David Thirdkill

[tornado]

Bradley great David Thirdkill was discussed in the BU-Loyola game thread from yesterday...

had a nice chance to chat with David Thirdkill, he came over to the hotel to greet the team and staff and was at the game...great to see him...

Just saw David Thirdkill at the Braves sendoff party at the hotel.

Dave Reynolds has a little more about him

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20160304/reynolds-sheriff-is-back-in-town-in-st-louis?rssfeed=true&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

..but I can add a little more as well...
David was at the hotel and the game with a friend who was also a local high school basketball player from many years ago from the St. Louis area - who did not reveal his name but he was a very tall guy - maybe 6-6..
David said he's doing OK, and still plays some basketball in local leagues (even tho he'd be 55)
David met & chatted with fans in the lobby of the Embassy Suites Hotel and up in the 4th floor gathering room where the rally & team send-off was...
Several fans including Da Coach and I, plus members of our Athletic Department staff all talked with Thirdkill and he seemed
really into being part of the Bradley crowd & enjoying the experience. I sure hope that this encourages David to be more involved as one of our legends and to come to some games in Peoria.
Thanks to mexicobufan for alerting me to look for David as he's how I knew that David was going to be there.
Dave Snell got him tickets to the game and David enjoyed sitting behind the Bradley bench where other staff family & players' families were sitting.
One other thing David told me was that he does still keep in touch pretty regularly with Mitchell Anderson and that he sympathized with Mitchell's health problems -

and the scar that Dave remarked on as if it was new...is not new- as I recall he had that in the 1980's


"Now we know where David Thirdkill is. Since he’s made the first move, maybe Bradley can welcome him back.
Once a Brave …"

[Da Coach]

There is much more to David's playing history that what Dave Reynolds wrote. After Thirdkill finished his NBA career in 1987, he went on to play 9 more years elsewhere and had good success. He did not retire from professional basketball until 1996 at the age of 36.

The following is compiled from multiple sources.
1982–1987-
NBA- five different teams- Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, San Antonio Spurs, and Boston Celtics (was member of the Celtics' 1985-86 NBA Championship team)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/thirdda01.html

1986–1987-
Tanduay Rhum Masters (Philippines)- he won a championship with Tanduay, and was named the "Best Import" in the Phillipines Basketball Association.

1987-
Lhuillier Converse

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1370&dat=19870629&id=7KEVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZwsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2930,4117143&hl=en

1988-
Purefoods TJ Hotdogs (Philippines)

1987-1988
Rochester Flyers (CBA)

1989-
Virtus Roma (Italy)

1989-1990-
Chorale Roanne Basket (France)

1991-1994-
Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)

1994-1995-
Hapoel Holon (Israel)

1995-1996-
Bnei Herzelia (Israel)

[wily coyote]

I am so happy David was able to reunite with the Sheriff. He was one of the best players in our history and for him to not apart of what we have going on is not acceptable. It sure sounds like David was treated like family to me and kudos to Mr. Snell. Now lets get him to a BU game so he can be recognized him for what he did for our program. Just don't do it in January, maybe pre Christmas or late Feb. Thanks Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Snell for your part in making this happen and great article Dave.

[Da Coach]

Dave Snell is the only Bradley person who goes back far enough to have known David Thirdkill. Thank goodness Dave was able to hook up and arrange to get tickets for him. There were a number of us fans who go way back who talked to Thirdkill at the team hotel, and he seemed delighted that people remembered him and welcomed him. I thought he looked really good for being 55 years old. It would be great to have him back at a game in Peoria next season, and honor him and the 1981-82 team again.

[tornado]

... It sure sounds like David was treated like family to me and kudos to Mr. Snell. Now lets get him to a BU game...

... he seemed delighted that people remembered him and welcomed him. ....

I also noted that David approached the group of young fans, cheerleaders, etc. quite cautiously at first - never stepping more than a few inches from the elevator - looking perhaps a bit timid that maybe nobody would know who he was...
But once word started spreading that David Thirdkill was standing right there, and that he'd be sitting in the Bradley section at the game - the fans and the BU staff did indeed treat him royally and he seemed to be enjoy it quite a bit.
I also hope this encourages David to come and take part in more Bradley functions, maybe have him, JJ, Willie Eddie Mathews, Donald Reese, etc..all back to honor them all at once!
They won a National Championship!!

[wizard1]

David Thirdkill

It was great to see that David Thirdkill was in St. Louis and was greeted by many BU fans. Thanks to Dave Snell for getting him tickets.
I was involved with Dick V. in Davids recruiting since it was legal for boosters to recruit in those days. David was an absolutely great high school player and was close to a couple of Peoria guys who worked with Dick to sign David. He was always very quiet but played VERY TOUGH and was our 100% "Stopper" always defending the opponents best player. He and Mitchell A. were very close.
Wiz

[BRADLEY FAN 49]

Everybody always talks about his defense which was terrific. But the thing that most impressed me watching him play was when he had an opening to the basket the defender had better not try and stop him because he was a dunk the ball first type of player. I would love to see us get a player of his caliber for next year.

[Jeffesh]

I was only around 10 years old during Thirdkill's playing days, so I always remembered him as the Sheriff and thought of him as only a defensive player. I recently got the opportunity to watch some games from that era and was impressed at what a great offensive player he also was. Great all round player. I miss those days, great teams, fun to watch.

[tornado]

Here's a Celtics column about David Thirdkill

http://www.celticslife.com/2016/08/what-hell-happened-todavid-thirdkill.html