REMEMBERING PHI SLAMA JAMA

G2 HOUSTON CHRONICLE

c h r o n . c o m /n c a a

T H U R S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 1

A spur-of-the-moment idea by a Houston sportswriter immortalized

UHs fraternity of dunkers with a nickname that fit the team to perfection

The stuff of genius

MICHAEL PAULSEN : C H R O N I C L E

GOLDEN YEARS: Dena Lewis, wife of former UH coach Guy Lewis, shows her continuing affection for the Cougars teams of lore with a necklace.

By DALE ROBERTSON

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

SPORTSWRITERS are genetically programmed to love nicknames, and admittedly sometimes we love them
too much. Many are downright silly, most are reaches at best and a few are embarrassingly lame. Doctors of
Dunk? Please. But one Sunday evening in early January 1983, after watching a jaw-dropping dunkathon inflicted
upon an undersized, overmatched University of Pacific team by the gravity-scorning Houston Cougars at Hofheinz
Pavilion, Houston Post columnist Tommy Bonk experienced what can only be described as a keyboard epiphany.
That was such an interesting team
Id go hang out at their practices, Bonk
recalls. It was a magical time. They were
so quotable, so much fun to watch. They
deserved a great nickname.
Bonk penned one so perfect and so
resonant the Cougars were soon wearing
Phi Slama Jama on their warmups. And
ESPN.com subsequently has proclaimed
it the greatest sports team nickname of all
time, although they misspelled it, writing
Phi Slamma Jamma.
Bonk says Sports Illustrated in a story
even accused him of misspelling it by going
with just a single m in Slama Jama.
How could I misspell it? Bonk
protests. Thats preposterous. I made it
up.
Those Cougars were almost all
extraordinary leapers, but Clyde
The Glide Drexlers above-the-rim
machinations and permutations provided
Bonks chief inspiration.
Before Michael Jordan
reinvented himself as Air
Jordan in the NBA, the
collegian Drexler routinely
was going airborne from
the vicinity of the freethrow line and finishing his
multiple-pump jams with a
BONK
double exclamation point.
Clyde, Bonk said,
was the frat-house president.
Reflecting today on his youthful
sky-walking, the Hall-of-Famer Drexler
confesses, laughing: Maybe I made it look
easy, but it was really hard. Id just go as
fast as I could and jump as high as I could
and hope for the best.
Drexler admits early on he was
motivated by David Lattin, the former
Texas Western center whose rim-bending
slam at the outset of the 1966 national
championship game against Rupps
Runts of legendary Kentucky coach
Adolph Rupp set the tone for the Miners
seminal victory. Lattin, who had been a
high school All-American at Worthing,
occasionally would attend UH practices
and admonish the Cougars for not
dunking more, a sentiment Guy Lewis

A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

WITH PRIDE: The Cougars liked their new nickname so much that they started wearing Phi

Slama Jama warmups, which were appropriate attire for a dunk-filled win over Louisville in 1983.

CALL OF THE WILD

ESPN.com labeled Phi Slama Jama the all-time best team nickname. A sampling of other
college basketball nicknames through the years:
Name

Fab Five
Flying Illini
Doctors of Dunk
Rupps Runts
Tall Firs

School

Michigan
Illinois
Louisville
Kentucky
Oregon

When

1992-94
1988-89
Early 1980s
1965-66
1938-39

also heartedly endorsed.

Why didnt you dunk that, Judge?
Lattin would tell us, Drexler said. Use
your athleticism! Coach Lewis wanted
us to get the highest-percentage shot,
and there nothings higher than a dunk.
Teams would know we were coming in
there, and they still couldnt stop us. It
was demoralizing for them. It gave you a
psychological edge.

Claim to fame

Reached NCAA final as freshmen, sophomores

Reached Final Four
Won 1980 title, made 1983 Final Four
Finished second in NCAA Tournament
Won first NCAA championshp

Drexler remembers the Pacific game

well and sheeplishly admits, They were a
bit outmanned. Bonk counted 29 Cougar
dunks in the 112-58 romp.
The next morning Drexler saw the Phi
Slama Jama reference and immediately
loved it. Tommy was a clever guy.
The nickname took on a life of its own.
Signs started appearing at Hofheinz,
and Frank Schultz, the schools sports

information director, had Phi Slama Jama

T-shirts made by the hundreds. Bonk
admits he considered some marketing
options of his own.
I think Phi Slama Jama pajamas
would have worked, he said, but I never
pursued it.
The pinnacle of that season would be
Houstons Final Four semifinal victory
over Louisville, when the Cougars beat
Louisvilles aforementioned Doctors of
Dunk at their own name, only to suffer the
infamous championship-game upset loss
to North Carolina State on, irony of
ironies, a Lorenzo Charles put-back dunk
as time expired.
Bonk, who left Houston to cover
the Lakers for the Los Angeles Times
in the fall of 1983, probably has fonder
memories of that ultimately ill-fated trip
to Albuquerque, N.M., than the Cougars
do. Upon arriving, the team presented him
with the same nylon Phi Slama Jama jacket
the players were proudly sporting.
Mine had Author embroidered
on the chest where they had their names,
Bonk said.
Before a Lakers game at the Forum
a year or so later, Bonk was working
courtside when he was approached by
three young guys dressed like Kurt Rambis
(thick-rimmed glasses, baggy clothes; they
called themselves the Rambis Youth).
One of them said, Hey, dude, youre in
Trivial Pursuit.
Sure enough, in the sports version of
the popular game there it was: What
schools 1982-83 cagers did writer Tommy
Bonk dub the Phil Slama Jama Fraternity?
Bonk had the card encased in plastic,
and its now displayed in his San Francisco
home in a place of honor.
On a shelf in the bathroom, he said,
next to my Eric Cartman (the South Park
character) drivers license and my Tiger
Woods bobblehead doll.
Bonk retired as the Los Angeles Times golf writer in 2008
to work for Golf Digest Digital and today posts blogs four
times a week on his own site, thomasbonk.com. He also
writes for masters.com.

