Bernard King's first college game. Who remembers? Where were you?

#101
#101
I was in Stokely in the balcony seats behind the basket with my parents as a high school sophomore.
My dad had 4 season tickets for basketball and 2 for football for years. I saw a lot of great Vols history and some heartbreak as well.
Bernard King remains the greatest basketball Vol of all time and it's not even close. Never understood how those stacked teams did not do better in the tournament.

Having said that, I always enjoyed Coach Mears' earlier teams before Ernie & Bernie more.
The Ron Widby SEC Champion in 1967 and the early 70's teams with Mike Edwards and John Snow in the backcourt, both great shooters and Len Kosmalski at center, SEC Champs in '72.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JarFly, chuckiepoo, EasternVol and 1 other person
#102
#102
A bunch of us 14-15 year old neighborhood kids would assemble at someone’s house and listen to John Ward call the game. My parents had one of those old console/turntable pieces of furniture with a radio built in, and we had the external speakers wired thru the walls that looked like the outdoor speakers they’d use to signal a nuclear strike incoming.

We finally figured out a way to extend our antenna and barely get the replays on that Sneedville UHf station, but it was grainy. We were in Cleveland
 
  • Like
Reactions: JarFly, chuckiepoo and Jax_Vol
#103
#103
knox73 said:
Thanks for posting this. I was there too. What a great game and team. The first game I saw Bernard play as I recall was his first SEC game vs. Auburn. Auburn had a highly ranked freshman named Mike Mitchell who had more publicity than King. King ate Mitchell up and stole the show easily as Vols won. Never saw anyone as quick as Bernard King. Really terrific to see Jackson, Woods, King and Grunfeld and hear John Ward once again. I think Kentucky won the ncaa championship the next year or in 1977. I saw the cats in Rupp that year vs Iona coached by Jim Valvano. Kyle Macy came in to team with Robey, Phillips, givens and James Lee for a formidable team. Ernie and Bernie gave them fits, incredibly intense and physical games.
Click to expand...
Ernie and Bernard never played against Kyle Macy when he was at UK
 
#110
#110
WBO said:
I hate you.

Was in my 3rd year at UT when Bernard arrived, living in frat house so it was a 3 minute walk to Stokley. Went to all the games. For lesser games you could walk up to ticket window 5 minutes before game with student ID and get in. One of the little sisters dated Ernie and one of the brothers was from his old neighborhood so we saw a lot of him.

In his first game against Kentucky at Rupp, Joe B. Hall had three big guys all over 6'10" and sent them out to mug Bernard. Refs let it go. Wouldn't happen today, would be multiple ejections. At end of game a fan threw a lit cigarette into Bernard's hair and he went into stands after him.

Bernard comes into locker room afterwards, seething with anger, and tells teammates that as long as he plays at Tennessee they will never lose to Kentucky again.

They didn't lose to Kentucky again until the year after Bernard left school.
Click to expand...
Game was actually in Memorial. While I knew the story, I had it recanted to me by John Ward at a VASF luncheon back in the day.
Also mentioned his “very good friend “ Cawood Ledford, a UK legend when he found out I lived in Lexington.
 
#111
#111
scvol98 said:
Game was actually in Memorial. While I knew the story, I had it recanted to me by John Ward at a VASF luncheon back in the day.
Also mentioned his “very good friend “ Cawood Ledford, a UK legend when he found out I lived in Lexington.
Click to expand...

Also did Bernard go into the stands? I’d never heard that before. I’m guessing that that has been exaggerated over time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BernardKingGOAT
#114
#114
vol_smoothie said:
I was in Stokely in the balcony seats behind the basket with my parents as a high school sophomore.
My dad had 4 season tickets for basketball and 2 for football for years. I saw a lot of great Vols history and some heartbreak as well.
Bernard King remains the greatest basketball Vol of all time and it's not even close. Never understood how those stacked teams did not do better in the tournament.

