 1. This is deteriorating rapidly,
sorry.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/16/63: #1 “Hey Paula” (Paul &
Paula) #2 “Walk Right In” (The Rooftop Singers) #3 “Walk
Like A Man” (The 4 Seasons…save the day)
Figure Skating Quiz Answers: 1) Linda Fratianne won the World
Championships in 1977 and 1979. Dorothy Hamill was the ”76
champion. 2) Tim Wood won world titles in ”69 and ”70. 3)
Janet Lynn followed Peggy Fleming as U.S. champ from 1969-
73. [For those of you new to the site, Peggy Fleming was
selected by the editorial board of StocksandNews as the “Most
Beautiful American Woman of the 20th Century.”] 4) Jo Jo
Starbuck married Terry Bradshaw. 5) Dick Button won Olympic
gold in ”48 and ”52.
Due to the holiday and the fact that your editor will be overseas,
Bar Chat will appear on Tuesday and Thursday only next week.
The regular schedule will resume the following one.
Pitchers and Catchers!…Pitchers and Catchers!…Time to start
