Jerry Tarkanian dead at age 84

[Da Coach]

Long time UNLV head coach and basketball Hall of Famer Jerry Tarkanian died this morning at age 84 in Las Vegas.
In addition to his coaching successes, he is most remembered for his opposition to the NCAA

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/sports/ncaabasketball/jerry-tarkanian-college-basketball-force-and-ncaa-foe-dies-at-84.html?_r=0

Tarkanian was one of the college game’s most successful and colorful coaches in his 19 seasons at U.N.L.V.... In his 31 years as a major-college coach, he won more than 700 games, fashioning a high-scoring running game and smothering defensive play while recruiting junior college players that other coaches had ignored.

Tarkanian took U.N.L.V.’s Runnin’ Rebels to the N.C.A.A.'s Final Four four times, winning the championship in 1990 with the largest margin of victory in a title game, a 103-73 rout of Duke behind the future N.B.A. players Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon. His teams won at least 20 games in all but one of his seasons in Las Vegas.

[tornado]

Tark's 706-198 (.781 winning pct) record in 31 years - mostly at schools (LBSU, UNLV, Fresno) that are very hard to recruit to, I believe, is every bit as impressive as Coach K's 1000 wins in 40 years mostly at Duke (& .766 winning pct.)


We also have Tark to thank since his lawsuits exposed the NCAA as a corrupt, gool-ole-boys club that denied certain hand-picked members due process, penalized purely on the basis of hearsay and allegations that we unproven, and which literally was allowed to slander coaches like Tark simply because they didn't like him.
He ended up winning almost all those lawsuits because the NCAA was indeed inept and corrupt, and probably still has elements of same.



btw - as long as we mentioned Coach K did you know this???
Coach Mike Krzyzewski attended and graduated (in 1965) from Chicago Archbishop Weber High School in Chicago...
which later (closed and merged with and ) became GORDON TECH (where Dick Versace coached) and is now renamed Chicago DePaul College Prep High School.

[capecod]

Tarkanian and BUs Willie Betts

Tark's 706-198 (.781 winning pct) record in 31 years - mostly at schools (LBSU, UNLV, Fresno) that are very hard to recruit to, I believe, is every bit as impressive as Coach K's 1000 wins in 40 years mostly at Duke (& .766 winning pct.)

Before Long Beach St and UNLV, 'Tark the Shark' was the head coach at Pasadena City College. Tark was only there 2 years before Long Beach St came calling to make him their head coach. But a Bradley Braves transfer, Willie Betts, was a key member of Tark's first championship squad a PCC.

That Pasadena CC team finished 31-1 in 1966-67 and won the California State JC championship. Willie Betts was a starting forward on that team-with teammates that included the Trapp brothers and Sam Robinson(all of which followed Tark to Long Beach St). Another member of the PCC squad was future Atlanta Braves first basemen Darrell Evans.

Betts had enrolled at Pasadena CC at the urging of Bradley Coach Joe Stowell (see link w that story...4th paragraph in) after flunking out of Bradley.

http://www.si.com/vault/1968/02/05/546231/mlb

The Betts timeline:

Willie Betts 6'5 was a Parade HS AA(Bradley's first Parade AA) who entered Bradley in 1964. Willie had a reputation as a great leaper and also a winner-the only Michigan HS player to play on 4 different State Championship teams.

1964-65
Betts was the second leading scorer on the 14-1 BU Frosh team(frosh teammate Joe Allen was the leading scorer on that team)

1965-66
Betts began his varsity career at BU as a soph (frosh weren't eligible for the varsity in those days). Willie average 4.2pts per game during the 1st semester but flunked off the team.

1966-67
As the SI article linked above notes, Bradley coach Joe Stowell urged Willie to enroll at Pasadena CC to get his grades back in order and regain his eligibility.

Willie starred on that Pasadena championship team- and also got his grades in order to return to Bradley

1967-68
Willie returned to Bradley and started in the frontcourt at forward with LC Bowen (forward) and Joe Allen (center)-and Al Smith at guard.

Bowen was another former Parade AA-so for awhile Bradley had 2 Parade AAs starting together, but it didn't last. Betts flunked out yet again after the 1st semester.

That was the end of Willie Betts too brief career as a Bradley Brave.

1968 ABA draft
Willie was selected by the Minnesota Pipers in a later round of that draft

[tornado]

Thanks capecod - I knew you'd have a great story..and correct me if anything from my memory about Willie is inaccurate...

but like you I remember Willie Betts as an incredible leaper but his scoring ability was limited...(once grabbed 19 rebounds against Loiusville (1/27/68 )
..a guy who probably had a 50 inch vertical but nobody bothered in those days to measure...
he could easily dunk while leaving fingerprints at the top of the backboard, but NCAA banned dunking in 1967 so Willie couldn't dunk after that - so he just soared above the hoop, put the ball between both hands and shove it down thru the hoop the way you or I would throw a wad of paper in the waste basket or down the toilet - thus the refs would count it as a legit shot & not a dunk.