Having said that, I always enjoyed Coach Mears' earlier teams before Ernie & Bernie more.
The Ron Widby SEC Champion in 1967 and the early 70's teams with Mike Edwards and John Snow in the backcourt, both great shooters and Len Kosmalski at center, SEC Champs in '72.
Click to expand...
My great uncle Bill Pryor of Knoxville sat behind the basket also, I do not know which end. But I can remember him describing King as the best player he had seen when visiting Northwest Tn. at Christmas. We listened to all the games on radio with John Ward, we only got to see the occasional Saturday afternoon TV game, or the Ky. late night replays if we wished to see the Vols. Those teams were some of the most exciting ever to wear a Big Orange uniform. King, Grunfield, Darden, Jackson, Johnson and others played strong team basketball. I got Coach Mears autograph when he was at UT-Martin on the Ernie and Bernie Sports Illustrated magazine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vol_smoothie and chuckiepoo
#115
#115
Age 18. Sec U row 9. family seats, didn't join my new frat bros. We leaned against the back wall more often than we sat in the seats.

BK was one of a kind.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo
#117
#117
scvol98 said:
Game was actually in Memorial. While I knew the story, I had it recanted to me by John Ward at a VASF luncheon back in the day.
Also mentioned his “very good friend “ Cawood Ledford, a UK legend when he found out I lived in Lexington.
Click to expand...
After that game, King vowed to never lose to Kentucky again. He kept that promise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BernardKingGOAT and chuckiepoo
#119
#119
I seem to recall a game against Alabama I think that went into overtimes with Ernie & Bernie both fouled out. I seem to remember Jackson playing a superb game and we won.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo
#122
#122
hlee said:
I seem to recall a game against Alabama I think that went into overtimes with Ernie & Bernie both fouled out. I seem to remember Jackson playing a superb game and we won.
Click to expand...
I actually was at that game in Tuscaloosa in 1976. We were down four with 25 seconds left and Bama shooting a one and one. King and Grunfeld had fouled out. Bama missed and Jackson rushed down and hit a shot. Bama missed another front end and Jackson hit another shot to send it to OT. We lost in double OT. Had it won in first OT. We were up two and Bama missed a last second shot to tie. Austin Clark boxed out perfect for rebound but some Bama dude shoved him into front row and grabbed rebound for easy layin to send to second OT.

The problem with those teams is there was no depth and rotation. Starters played almost the full 40 minutes. King and Grunfeld almost always did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BernardKingGOAT
#123
#123
Sadly, this was the first year when the family totally vacated Knoxville, I was still in Nsshville after graduating Belmont and parents moved to South Dakota so our prime seats in the 7th row of the Orange Tie Section had new owners. Watched all the replays late night in Nashville. AFTER listening to games on my transistor radio. Many times while in the stands at our BB games. Wife to be was three years behind me so I was still hanging around.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chuckiepoo, SuzyVol and BernardKingGOAT
#124
#124
I was at the game sitting under the basket. Bernard had the quickest jump shot that I had ever saw and like most Barnes players are taught, he released the ball at the top of his jump. Because of this his shot was impossible to block, in fact I never saw him ever a shot blocked. Bernard caught the passes from Ernie that were turnovers for Ernie the previous season. Their play together was at a pro level. They both averages 25 points a game for the three years they played for the Vols.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CobbVol
#125
#125
ZZ13 said:
I actually was at that game in Tuscaloosa in 1976. We were down four with 25 seconds left and Bama shooting a one and one. King and Grunfeld had fouled out. Bama missed and Jackson rushed down and hit a shot. Bama missed another front end and Jackson hit another shot to send it to OT. We lost in double OT. Had it won in first OT. We were up two and Bama missed a last second shot to tie. Austin Clark boxed out perfect for rebound but some Bama dude shoved him into front row and grabbed rebound for easy layin to send to second OT.

The problem with those teams is there was no depth and rotation. Starters played almost the full 40 minutes. King and Grunfeld almost always did.
Click to expand...
That they were a high scoring machine of an offense makes the min/game even more mind boggling impressive
 
New Posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

Advertisement



Back
Top