dale.robertson@chron.com

SPRING 1980

SUMMER 1980

FALL 1980

1980-81

JAN. 26, 1982

UH lands Yates
Michael Young, the
top area recruit, and
adds lightly recruited
Clyde Drexler of
Sterling.

Houston coach Guy V.

Lewis decides to take a look
at a raw talent from Nigeria
named Akeem Olajuwon,
right, who has little
basketball experience.

Just 190 pounds, Olajuwon

arrives in Houston and directs
a cab driver to take him to the
University of Austin. The
driver correctly surmises he
meant the University of Houston.

Olajuwon
takes a
redshirt
season and
hones his still
raw game.

UH looks like an
NCAA Tournament
long shot as it loses
fourth in a row 8582 to TCU to drop
to 2-4 in the SWC.

REMEMBERING PHI SLAMA JAMA

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE G3

MICHAEL PAULSEN : C H R O N I C L E

SPECIAL OCCASION: There were smiles all around as coach Guy V. Lewis, Hakeem Olajuwon and other stars of the Phi Slama Jama era came to

Hofheinz Pavilion in January for a photo shoot that turned into a rare reunion.

The Guy behind it all

Without fanfare or self-promotion, Lewis turned out winning teams of all styles year
after year. Those in the know recognize the widely admired coach as a Hall of Famer
By JEROME SOLOMON

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

WHEREVER Guy Vernon Lewis II, a strapping 6-3 East Texas farm boy with movie-star looks, used to
go, he left a mighty impression. Whether wowing an admiring high school basketball coach in New
York City, wooing a star athlete in an all-black neighborhood near downtown Houston or attempting to
attract the attention of the opposite sex at a tiny-town high school dance, Lewis won people over with
his style. Not all, but most.
It was more than just his loud, er,
fancy suits, mesmerizing Southern
drawl and eye-catching, signature
red-and-white polka-dot and later
checkered towels that his Aunt Eva
ordered for him through her variety
store back home in Arp.
Lewis carried a confident, cool
charisma that charmed some and
captivated others. For 40 years, he
was a Cougar on the prowl at the
University of Houston, first as a
player, then a coach.
When he retired in 1986, he
claimed 592 victories and had been
to five Final Fours. Yet 25 years later,
the 0 next to his name under NCAA
championships is often the first
number mentioned in discussions of
his legacy.
It matters not to some that he
never lost a regional final or that four
of his five losses in the Final Four
were to No. 1-ranked or top-seeded
favorites. He never won the big one.
The coaches I hated coaching
against were the real good ones, and
Guy was one of those, John Wooden,
who died last June, told the San
Antonio Express-News in 1998. I
think Guy took a bum rap because he
never won a national championship.
Bum rap indeed.
! ! !

In 30 years of coaching, Lewis

won with tall teams, short teams,
white teams, black teams, deliberate
teams, pressing teams, set-shot-

shooting teams and slam-dunking

teams.
Yet most focus only on the
latter, especially since the highestflying team in college basketball
history lost a heartbreaker to North
Carolina State in the 1983 national
championship game.
The best thing that ever
happened to coach Lewis and the
worst thing that ever happened to
coach Lewis was Phi Slama Jama,
1977 All-America guard Otis Birdsong
said. They were so good, it almost
looked as if he wasnt coaching them.
There are plenty he just rolled
the ball out there critics, but Lewis
was more than just a master recruiter.
Though he did recruit with style.
He showed up in the Fifth Ward
in 1968 driving a Cougar red Pontiac
while decked out in a red jacket
and, if Wheatleys Jerry Bonney
remembers correctly, red slacks to
match. Lewis was so sharp he had to
be a Hollywood star.
To this day, I have friends who
believe I was so popular in high
school that Johnny Carson came to
my house, Bonney, a local defense
attorney, said with a laugh. Back
then, white people didnt come to
Fifth Ward for anything. But coach
Lewis was as comfortable as could be.
Like any pioneer, he wasnt afraid
to make a statement and do what he
thought was right.
Not only did Lewis drive

Were he more of a self-promoter,

he might have garnered the reverence
from the national media that such an
accomplished coach deserves.
I didnt worry about who liked
me, Lewis said.
A 1973 Sports Illustrated article
said UH leads the NCAA in
spinarounds, curlicues, throw-aways,
mix-ups, turnovers, Brillo-inspired
hair arrangements and YMBJ defense
(as in You Must Be Joking).
As if Afros and athleticism affect
ones ability.
Ive heard all the terms and
phrases: These guys play street ball.
These guys are undisciplined. And
it is usually used because you have
all-black starters, retired UH coach
Tom Penders said. Racism comes out
when they describe certain teams that
play at a fast pace. Guy Lewis teams
fit that.
A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

WHAT A GUY: The mild-mannered

country boy from Arp with the trademark
towel could show his anger on the rare
instance when things werent going the
way of the Cougars.

integration of basketball in the South,

he was a basketball genius.
Not a misunderstood genius.
A misdiagnosed one. Miscast as
someone along for the ride instead of
the one who made it all go.

