WEBVTT - Pt. 1 Former Villanova HC Steve Lappas on 70's NYC Hoops, Working for Massimino, Manhattan Job, Taking Over Nova 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:11.040 Hey, welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlie. This is all ball 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:13.880 and uh we got a great guest for His name 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:15.840 is Steve Lapis. He's a good friend of mine, of course, 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.560 the former head coach at Manhattan had Villanova at UMSS 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.680 and UM. In this part, this is part one, we'll 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.159 get to his His life story is really amazing, you know, 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.240 growing up in the Bronx in New York. UM. His 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:32.680 dad was an immigrant. Wait to hear what his dad 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:37.880 did when his dad first saw him play basketball, when 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.080 he first moved out of the house, Like all of 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.280 it is like you just you can't fount these these 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.800 things are so good. Um, I gotta do a pod 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.240 for you on actual things going on inside of hoop. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.360 But in the meantime, I think they'll love this. It's 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.400 too good. Steve Lappas works for CBS. He was an 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.880 outstanding coach at Manhattan, led them to twenty five wins 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.720 in their fourth year and then took Villanova. Uh they 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:02.880 were I we played against that team that that lost 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.320 with Carry Kittles and uh, Chuck Corner Gay and Eric 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:10.120 Ebers and Alvin Williams. What a great John Cellistan on 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.200 a tremendous team. Well, well we'll David dive into how 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.040 he got the Villanova job all this other stuff without 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:23.319 further ado. Here's my man lap. So uh laugh. I mean, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:27.679 I think everyone knows the end of the coaching and 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.400 into the broadcasting call and n c A tournament games. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:35.199 But I'm more fascinated by growing up and what took 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.039 you from there to here. So you grew up where 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.600 in New York? I grew Brandon, Washington Heights, right by 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.960 the drug Washington Bridge, and Upper Manhattan. Okay, so Upper 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.520 man Uper Manhattan? Um, who are the who are the 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.720 players at that time? You're coming out in high school? 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:51.600 This is where you started kind of throw off all 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.440 the New York City guys. Who are the guys at 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.000 that time? Well, at that time, Tiny Archibald was a 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:58.840 couple of years older than me, but he was a 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.160 guy that we looked up to. Ron Behagen was a 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.760 guy who played for d with Clinton. He was another guy. 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.800 There was a guy of boys and girls named Ermie 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.840 Douse and some of the you know, obviously Nate Archibald 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.320 became a big time playing Ron Behagen played in the NBA. 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.280 Tom Henderson was another guy who was around and played 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.000 in the NBA for a long time. So those those 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.160 were probably the main guys, you know what I mean 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.640 from the Manhattan Bronx type area. What was the what 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:24.519 was the name of the court that you grew up playing, 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.840 because everybody had every court had a name. I grew 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.800 up with Dyken Street and Dyken Streets a pretty famous court. 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:31.560 You know, a lot of guys played in the Dykeen 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.800 projects there. Actually kareem obviously older than he grew up 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.400 right in those projects. So we played a lot of 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.600 Dighting Street projects. But you're you're older than Kramer. He's 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.359 older than you, He's older than me. Okay, So did 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.800 you like, did you ever see him play pick up 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.520 when you're a kid? You ever never saw? I did? 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.000 I did see Power Memorial play two years after he 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.560 graduated from there, and they were still very They had 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.000 Searcy len Elmore and Jack Trimble. They were number one 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.280 high school team in the country after Korean There were 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.280 number one when he was there too. So I never 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.119 he's about I'm gonna guess he's probably five or six 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.799 years older than me. So no, would never never cross paths. Okay, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.480 So again and and forgive me if I'm wrong for 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.760 saying this year in this pod, you're allowed to say 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.760 whatever part of this is. You know, my dad grew 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:19.840 up in the Bronx and then moving out to the Island. 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.360 His contention always was that New York City is a 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.639 basketball town and the only reason that that it's still 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.080 like a Yankees town or Giants or Rangers is just 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.440 because the basketball hasn't been good, right but this but 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.760 whoever can get it back to where it was when 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.640 Red Red Holtzman was coaching the Knicks like that guy, 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.360 they'll have a ticker tape rate and it will coolly change. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.440 So but you were that that you were around during 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.760 that era, Oh yeah, absolutely so. So the jutasition of 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.680 now where the Garden is still great, okay, but players 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.840 go outside the city to go to prep schools, you know, 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.680 or go or New York in terms of going to college. 