But it turned out that his ability to just soar and dunk over other players came back to haunt Willie - as he never bothered to learn to shoot and couldn't hit a brick wall if it wasn't a dunk.
Willie's lifetime 38% FT shooting pct is a testament to that and when he tried to make a go of it in the pros, his inability to make a shot other than a dunk cost him.

[capecod]

Willie Betts and Cal Criddle

Thanks capecod - I knew you'd have a great story..and correct me if anything from my memory about Willie is inaccurate...

but like you I remember Willie Betts as an incredible leaper but his scoring ability was limited...(once grabbed 19 rebounds against Loiusville (1/27/68 )
..a guy who probably had a 50 inch vertical but nobody bothered in those days to measure...
he could easily dunk while leaving fingerprints at the top of the backboard, but NCAA banned dunking in 1967 so Willie couldn't dunk after that - so he just soared above the hoop, put the ball between both hands and shove it down thru the hoop the way you or I would throw a wad of paper in the waste basket or down the toilet - thus the refs would count it as a legit shot & not a dunk.

But it turned out that his ability to just soar and dunk over other players came back to haunt Willie - as he never bothered to learn to shoot and couldn't hit a brick wall if it wasn't a dunk.
Willie's lifetime 38% FT shooting pct is a testament to that and when he tried to make a go of it in the pros, his inability to make a shot other than a dunk cost him.

Ironically, Bradley had two similar players around the same time with the exact same characteristics - Willie Betts and Cal Criddle.

Both could jump over a building and neither could shoot! Too bad the dunk was banned when they both played.

Criddle was a year behind Betts at BU. The biggest irony is that they never played together with the Braves!!

Cal Criddle came to Bradley from the same HS in SF as Bill Russell, KC Jones, Frank Robinson and Curt Flood(among others). He was only 6'3 but could outleap most everyone.

Criddle was on the Braves frosh team when Betts was a soph on the varsity... Cal averaged 16.0 pts for the frosh(Bowen and Al Smith were frosh teammates)

Criddle started as a soph on the varsity(averaging 8.3)-ironically in place of Betts, who was at Pasadena CC

The next year (1967-68 ) Betts came back-but Criddle was missing(I actually can't remember why)until Betts flunked off the team for a second time.

The next year (1968-69) Criddle came back(from wherever he went) and started at center (at 6'3)...the starting fowards were Kuberski and Bowen(both of whom averaged 23.0 pts)-Criddle averaged 9.9

Criddle came back again in 1969-70(his 5th yr), mostly playing center yet again in what had to be the smallest BU lineup in many, many years:

Gene Gathers 6'7
Sam Simmons 6'3
Cal Criddle 6'3 (though Rich Schultz 6'5 started at times too)
Tom Campbell 6'2
Frankie Sylvester 5'4

[tornado]

Criddle missed some time on the team when arrested for carrying a gun in a bar

here's a picture of Cal Criddle about halfway down on this page
..also a little about Bradley's short lineup with Sylvester & 5-9 Crusoe

http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/newsrecord/1970/1970_03_03.pdf

and a picture of Willie Betts

[afan]

Jerry

I met Jerry in Las Vegas once. We had a buffet breakfast together. I told him that I was a Bradley fan. All he talked about was Hersey Hawkins and how he wished that he had recruited him. A super nice, down to earth guy. What a loss.

[bradleyfan124]

Can somebody help me out here? Didn't Cal Criddle later become an FBI agent?

[tornado]

Don't know but found another picture of Cal on an ebay auction, and a little text about him verbaling to come to Bradley to play for Joe Stowell.




"CAL CRIDDLE WILL PLAY FOR BRADLEY
(Oakland Tribune) McClymonds High School's Cal Criddle, twice an All-Oakland Athletic League basketball player,
has signed a letter of intent to attend Bradley University.
Criddle, 6-4, was a second team All-American in one basketball magazine. Criddle, who was 44th in his graduating class of 249,
will study to become an electronics technician."

[wizard1]

Jerry Tarkenian......

Back in the 1960s I was traveling to the San Fran. Bay Area and Joe Stowell asked me to go to McClymons High in Oakland and take a look at and evaluate Cal Criddle who was a high school senior.
I met Cals coach and he invited me to sit in on a practice. Cal was a great leaper and pretty hard nosed inside. He had a different sort of jump shot form bending his knees at the top of his jump. He was an obvious great athlete but a little short to play inside. However, I told Stowell that I thought Cal could fit well at BU so Joe offered and Cal accepted. A little ancient history!
Wiz

[tornado]

Thanks capecod - ....I remember Willie Betts as an incredible leaper
... probably had a 50 inch vertical ....

speaking of 50-inch vertical...
there's a juco kid getting some attention for his incredible leaping ability...
Johnnathan Lindsey

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2553477-butler-community-college-basketball-player-front-flips-over-car-with-ease

BTW - Coach Wardle's good friend Brian Barone is head coach at Butler so maybe we can stay on the kid
He transferred over to Butler from another juco

http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2014-15/div2/players/johnnathanlindseya0xq