! ! !

Lewis, 89, was part of the

inaugural class of the College
Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 but
has been a finalist for the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
just once (2003).
His players say that is a travesty.
If Guy is not a Hall of Famer, then
no one in the Hall of Fame is a Hall
of Famer, and I mean that, Birdsong
said.
Added Hall of Famer Clyde
Drexler: Not only was he someone

Please see LEWIS, Page G6

FEB. 13, 1982

MARCH 1982

MARCH 21, 1982

MARCH 27, 1982

UH beats No. 8
Arkansas 55-53 as
part of an eight-game
winning streak to
close the regular
season.

Sixth-seeded UH begins
the NCAA Tournament by
beating Alcorn State 9484, then upsets No. 3 seed
Tulsa 78-74 and a week
later No. 2 Missouri 79-78.

With Reid Gettys, left, making 10

straight free throws in the closing
minutes, the Cougars beat Boston
College 99-92 in the Midwest
Regional final to reach the Final
Four for the first time since 1968.

In the national semifinals, UH

falls behind North Carolina
14-0 and never recovers. Rob
Williams, left, who was Midwest
Regional MVP, goes 0-for-8
from the field in a 68-63 loss.

REMEMBERING PHI SLAMA JAMA

G4 HOUSTON CHRONICLE

c h r o n . c o m /n c a a

T H U R S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 1

CHRONICLE FILE

SWEET JAM: Clyde The Glide Drexler earned one of the most appropriate nicknames of all time by bringing an elegance to his frequent aerial assaults.

Louisvilles Denny Crum defends his Doctors of Dunk as the slamming standard,
but the 1983 semifinal game made clear that UHs high flyers were above the fray

Its a soar subject

By JEFFREY MARTIN

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

THE dunk was banned in college basketball in 1967. Less than a decade later, in 1976, the dunk was legalized again.
And it didnt take nearly as long for the University of Houston to revolutionize the dunk. As Denny Crum will
attest and playfully protest, if given the time the Cougars werent alone, and they probably werent the first.
Crum, the head coach/architect of those famed Doctors of Dunk teams assembled at Louisville in the 1970s and 80s,
understood earlier than most the ramifications of stocking a roster with a handful of young men who, as then-UNLV
coach Jerry Tarkanian told Sports Illustrated, can jump up and change the light bulbs.
It was the highest-percentage shot,
Crum said.
Which is precisely the same message
Guy V. Lewis was conveying to his players,
imploring and instructing anyone with the
ability to cram it through the rim to do so.
Anything that was dunkable was
dunked, former UH star Michael Young
said. Anything that wasnt dunkable was
dunked. It didnt matter.
According to Young, a normal day might
have began with a light dunk contest
before practice, constant scrimmaging or
running intertwined with Lewis repeatedly
urging the big men to gather themselves
with a big step to the basket in order to,
yes, dunk, and then another dunk contest
after practice.
We put the dunk out there, Young
said.
Or, to appease Crum, the Cougars
should at least be given credit for an assist.
When UH and Louisville met in the 1983
national semifinals in Albuquerque, N.M.,
the dunk was the focal point instead of an
infrequent exhibition of brilliance.
It was thrilling, particularly around
here when Benny Anders, possibly the best
dunker on the team, stepped in for Larry
Micheaux, who had just fouled out, late in
regulation and victimized Cardinals center
Charles Jones with a mid-air collision and
flush.
It was beautiful, again around here but
not so much for Jones, who was caught
again moments later by Clyde The
Glide Drexler, who swooped in with the
intention of jamming with a cocked right
hand but then brought the ball back to his
left for an even more emphatic slam.
And it was compelling, so much so that