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.800 What was it like back then? Well, then, there's no 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.560 question that New York was the mecca basketball. Now, the 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.119 crazy thing about the Knicks is they've only have two 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.640 titles in the history of the franchise, and they happened 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.800 within four years of each other. So that is kind 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.279 of the crazy. So here you have this job that 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:22.760 the perception is it's, you know, certainly one of the 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.440 best jobs in the world in basketball. Yet they haven't 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.760 really been able to bring one home. Patrick Ewing got close, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.760 and pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy got close. But 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.200 bottom line is we haven't had a championship is nineteen 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.960 seventy three, which is kind of crazy when you think 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.120 about it. But there's no doubt that it's a basketball time. Now. 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.520 If you ask me now, I haven't grown up there, 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:52.520 I'm gonna say number one Yankees, number two Nicks if 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:54.200 I had to, if you made me put it in 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.120 or seven they want twenty seven titles. The Yankees are 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.480 the Yankees, and that's that is never go to Jake, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.120 But I would say the Knicks if they're good. But 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.800 but you don't you don't have and the kids don't 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.400 play as much pick up as they used to. Okay, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.120 but you don't have stickball in the streets anymore. You 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.880 still do have some you still have a ton of basketball, 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:15.920 right and it's not like New York is pumping out 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.240 baseball players and that that it's it's a there is 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.680 you know as a basketball town. Okay, So how good 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:28.320 were you as a player? I was a started in 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:30.720 high school my senior year, came off the bench on 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.119 the city championship team. My junior year. What what high school? 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.600 Bronx High School of Science. We were in the B division. Okay, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.960 they have the A division that was the big schools, 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.440 Clinton and those schools, even though we played them in 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.200 those days. We played in the B division, which was 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.680 smaller schools, and we won the B Division championship two 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:50.960 years in a row. My sophomore year I didn't play 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.880 at all. My junior year I played some is coming 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.240 off the bench. Then my senior year I started. We 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.160 were very good. Probably something doing me starting and then 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.320 uh I went to c C N Y and I 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.640 started for a couple of years Division three player. UH 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:10.000 average probably seven points and had some assists. No three 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.800 point shooting. That was the one thing I could do 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.480 was shoot from pretty far out in those days. But 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:16.680 so I was. I was a half pass player and 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.320 loved it. That's all I wanted to do. What what? What? 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.160 What was your parents? What were their occupations? Well, my 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.320 father came from Greece in nineteen twenty seven. He was 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.120 a florist. He had a flower shop in Jamaica Queens 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.720 and you know, and my mother is Greek, but she 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.320 was born here, and that's one of the reasons why 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.039 they settled in Washington Heights. It was a big Greek neighborhood, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.800 one of the bigger Greek neighborhoods in the country. It 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.680 was a Greek church there, in Greek school. I went 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.680 to Greek school from when I was kindergarten to eighth grade. 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.120 I still read and write Greek because I learned that's 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.480 when we spoke at home. So, you know, and my parents. 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.240 You know, it's funny, Doug, because your parents you want 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.880 to see all your kids gave. My parents did not 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.880 see me play basketball until I was in college. I 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.920 was playing for one was like twelve thirteen years old 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.200 in elementary school and then in high school, and they 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.800 didn't see me play time was in college as opposed 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.680 that now, I've seen my kid play every game he 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:14.880 ever played, probably or pretty close. So, um, what was 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.520 your dad like when you're you know, you have this 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.840 passion for a sport that he clearly doesn't relate to 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.440 at all. Yeah, Like like my like my grandpa was 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.520 an accountant and then he became a car dealer. He 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.480 took over a car dealership, and he thought my dad 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.360 was nuts for for his love for basketball. Like they 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.440 actually had him like tested to see if he was 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.720 if he had something wrong mentally. He's like, no much, 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.559 just love this sport and all it does for people. 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.000 What was what was their reaction to your love for basketball? Well, 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.320 let's understand that he comes here when he's fourteen years old, okay, 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.559 and so he when never was, never went to high school, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.119 so he didn't understand this idea of you play high school, 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.280 that you play sports in high school. I would go 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.840 play after school in high school. And thankfully my mother everyone, 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:04.840 I said a Greek bol was born here and had 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.120 brothers who played sports when she was a kid. I 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:10.400 would tell him, no, the kids here, he said, when 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.640 you get a job after school, what is was he 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.800 go play bass? What is this playing basketball? And my 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:17.960 mother said, no, no, the kids here they go to 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.680 school and they play sports. This is what they do. 