Dave Boling - Tales from the Gonzaga Bulldogs Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Bulldog Stories Ever Told

Copyright 2004 by Dave Boling

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2015.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

All photos provided by Gonzaga University Public Relations and Sports Information unless otherwise noted.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit AP Photo

ISBN: 978-1-61321-723-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61321-744-3

Printed in the United States of America

Countless contributorsseen and unseen, famous and obscure, embraced or estrangedhelped elevate Gonzaga University basketball to a level of national prominence. This book is dedicated to their efforts.

Contents

Foreword

First of all, I have to say how blessed Ive been to be able to work with the players who have come through the Gonzaga basketball program. I think one thing that separates Gonzaga from a lot of programs out there is that in so many ways its a family. Once youre in the family, youre in it for life. The best part of the jobbetter than the NCAA Tournament wins and the championshipsis building the relationships with the players through the years. We go from being coaches and players to being lifelong friends once theyve finished playing. Its so rewarding to see how successful they are, as attorneys and engineers and teachers. Probably even greater than that is seeing the wonderful parents that theyve become. I dont know how many other programs really have such a family feel to them.

The administration and the university foster that kind of relationship; thats Gonzaga, once you go there, youre a part of it for life. For whatever reason, people always seem to want to come back and keep in touch with the people they met here. Thats probably even more so with our basketball program; the character of the kids is such that they seem to want to hang on to the experience by staying close with friends and keeping in touch. Thats really the essence of it.

Over the years weve had some very strong individual personalities and characters. Everybody is different, and we welcome and encourage that. They may be as different as a gregarious and outgoing Frenchman with long dreadlocks to a quiet, competitive guy from Walla Walla who hardly talks at all. But they all have a common denominator; they all share the same quality: They are willing to put themselves aside and put the good of the team first. Its probably the mix of these personalities that makes it so enjoyable. You see an Anthony Reason from Ocala, Florida, and Compton (California) Community College running around with Blake Stepp and Dan Dickau from the Pacific Northwest. They love him and he loves them. They enjoy sharing each others culture, and the mixture of personalities works so well because they also share those common goals.

When you put all those ingredients together, and you end up finding talented guys with diverse backgrounds who want to come together and put the team first, you almost cant help but be successful. Because of all that, you just have a heck of a lot of fun coaching those types of guys, and you truly enjoy being around them. The icing on the cake is that weve been so successful, which makes it a win-win-win situation for all of us.

A part of the programs success, too, has been our ability to keep the same staff together. That just doesnt happen in college basketball. As a staff, weve always had a very, very high quality of life here, and now we make sure we take the extra time to put family first. It helps so much to have a staff thats been together forever and understands what it takes and has a feel for how players will fit in as a part of the team. Then you have a guy like trainer Steve DeLong, who almost nobody knows about from the outside, but who has been as valuable a staff member as anyone. He keeps coaches in line, toughens the players up, and is the players friend. He IS Gonzaga.

If I had to pick one example that shows what this program is all about, Id point to the last game in The Kennel in the spring of 2004. We had over 100 former players back for the game... spanning generations. Their willingness to do that is remarkable. The fun they had and the genuineness of their emotions... that shows what this has been all about. You see the same thing when you go to a wedding of one of the players; youll see not only his teammates but guys from the generations before him and after him. Its impressive; they all grew to be friends because theyre Gonzaga basketball players. It sounds corny, but that kind of thing is not commonplace in college basketball.

I hope that Tales from the Gonzaga Hardwood helps fans see these players as the great people they are. Lost in all the wins and the NCAA appearances is the fact that a guy like Ronny Turiaf has probably made 100 charity visits in his time here. Or a guy like Brian Michaelson, who a lot of fans havent heard of, has been doing that sort of thing all along because he wears a Gonzaga jersey. Or the guys reading stories to first grade classes in town. What youll read about in this book is not just Casey Calvary making a big tip-in or Richie Frahm stroking a three, or Dan Dickau making great passes, its the blood, sweat and tears, literally, that went into this program.

Id like to personally thank each and every player who has come through this program for making it such an awesome experience in my life, and in the lives of our staff. Its been a true blessing to be able to work with them and continue to have great relationships with them after theyve finished playing. Thank you.

Mark Few, November 2004

Acknowledgments

Coach Mark Few likes to call Gonzaga University a people place. That is meant to describe the helpful, accommodating and caring attitude that pervades the campus. That was certainly the case during the preparation of this book. Athletic director Mike Roth and coaches Few, Bill Grier, Leon Rice, Tommy Lloyd and Jerry Krause all generously scanned their memory caches for the best recollections from over the years, as did former coach Dan Monson, now at the University of Minnesota. Sports information director Oliver Pierce must be thanked for his assistance, guidance and archival memory. Trainer Steve DeLong and former baseball coach Steve Hertz, longtime GU fixtures, graciously shared their insights. The late Father Tony Lehmann, a man of pure spirit, contributed a legacy of wisdom and patience and kindness still felt strongly around Gonzaga even years after his passing. Former coach and athletic director Dan Fitzgerald is appreciated for being a font of colorful quotes and memorable moments during his Gonzaga tenure. And mostly a debt of gratitude is owed to the Zags for being multidimensional individuals with compelling experiences. They provided a rich, broad mixture of both relevance and irreverence. After all, being helpful is commendable, but being interesting... thats the real treasure. Thanks go to them for being so willing to share with me their tales.