Houston Cougars

1982-83

a) Clyde Drexler, b) Benny Anders

UNLV Runnin Rebels

1989-91

c) Larry Johnson, d) Stacey Augmon

Illinois Fighting Illini

1988-89

e) Marcus Liberty, f) Kenny Battle

North Carolina Tar Heels

1996-98

g) Vince Carter, h) Antawn Jamison

Kentucky Wildcats

1995-97

i) Ron Mercer, j) Derek Anderson

Georgetown Hoyas

1983-85

k) Patrick Ewing, l) Reggie Williams

Louisville Cardinals

1982-83

m) Rodney McCray, n) Billy Thompson

Florida Gators

2005-07

o) Joakim Noah, p) Corey Brewer

Michigan State Spartans

1999-00

q) Jason Richardson, r) Morris Peterson

Billy Packer, the curmudgeonly former

CBS color analyst who doesnt care much
for how the current game has devolved,
fondly recalled recently how amazing that
game was.
There werent two teams in America
more athletic, Packer said. If there was a
skill level attached to dunking, and if there
was a championship for that, they would
have been ranked Nos. 1 and 2. Going headto-head against each other in that game
meant something.
The competitive nature is what I
liked.
To varying degrees, it still exists. Of
course, the Cougars won 94-81 to which
Crum groused recently, If we played at sea
level, it would have been different.
While no one understood at the time
how significant and lasting this style
would be, both teams still stake claims
to the dunk although neither invented
the shot. Its become a point of pride, the
proprietary pangs steeped by time.
They had great athletes, too, Crum said.
I wasnt privy to their practice sessions,
but we had a lot of dunking practices.
We had all five of our guys in the NBA. I
dont know how many of theirs were.
In this case, though, not unlike what
happened in 1983 at The Pit, the local guy
gains the last word.
We put a stamp on it, said Young, who
estimates he is asked at least every other
day about his playing days. When you talk
about U of H basketball, the first thing you
hear is Phi Slama Jama. And when you talk
about dunking the basketball, our team has
to come up.

10

Michigan Wolverines

1991-93

s) Chris Webber, t) Jalen Rose

jeffrey.martin@chron.com

THEY WERE SMASHING

The best dunking teams in college basketball history, according to a poll by Dunkadelic Inc.:
Rk.

School

Season(s)

Top dunkers

DEC. 16, 1982

JAN. 3, 1983

JAN. 22, 1983

MARCH 1983

The No. 14 Cougars lose to

top-ranked Virginia 72-63
in Japan. They would not
lose again until the national
championship game, reeling
off 26 consecutive victories.

Inspired by the Cougars

dunking display in a 112-58
victory over Pacific, Tommy
Bonk of the Houston Post first
uses the term Phi Slama Jama.
The nickname quickly spreads.

Olajuwon, left, is blossoming into a star. He blocks

11 shots in a 75-60 victory over No. 4 Arkansas.
Olajuwon finishes the season averaging 13.9 points,
11.4 rebounds and 5.1 blocked shots. Young was the
leading scorer at 17.3 points per game, backed by
Drexler (15.9) and Larry Micheaux (13.8).

After beating Maryland 60-50

to begin the NCAA Tournament,
UH disposes of Memphis 7063 and Villanova 89-71 in the
Midwest Regional to reach the
Final Four at Albuquerque.

REMEMBERING PHI SLAMA JAMA

T H U R S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 1

MICHAEL PAULSEN : C H R O N I C L E

HAKEEM OLAJUWON

c h r o n . c o m /n c a a

MICHAEL PAULSEN : C H R O N I C L E

CLYDE DREXLER

The Dream

Olajuwon was a consensus All-American

in 1983-84 after averaging 16.8 points,
13.5 rebounds and 5.6 blocks per game
and leading the nation in rebounding and
field-goal percentage (67.5 percent). For
his career, Olajuwon averaged 13.3 points,
10.7 rebounds and 4.5 blocks.
Post-UH: He was the No. 1 overall pick
in the 1984 NBA draft by the Rockets
and spent 17 seasons with them before
being traded to Toronto. Olajuwon led the
Rockets to the only NBA championships in
franchise history (1993-94 and 1994-95),
won an MVP, two Defensive Player of the
Year awards, was a 12-time all-star, became
the first player to record 2,000 blocks and
2,000 steals in a career and was inducted
into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Now: Since retiring after the 2001-02
season, Olajuwon has been involved in
real estate locally and has tutored NBA
players including Kobe Bryant, Emeka
Okafor and most recently Dwight Howard.
He maintains homes in Jordan and
Houston.
SAM KHAN JR.

MICHAEL PAULSEN : C H R O N I C L E

MICHAEL YOUNG

The Glide

UH (1981-84): Known then as Akeem,

HOUSTON CHRONICLE G5

The Silent Assassin

UH (1980-83): Drexler was part of two

Final Four teams at UH and was a firstteam All-American in 1983. He is the

only Cougar to record more than 1,000
points, 900 rebounds, 300 assists and
250 steals. In his three-year career, he
averaged 14.4 points per game and 9.9
rebounds and holds the schools career
steals record with 268.
Post-UH: Drexler went on to a Hall of
Fame NBA career with the Portland Trail
Blazers and Rockets. He won an NBA
championship after being traded to the
Rockets during the 1994-95 season and
in 1996 joined Olajuwon in being named
one of the NBAs 50 Greatest Players
of All Time. He also served a stint as
the Cougars head basketball coach,
going 19-39 in two seasons from 19982000.
Now: Drexler currently serves as a
color analyst for Rockets television
broadcasts for home games on Fox
Sports Houston. He competed on the hit
ABC show Dancing with the Stars in
2007.
SAM KHAN JR.

UH (1980-84): Young was the Cougars

leading scorer (17.3 points per game) as

a junior on the original Phi Slama Jama
team in 1983. As a senior in 1984, he was
a first-team All-Southwest Conference
selection after leading the league in
scoring (19.8 points per game). He is
the only Cougar to start on four NCAA
Tournament teams and holds the school
record for games and minutes played.
Post-UH: Young was a first-round pick
in the 1984 NBA draft by the Boston
Celtics and played three seasons in the
NBA before going on to compete in the
Continental Basketball Association then
several European countries. Young played
abroad for 14 years and led the French
team Limoges to the 1992 European Club
Championship. He returned to UH as an
assistant coach in 1998.
Now: Young recently completed his
13th season with the Cougars basketball
program and his seventh as the director
of basketball operations. His son, Joseph,
is a freshman on the UH basketball
team.
SAM KHAN JR.