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:25.520 So anyway, so he understand that. So now I'm like 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:27.760 twenty years old and I'm trying to figure out what 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.320 I want to do. So I was I made it 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.000 in biology. I wanted to be a doctor when I 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.959 was in college. So what happens. I get a C 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:41.520 plus in organic chemistry. So now in those days, Doug, 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.560 you couldn't make medical school if you don't have all 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.719 a's in every subject in this country. You'd have to 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:47.760 like go to Mexico or somewhere else. And I didn't 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:49.679 really want to do that. So I'm like, now what 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:51.559 am I gonna do? This is what I've been talking 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.240 about all these years. I started coaching my brother and 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.800 his friends at the Greek Church when I was twenty 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.160 years old, and I, you know, it's pretty cool. I 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.240 liked this. I love not I want. All I wanted 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:02.760 to do is play, even though it was a half 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.679 as player. I played like eight hours a day in 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.079 the parks whenever we're looking for a game. That's what 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.920 I did. And I'm like, you know, why not try 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.719 to coach and do this? So I remember going to 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.240 my father to make a long story short, and he 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.439 asked me in Greek we used to talk to what 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.760 are you gonna do? But how does that sound great? 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:22.360 What is? What are you gonna do? Is saying saying Greek, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:24.440 did that guy in the smith the zois? What are 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.120 you gonna do with your life. And I said, well, Dad, 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:29.599 I'll be honest with you. I want to try and 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:34.000 coach basketball. And he said why he said, and he 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:39.120 said in Greek? He said, are you gonna get by 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.480 with a ball? That's what he said to me. And 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.840 I said, well, yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.680 I'm gonna try and do that. Focus ahead, I become 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.440 a high school coach. See your first height? Sell, how 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.680 did you get to high school job? Okay, all right, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:55.520 we gotta take this slow. That Well, what happens is 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.559 so now I so you graduated twenty years old. I 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.440 know I wasn't one. I was a junior there trying 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:04.640 to figure out what I wanted a major and do 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.760 because I couldn't do this bio thing. Okay, it wasn't 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.559 wasn't really worth the way you switch to p I 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.560 switched to education. Okay, so I switched education. I said, 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.000 I'm gonna trying to be a teacher. But now it 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:17.440 took me the next year. You go out of college 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.319 because I had taken all these other classes in sciences. 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.160 It took me a whole other year to get out. 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.160 So now I'm gonna be a fifth year guy. I'm 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.400 and we're commuting to school. It's different in those days. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.719 How about this dog course? Fifty two dollars to go 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.280 to C. C and Y. In those days, if you 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.040 were in New York City resident, where where was C. 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.040 C N Y? Right in Harlem? It's right in the 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:41.760 middle of Harlem. So from from where you live, it 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.640 was a fifteen minute bus ride. You did the bus, 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.040 didn't do the subway? Did the bus the bus? The 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.439 subway was further. The bus dropped you off right in 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.199 the corner that where the campus was. So so Steve 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.679 lap Is years old hopping on the bus. You got 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:58.920 the post every day, like what was your what was 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.000 what was your day of routine? Got to New York 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.640 Post every day, no doubt, still to this day read 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:08.040 it every day and just you know, go there, go 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.480 to school. Now my fifth year, obviously I didn't play 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.640 on the team because I was already done with my eligibility. 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:15.199 So I was in practice, right and I was just 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:17.640 going to school, taking as many course I could in 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.560 education so I can get get out. Who is your 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.520 who's your high school coach? My high school coach is 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.880 a guy named Norman left Woods, who was a tremendous 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.360 See we were considered I don't want to say it. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:32.959 I guess I said we were considered the real smart 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.800 school in New York City, so we weren't supposed to 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.160 have good teams. That this guy was a tremendous coach. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.600 We would win games forty two, forty forty six, forty four. 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.200 That's how Anyway, he's also one of the founding fathers. 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.719 People don't know this a five star. He was on 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.920 the first five star staff with Garfinkel at Will Klein. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:55.000 He was in their first tremendous coach. So I played 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:56.840 for him in high school. But I'll tell you what, Doug, 0:11:57.880 --> 0:11:59.719 he put the fear of God in me. I was 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.760 so scared of I mean scared to death here I 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.480 what I mean. I think everybody it was a little 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.320 taking it back by him. You know, I grew up 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.920 going to this Greek school. I never really got yelled 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.040 at that much. You know. I was kind of the 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.520 good kidd. Did what I was supposed to do, and 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.160 he scared me to death. So he was. He was 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.959 hard to play for initially, and then you know, it 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:26.440 got a little better. But but ironically, when I graduate college, 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.679 I don't have a job coaching rethink. I voluned. He 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.280 becomes a Division three head coach, and I becomes volunteer 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:36.400 assistant at York College, which is in Jamaica, Queens. So 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.880 I did that for a year, just helping him, you know, 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.160 going to practice, trying to recruit a little bit. Whatever. 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.240 What was he What was he like in terms of 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.719 his practice planning, in terms of what you guys worked on, 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.360 because you know, like all of these planted seeds in 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.160 what made you into an outstanding coach? What was he like? 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.559 He was we do the same thing every day. He 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:04.559 had a system. We ran this like wheel system, and 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.560 that's what we It was kind of it wasn't as 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.200 complicated as Princeton, but it's kind of like those Princeton guys. 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.480 You know, those Prinston guys are like, this is like 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:18.880 a religion. Running that stuff is a religion, and this 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:21.839 is what we do and that's it and we're doing it. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.599 That's how he was with his offense. And it was 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:28.680 a very patient offense. Passed cut cut, It was the saying, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.600 and we just did every single day in our sleep. 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.400 We could do it. So his his practices were very 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:39.320 basic passing drills. You know, it was different in those days, 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.800 you know, based baseball passes just passes. And I'm not 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:45.640 saying there's not a place for it today, But I 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.160 don't know high school coaches dribbling drills. You know, it 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.400 was like basic fundamentals and run through this offense and 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:58.240 play defense like there's no to law. Okay, So then 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.480 who would you play for? CCN one? And SE's why 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.520 I played for two guys, three guys. I played for 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.960 a guy named Ralph Baco who, uh in ninety seven 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.280 was the leading scorer in the country at Northern or 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:14.640 southern Northern Northern Illinois. Really good guy. He's passed away. 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.520 Then I played for a guy named Jack Camoner who 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.720 was kind of a legend in the New York area, 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.320 coached in the Bronx and coached in Westchester Counties, Carsdale Eyes. 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.360 I don't know if you know you're a West Coast guy. 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.480 You remember a guy named John Revelli played at Stanford. Yeah, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.320 he's probably, you know, too old for you to know 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.800 because you're too young. But and Butch Graves, those are 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.040 two guys that he had played for him. That one 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:38.680 went to Yale alone went to Stanford. He was from 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.120 Scarsdale High School, and then I played for Floyd Lane, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.760 who played on the nineteen fifty c C N White 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:46.000 team that won the n c A and an I 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:51.360 T Championship. Um, what is there anything of those three 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.320 guys that you took with you that you said I 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.480 want to do that or or you organically did. I 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.200 took a little bit of all of them, to be 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:05.600 honest with you, not a basketball perspective, not much, but 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.000 from a personal perspective and how they dealt with people, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.880 how they dealt with situations I tried. All three of 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.800 those guys that I had in college were really personable, 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:23.680 really great guys, and they had great communication skills with 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.240 the players. And that was one of the things that 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:30.960 I saw and I liked because it made me feel 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.480 Whereas my high school coach was a great coach and 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.040 we became good friends, I was afraid of him in 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.040 high school. These guys I wasn't afraid of, And so, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.720 you know, I think that's some of the things. And 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.600 you know, Jack Camerer was a guy who was a 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:50.280 tremendous teacher and a little more advanced than Norman left 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.040 Woods was. It was my high school coach, but a 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:57.000 guy who could really break things down and like take 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.680 a take a game plan and make it into drills 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.520 of Okay, we gotta do this to guard this because 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.800 so he's the one who gave me my first experience 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.520 with that kind of stuff. Um, okay, so you get 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.760 done and you you volunteer at York right. Okay, so 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:18.240 York's in Jamaica queens. Your dad's flower shops and Jamaica queens. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.480 How you are you making money? Are you working for him? 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.600 Are you doing anything that or you're just simply grinding 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.520 with hoops. No. I get my first teaching job in 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.680 the Bronx at a Greek school um called the Greek 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.600 American Institute, And I was making five thousand dollars a 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:38.240 year and I would teach, get out at to thirty 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.080 three o'clock and drive the Jamaica Queens every day. Now 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:42.960 we didn't have a car. That was the first car 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.200 our family had, was the one that I had when 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.440 I graduated college. Uh. My father took the subway to 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.880 Jamaica every day. Was an hour, three subway, three trains 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:56.200 every each way, every day. He did it for thirty 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.760 five years. And you know, Doug, it's funny. His day 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:03.880 off was two day. Imagine Tuesday, Like everybody's off Saturday 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.200 and Sunday, his day off was Tuesday because in the 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.480 flower business, people at weddings, people had things on Saturdays 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.119 and Sunday, so he was open. And so this is 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.800 what it's amazing what these guys did that came from 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.239 the other side, the work ethic and what they had 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.560 to do to so you know what it was. It 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:24.119 was a and I don't want me to be a 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.840 get on a soapbox, but life consimpler. They they weren't 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.560 worried about how we're gonna eat. We're worried about I 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.400 want this car, I want this house or no. It's 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:40.280 very basic. We need to work. So that weekend live period, 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.800 and that's what it was. Fox Sports Radio has the 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.760 best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:51.320 our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.840 the I Heart Radio app search f s R to 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.399 listen live. You know, my my, my, my grandpa. He 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.240 no one had been the college and he couldn't afford college. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.280 Also c c N Y and so what he did 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.520 was he and a buddy. I don't know if they 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.000 rented a truck or at least a truck or bought it, 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:15.840 bought a truck like one of those uh box box trucks, right, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.280 and they would go to the docks and they would 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.120 buy fish okay at you know whatever, you know, ungodly 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.480 time in the morning when when the when the fish 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:28.919 would come in, and then they set up the counts 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:30.960 at different restaurants and then they would sell the fish 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:34.200 to the restaurants. So that's so he would take night 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.560 school and then wouldn't go to sleep, would simply go 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.760 and get this box truck, get the fish, and then 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.680 do the fish and then sleep in the afternoon. And 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.119 that's how he paid his way through through c C 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:47.640 N Y and became an accountant, and then he became 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.480 a card dealer because as an accountant, he looked at 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.639 people's and like, you know, they couldn't pay him. So 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.080 he'd take one businesses that he thought could make makes sense. 0:18:57.480 --> 0:18:59.800 So it's it's a similar thing. It's a it's a 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.520 I just figure it out right, how and how can 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:05.280 I put things on the table. It wasn't And and 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:07.399 he too just like just like your dad, like he 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:11.600 thought my dad was crazy, Like you really my master's 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.360 degree from Colombia And when you want to coach basketball, Like, yes, 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.600 what he wanted to do. A matter of fact, in 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:20.920 one he was the head coach at the w Milwaukee 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.000 and they were going to Division three. They were Division 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.680 one to Division three. So he walks and my grandpa 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.960 we lived with him for a year in in Hewlett, 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.119 New York. We lived with them. My grandpa wanted my 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.119 dad to take over one of his car dealerships, just 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:38.960 the one on Long Island, Like it was a layup, 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.680 you know, just I mean a running a car dealership 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:45.600 that's already been up and going for twenty five years 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.359 and really successful. And my Dad's like, how about we 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.399 buy the new Jersey nets for one million dollars? And 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.879 my grandpa, again, this is an eighty one is before Burden, 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.159 Magic took take took the lead off, Lee offf My 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.440 grandpa count looked at the books and said, this is 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.840 a disaster. No one should ever, you know, buy an 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.760 NBA team, Like it makes no sense financial right, But 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.600 the point is it's the same sort of work ethic 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.240 where that we we we don't have the perspective of 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.760 what it was like. We just don't. Okay, So you're 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.280 you're you're teaching at a Greek School. You're courch coaching 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:29.800 at York. Okay, that season ends, Um, this is two 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:31.679 years now that you have been playing and you've been 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:37.000 coaching right then? One then I become I find out 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.440 and I live in Washington Heights, which right across the 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.720 bridge from Fort Lee, New Jersey. And I had a 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.480