We saw history made at last year’s Super Bowl when Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith became the first African-American head coaches to lead their teams to the National Football League’s biggest stage.
History was made once again at last weekend’s Super Bowl XLII in Arizona, albeit with a little less fanfare than last year’s historical game. Jerry Reese made history last Sunday as the general manager of the New York Giants.
Reese not only became the first African-American general manager of a team to make it to the Super Bowl, but he became the first African-American GM of a Super Bowl champion. Reese joined the Giants’ organization in 1994 as a scout, then gradually moved up the ranks while working with his mentors in former Giants’ general managers George Young and Ernie Acorsi. When Acorsi retired after last season, Reese took over in January 2007 and helped oversee a draft that netted eight players who played key roles on the Giants’ world championship team, including wide receiver Steve Smith, who made several big catches on Sunday, and defensive tackle Jay Alford, who delivered the big hit on Tom Brady to thwart any hopes of New England scoring on their final possession of the game.
Well done, Jerry.
Lakers/Celtics redux?
One of the great rivalries in the history of sports is the Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers battle in the National Basketball Association. These two great franchises battled for the title throughout the 1960s, with the Celtics getting the upper hand. Thanks to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, that rivalry was rekindled in the 1980s as these two all-time greats led their respective teams to a combined eight NBA titles in the decade. The rivalry also rescued the NBA from the abyss and put the league into the spotlight.
Don’t look now, but there is now a legitimate chance that these two teams could meet for the NBA title once again in 2008. That never seemed like a possibility after the break-up of Shaq and Kobe and the Laker dynasty and the all-out clumsiness of Celtics executive Danny Ainge in recent years.
Now, thanks to the off-season moves of Ainge and recent trade-deadline move of Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak, you have to take the Lakers and Celtics seriously come playoffs time. The Celtics have already established themselves as the power of the East with the dynamic trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen leading the way.
The West is far more potent with the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz and new powerhouse New Orleans Hornets on the horizon. Add the Lakers to that list after the big trade for 7-footer Pau Gasol from Memphis. The Lakers were already showing signs of a contender as Kobe Bryant’s young supporting cast was starting to grow up, especially 7-foot, 20-year old Andrew Bynum, who was starting to become a dominant center before being felled by a knee injury.
Bynum is still a month away from returning, but when he comes back, the Lakers will now have a pair of talented twin towers to go along with the multi-talented Bryant, Lamar Odom and the rest of the emerging supporting cast.
There are still many talented teams in the way, but do not be surprised if the Lakers and Celtics are batttling in the NBA Finals once again. The pooh-bahs in the league office would love that.
R.I.P.
I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the families of two former area basketball standouts who recently passed away. Former Kirkwood High standout Anthony Smith died last week at the age of 24 after a long battle with leukemia. Anthony died one day shy of his 25th birthday. A 1991 graduate of Kirkwood, the 6’8” Smith was an excellent player who teamed with his twin brother Antoine to make a dynamic pair of bookend forwards. I was present at one of Anthony’s biggest games when he led the Pioneers to a big upset victory over a David Lee-led Chaminade team in the district tournament at Ladue. Both brothers went on to play college basketball at Loyola University in Chicago. Not only was Anthony an excellent player, but he was an excellent student, a great teammate and a gem of person who was popular with everyone who he came in contact with. He was a fantastic young man who left us way too soon. Smith was remembered last Friday night before Kirkwood’s big game against Parkway South on Senior Night. An emotional ceremony was held before the game in which an inspired Pioneers team pulled off an 80-76 upset. Anthony would have been proud.
We also lost Brian Jones, who played for Soldan High in the 1970s, who died after a long illness. Jones was a tremendous point guard and one of the first individual stars at Soldan during the coaching career of Marvin Neals. A 1975 graduate, Jones started a great tradition of point guards at Soldan that also included the likes of Glenn Marshall, Ken Kaid, Greg “GaGa” Blissitt, Delano “Chubby” Thompson, Dwayne Polk and Sedathon “Debo” Shelton.
One for the librarians
I would like to thank the good folks at my high school alma mater, McCluer North, for allowing me to speak to about 100 students for their “Reader’s Row” program that features area authors. Special thanks to McCluer North librarian Sandra Roberts to setting up the program. I would like to send a special shout-out to the McCluer North girls’ basketball team on their outstanding season so far. The Stars are currently 17-4 and are battling Hazelwood Central and Riverview Gardens for the Suburban North Conference championship. Keep up the good work, ladies.
The Jennings girls are also having a great season for coach Theresa Humble. The Warriors improved to 18-1 after winning the Parkway Central Tournament last week. Their only loss was a hotly contested 50-48 decision to rival McCluer South-Berkeley.
Emmitt’s boy
Congratulations to my friend Derrick Thomas, whose father Emmitt Thomas was recently voted for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Emmitt was a great defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs, among other teams. Derrick is currently the head basketball coach at Western Illinois University, but he spent several years in St. Louis as a player at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, an assistant coach at Saint Louis University and head coach at CBC.
I was also happy to see Art Monk finally get the nod for the Hall of Fame. When I lived in Syracuse, N.Y. years ago, Monk was a star player at Syracuse who switched from running back to wide receiver. He enjoyed a great career with the Redskins. Monk had been passed over several times unjustly before finally getting the vote last weekend.
Awesome.