MICHAEL PAULSEN : C H R O N I C L E

LARRY MICHEAUX
Mr. Mean

UH (1979-83): Micheaux was an

honorable mention All-American in 1983,
was named to the NCAA Tournament
All-Midwest Regional team in 1982 and
1983 and was All-Southwest Conference
in 1983. He averaged 10.8 points and
6.4 rebounds in his career, ranks fourth
in school history in career field-goal
percentage (58.7 percent) and holds the
school record for fouls in a career (340).
Post-UH: Micheaux was drafted in
the second round of the 1983 NBA draft
by Chicago. He played for three teams
(Kansas City, Milwaukee and Houston)
over two seasons before going on to play
professionally in Europe, spending a year
in Italy and nine years in Spain.
Now: Micheaux is a teacher at Stafford
High School. He also has coached varsity
basketball and runs a summer basketball
camp. Two of his children have gone on
to play college basketball. His daughter
LaToya played at Texas A&M from 200609 and ranks fourth all-time in career
rebounds, and his son Josh is a junior
guard at Georgia State.
SAM KHAN JR.

With professions as varied as real estate, broadcasting, coaching and teaching,

the former UH players have gone places (some unknown) in their lives after basketball

Tracking the Cougars

ROB WILLIAMS

BENNY ANDERS

UH (1979-82):

Williams was a two-time

All-American, topped the
Cougars in scoring for
three seasons and led
the Cougars to the
Final Four in 1982. He
is fifth all-time in UH
history in career points scored (1,838)
and eighth all-time in scoring average
(21.1 points per game).
Post-UH: Williams was drafted in the
first round of the 1982 NBA draft by
the Denver Nuggets and played two
seasons with them, scoring 1,319
points. Williams then played in the
CBA and overseas in Italy, Australia,
Spain and the Philippines. In 1986, he
led Philippine club Tanduay Rhum to a
league championship.
Now: Williams health declined,
and he suffered a stroke in 1998 but
lived through it. He currently resides
in the Houston area and runs an
adult health care facility.
SAM KHAN JR.

COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

UHS 1982-83 TEAM: Front row, from left, Reid Gettys, Eric Dickens, Alvin Franklin, David Rose,

Derek Giles and Renaldo Thomas. Back row, Benny Anders, Gary Orsak, Larry Micheaux, Dan
Bunce, Akeem Olajuwon, David Bunce, Clyde Drexler and Michael Young.

THE COUGARS (1981-84)

Members of the University of Houston teams that made three consecutive Final Fours:
Player

REID GETTYS
UH (1981-85):

Gettys was the primary

distributor for the
Cougars, recording 740
assists in his 120 games
at UH, an average of 6.2
per game. His career
assist total and average
are still tops in school history. He also
holds the single-season school records
for assists (309) and average (8.4 per
game) and the single-game school
record (17).
Post-UH: Gettys was selected by
the Chicago Bulls in the fifth round of
the 1985 NBA draft and later went on
to play in the CBA.
Now: Gettys recently completed
his first season as head coach of The
Woodlands Christian varsity basketball
team, which won the TAPPS Class 3A
state championship on March 5. He also
works as an attorney and as a college
basketball analyst for ESPN.
SAM KHAN JR.

Marvin Alexander
Benny Anders
Greg Anderson
Stacey Belcher
Dan Bunce
David Bunce
Braxton Clark
Eric Davis
Eric Dickens
Clyde Drexler
Alvin Franklin
Reid Gettys
Derrick Giles
Larry Micheaux
Akeem Olajuwon
Gary Orsak
Rodney Parker
David Rose
Lyndon Rose
Renaldo Thomas
Michael Young
James Weaver
Bryan Williams
Rob Williams
Rickie Winslow

No.

22-23
32-33
54-55
50-51
50-51
52-53
52-53
12-13
14-15
22-23
20-21
44-45
10-11
40-41
34-35
30-31
10-11
24-25
00
12-13
42-43
24-25
54-55
20-21
40-41

Pos.

G
G
C
F
C
C
F
G
G
F
G
G
G
C
C
F
G
G
G
G
F/G
G
F
G
F

Ht.

6-4
6-5
6-10
6-6
7-0
6-11
6-8
6-2
6-1
6-6
6-2
6-6
6-3
6-9
7-0
6-7
6-0
6-3
6-3
6-2
6-6
6-4
6-7
6-2
6-8

Wt.

190
188
220
210
235
225
230
180
168
205
185
190
175
220
240
200
200
185
185
190
210
190
215
185
223

Season(s)

1984
1982, 83, 84
1984
1984
1982, 83
1982, 83
1984
1982
1982, 83, 84
1982, 83, 84
1983, 84
1982, 83, 84
1983, 84
1982, 83
1982, 83, 84
1982, 83, 84
1982
1983
1982
1983, 84
1982, 83, 84
1984
1982, 83
1982
1984

Hometown

Monroe, La.
Bernice, La.
Houston
Houston
Conroe
Conroe
San Francisco
Chicago
Houston
Houston
Houston
Houston
Queens, N.Y.
Houston
Lagos, Nigeria
Alvin
Houston
Houston
Nassau, Bahamas
Gary, Ind.
Houston
Nederland
Inglewood, Calif.
Houston
Houston

UH (1981-84): Anders
lettered for the Cougars
for three seasons and
played in 76 games,
scoring 327 points in
his career. The 6-5
wing primarily came off
the bench but was an
enigma, known as much for his style and
flair as he was for his talent. He quit the
team briefly during the 1984 season but
returned shortly thereafter.
Post-UH: Anders did not get drafted
but moved on to play professionally in
South America.
Now: Anders current whereabouts
are unknown. His former teammates say
they have tried to track him down but
have had little or no success. Nobody
knows where Benny Anders is, Michael
Young said. Weve been trying to find
him for years. Said former Cougar Ken
Juice Williams: A friend of mine said
he saw him driving a truck and said that
he was a truck driver. That was about
two years ago.
SAM KHAN JR.

ALVIN FRANKLIN
UH (1982-86):

Franklin scored 1,684

points in his career
(eighth in UH history)
and also ranks in the
top 10 in career field
goals made and
attempted, free throws
made and attempted and assists. He
averaged 13.5 points per game in his
career.
Post-UH: Franklin was selected in
the fourth round of the 1986 NBA draft
by the Sacramento Kings. He played
professionally in the CBA and abroad
in the Philippines, France and in South
America.
Now: Franklin lives and works in the
Houston area. He owns a construction
company and is involved in homebuilding and carpeting.
SAM KHAN JR.

APRIL 2, 1983

APRIL 4, 1983

NOV. 19, 1983

No. 2 Louisville opens a 57-49 lead

in the national semifinals before
UH takes the legend of Phi Slama
Jama to new heights. A 21-1 run
features several electrifying dunks.
The Cougars finish with 13 dunks.

In the final against North Carolina State, a 17-2 run to begin the second half gives UH
a seemingly safe 43-35 lead. The Cougars miss enough free throws to allow the
Wolfpack to rally. With the score tied at 52, Dereck Whittenburgs 35-footer comes
up short but falls into the hands of Lorenzo Charles, right, whose dunk just before the
buzzer gives N.C. State a 54-52 win. Olajuwon (20 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks) is
named Most Outstanding Player the last player from a non-title winner so honored.

A chance for a measure

of revenge is squandered in the 1983-84
season opener a
76-64 loss to North
Carolina State.

REMEMBERING PHI SLAMA JAMA

G6 HOUSTON CHRONICLE

LEWIS:

c h r o n . c o m /n c a a

T H U R S D AY, M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 1

Role in integration remembered

CONTINUED FROM PAGE G3

who was blazing trails, he was an

originator as well. He deserved first-ballot
Hall of Fame. The worst thing in sports is
that hes not in the Hall of Fame. Its just
wrong. It makes no sense.
Of the seven coaches who have more
appearances in the Final Four than Lewis,
only Tom Izzo, 56 and in the prime of his
career, is not in the Hall of Fame. More
than half of the Division I college coaches
inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame
never won an NCAA championship.
I will not set foot into that Hall of Fame
until they put Guy V. Lewis in there, said
Penders, who has written about the snub in
his just-released book Dead Coach Walking.
At some point they will put him in, but I
think its a farce.
Lewis didnt necessarily have enemies,
and he had respect. But he wasnt great
friends with many of the top names
in coaching from his era. UH was an
independent for roughly half of Lewis
career, so he missed out on the conference
bonds veteran coaches usually build.
He wasnt an establishment guy, said
longtime Sports Illustrated writer Curry
Kirkpatrick, who penned articles on UH
from the days of Elvin Hayes through Phi
Slama Jama. And Houston was the first of
the anti-establishment teams, unlike any
other program in the country. The Fab 5
were 10 years behind Phi Slama Jama.
While I dont think Guy was a great Xs
and Os guy, he basically invented college
basketball in Texas. Thats a great legacy to
have.
e e e

Lewis had Wooden over for a party at

Lewis house in December 1961 after the
Cougars torched the Bruins 91-65.
UCLA went to the Final Four that
season, the first of Woodens record 12
appearances. UH, with a 21-5 regularseason record and two losses to eventual
national champion Cincinnati, wasnt
one of the 25 teams invited to the NCAA
Tournament.
Not long after that, Wooden decided
to go with pressing defenses and a more
up-tempo style. He brought out his
famous Glue Factory full-court press a
couple of years later, winning a national
championship running what some say
Lewis had been doing in relative obscurity
in Texas for years.
Guy Lewis was the first (college coach)
to press, said Jim Perry, UH guard and cocaptain in the late 1970s. He should be in
the Hall of Fame for that alone. Hes one of
the top 10 all-time coaches.
John Wooden saw what he did and had
to start doing it.
In the 13 seasons before facing the
Cougars, Woodens UCLA teams had scored
100 or more points only four times. By the
time the Bruins rolled into the Astrodome
to face the Cougars in 1968, they were a
run-and-gun team, averaging 99.7 points a
game and having scored 100 or more points
six times in 13 victories.
The bigger Cougars aside from 7-2
Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
looked to control tempo.
Oh yeah, that little game in the
Astrodome? The Game of the Century?
The rare nationally televised college
basketball game? The one in which No.
2 Houston toppled No. 1 UCLA, ending
the Bruins 47-game winning streak? The
game that paved the way for the Final Four
extravaganzas we now have?
Lewis idea. Smart man.
But who hasnt heard the one about
the day basketball gods were handing out
coaching smarts, Lewis was out recruiting
a power forward?
e e e

Lewis and Harry Pate, his assistant for

a quarter of a century, recruited talented
players to UH, but that is where the
coaching began, not ended.
Lewis and Dean Smith were the only
college coaches with three players on the
NBAs 1996 list of 50 Greatest Players.
Each of Smiths three players (Billy
Cunningham, James Worthy and Michael
Jordan) was a high school All-American.
None of Lewis was.
Drexler, with only two scholarship
offers, wasnt even All-Greater Houston.
Hakeem Olajuwon wasnt even in America.
We werent all great players when
we got there, said Hayes, UHs all-time
leading scorer and rebounder who retired
in 1984 in the top three in points, rebounds
and minutes played in NBA history.
Any farmer can throw a seed out there.
Guy Lewis fertilized us, watered us and
cultivated us.
Lewis taught big men to play bigger,
little men to play big and all of his players
to play tough.
When he was with the New Jersey Nets,
Birdsong recalls going to see the Cougars
play at Seton Hall. It was Olajuwons
second game at UH.
He was terrible, Birdsong said. I
said, Where did you get this bum from? He
cant play. And lo and behold he is a Hall of
Famer. How did he get there?
The Big Step is a power drop-step Lewis
used as a 6-3 center on UHs first basketball
team. With the move, Lewis scored 21.1

CHRONICLE FILE

STAGING A CLASSIC: Guy V. Lewis enjoys UHs win over UCLA in the Game of the Century, a

matchup he helped arrange that showed old limitations for college basketball no longer applied.

e e e

WHATS IT TAKE TO EARN A HALL PASS?

There are 82 coaches enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame but one
glaring omission as far as UH fans and many basketball observers are concerned:

Why Guy V. should be in the Hall Of Fame

Big winner
The roll call is impressive: 592 wins, five Final Fours, 14 NCAA appearances, four
Southwest Conference tournament titles and two SWC regular-season championships.
All this at a school that has had little success in basketball before or after Lewis tenure.
Molder of talent
When the NBA introduced its 50 Greatest Players in 1996, only Dean Smith and Lewis
had coached three of the honorees Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler
for Lewis. Olajuwon arrived at UH as a project; Drexler as an unheralded recruit. They
obviously had natural athletic ability, but the work Lewis and his staff did with them was
significant in starting them on their way to Hall of Fame careers.
Pioneer spirit
Lewis was ahead of his time in various ways. He recruited Hayes and Don Chaney in
1964, giving UH its first black players before any school in the SWC. In 1967, Lewis
approached UCLAs John Wooden about a marquee matchup between their teams. The
catch: well play in the Astrodome. What came to be known as the Game of the Century,
was a groundbreaker for showing the college game could succeed in stadiums and on
national TV.

Why Guy V. isnt in the Hall Of Fame

Didnt win big one
The glaring hole on Lewis rsum is the lack of a national title. In particular, the 1983
loss to North Carolina State is held against Lewis. He was criticized for slowing down
the game when UH opened a lead in the second half.
Circus ringleader
There may be no coach who gets hit with the "he just rolled out the ball" label more
than Lewis. Seeing what players like Hayes, Olajuwon, Drexler and Otis Birdsong were
as finished products in the NBA gives some voters the mistaken impression that UH was
all talent with little coaching. Billy Tubbs summed up the knock on teams with a freewheeling style when he said, "There is this perception among some of those folks in the
East that you are a really good coach if you win by scoring in the 60s, but if you score in
the 100s, youre strictly winning on talent."
Not from around here
The East Coast influence on the Springfield, Mass., Hall is undeniable. Lewis isnt alone
in suffering from being an outsider. Consider non-members Jerry Tarkanian and Eddie
Sutton, who coached 63 of their 67 Division I seasons at schools west of the Mississippi,
combined for one national title and seven Final Fours. Eastern favorites Lou Carnesecca
and John Chaney can call themselves Hall of Famers despite having only one Final Four
between them.

TRIBUTE TO LEWIS
The University of Houston athletic
department will pay homage to
legendary basketball coach Guy V.
Lewis in a special ceremony at 11:30
a.m. Friday in the John OQuinn Great
Hall at the UH Athletics/Alumni Center
(3100 Cullen Blvd.). Several former
UH players will be on hand. Public
tickets are available for $5 each and
can be purchased at HoustonAlumni.
com. A light lunch will be served
following the program.

points a game in 1946, the only time in

school history that a player averaged 20 or
more points a game and no other Cougar
averaged double figures. He taught it to all
his big men, from Hayes and Ken Spain, to
Olajuwon and Greg Cadillac Anderson.
I cant tell you how much coach Guy
Lewis meant to my game, said Olajuwon,
who created the now-famous Dream Shake
by adding a fadeaway jumper and a soccer
move he learned growing up in his native
Nigeria to the Big Step.
He taught me how to play the game;
how to compete. How to be a big man and
how to dominate.
Olajuwon, in a raspy bass, put a special
emphasis on each syllable of DOM-I-NATE.
e e e

But it wasnt just the post players who

dominated under Lewis.

25 points a game for a season under Lewis.

The Cougars didnt really scrimmage
that often. Everything at practice was
timed and controlled. Disciplined. But
since Lewis didnt call fouls there were a
host of tussles among players.
A good fight at practice meant a good
practice.
I always wanted tough guys, said a
grinning Lewis, who was in the Army Air
Corps during World War II.
Hard-charging teams that pressured
opponents looked undisciplined to some.
Birdsong, pride of Polk County, Fla.,
and the Southwest Conference Player
of the Decade in the 1970s, said Lewis
teaching helped him become such a prolific
scorer (30.3 points a game and a ridiculous
56.9 field-goal percentage as a senior.)
He out-schemed other teams. It didnt
matter what defense I saw, coach Lewis had
an answer to get me open, said Birdsong,
a four-time NBA All-Star and No. 2 overall
pick of the 1977 draft.
Before the 1982 Final Four, NBA super
scout Marty Blake said the only sure firstround draft pick on the UH squad was
Williams, who was selected No. 19 overall
that year by the Denver Nuggets.
A year later, Drexler was the 14th
overall pick. Two years later, Olajuwon,
first overall, and Michael Young were
drafted in the first round.
If recognizing and recruiting top talent,
winning games and developing players
werent enough to cement a great legacy,
Lewis opened doors that previously had
been closed.
Black players already were playing at
Texas Western when Don Haskins got
there. In fact, Worthing High Schools
David Big Daddy D Lattin, one of the
Miners five black starters who drove Old
Dixie down with a victory over Kentucky
in the 1966 national championship game,
wanted to play for Houston.
Lewis wanted him to play there, too.
And he wanted to sign Yates forward and
eventual Drake star McCoy McLemore
and many others before that. But in the
early 1960s, UH didnt have black athletes
on campus. Well, except for those Lewis
invited to play against his players at
Jeppesen Fieldhouse.
From his start as head coach in 1956,
Lewis figured it was silly that black and
white players could compete in the summer
but not play together at college.
It didnt make any sense, said Lewis,
who grew up in Arp, a small town about 18
miles southeast of Tyler.
In the spring of 1964, Lewis finally got
permission to offer scholarships to black
players.
He and Pate made the drive to Louisiana
to sign Hayes and guard Don Chaney. Pate
dropped Lewis off in Baton Rouge to sign
Chaney and continued to Rayville to get
Hayes signature on a letter of intent.
It was needed, it was damn time,
Lewis said.
Lewis, whose hometown was
segregated, decided not to room his first
two black players together.
If we were going to integrate, we were
going to integrate, Lewis said. So he
brought New York and Louisiana together
in Texas.
Lewis had team manager Howie Lorch,
who had the same position at Linton High
School in Schenectady, N.Y., when future
NBA coach Pat Riley was on the team,
room with Hayes. John Tracy, a Brooklyn
native who went on to become a noted
television director on sitcoms such as
Laverne & Shirley, Growing Pains, Full
House and Family Matters, bunked with
Chaney. The two have been friends ever
since.
Coach Lewis didnt bring us in and try
to hide us, he totally included us, Hayes
said. He had a lot of insight and a lot of
foresight.
He knew there would be trust issues,
coming from where I was from. He knew
how I grew up and knew how to deal with
it. He made us put aside things we were
comfortable in.
e e e

CHRONICLE FILE

THIS WAY TO THE NBA: Guy V. Lewis

showed his ability to turn out the talent by

producing 11 first-round NBA draft picks,
including Rob Williams (20).
A 6-2 flashy point guard (Rob Williams)
and a smooth 6-4 jump shooter (Birdsong)
joined the 6-9 Hayes in averaging at least

Lewis, who turned 89 on March 19, had

a stroke in 2002. He gets around slowly
these days, mostly in a wheelchair, with his
wife Dena the high school sweethearts
have been married for 68 years at his
side.
He has aphasia, a neurological disorder
that affects his ability to communicate. It
is a particularly aggravating condition for
a man with so many memories, so many
stories to tell.
He says he is proud that he spent his
entire career at his alma mater, that he
integrated the schools basketball program
and that his Game of the Century idea
helped take college basketball to new
heights.
But he is most proud that so many of his
players went on to become fine citizens,
excellent men (and a few great basketball
players), who thank him for helping them
achieve.
That is leaving a mighty impression.
jerome.solomon@chron.com

MARCH 4, 1984

MARCH 1984

APRIL 2, 1984

APRIL 4, 1984

Trying to finish 16-0 in SWC play for the

second consecutive year, the Cougars lose
at Arkansas 73-68. A week later, they
beat Arkansas 57-56 in the SWC Classic
final as Olajuwon compiles his second
triple-double in as many nights.

The Cougars beat

Louisiana Tech 77-69,
Memphis 78-71 and
Wake Forest 68-63
to reach their third
consecutive Final Four.

Young, left, scores 17 points

and Olajuwon blocks a shot
at the buzzer to lead the
Cougars to a 49-47 overtime
victory over Virginia in the
national semifinals.

Olajuwon outscores Patrick Ewing

15-10, but Georgetown wins the final
84-75. With Olajuwon leaving early
for the NBA, UH goes 16-14 the next
season and has failed to win an NCAA
game in the last 26 seasons.