Page 10/The Battalion/Thursday, June 2, 1983-
r
Boston-ex inherits Sampson
Fitch takes Rockets’ helm
United Press International
HOUSTON — In acquiring
the head coaching job with the
Houston Rockets, Bill Fitch also
inherits the task of turning
around a team that won only 14
games last season.
That job, however, might not
prove too difficult for the for
mer Boston Celtics’ head coach,
who will now coach 7-foot-4 Vir
ginia All-America center Ralph,
Sampson next year.
Fitch, 51, who resigned from
the Celtics last week after four
seasons, Wednesday was named
the Rockets’ seventh head coach.
He also coached nine years with
the Cleveland Cavaliers before
going to Boston.
The coach said Rockets’ own
er Charlie Thomas had nothing
to do with his leaving Boston,
but everything to do with his not
pursuing jobs with the Chicago
Bulls and San Diego Clippers.
“I left Boston because we had
a great owner (Harry Mangu-
rian) and he was leaving,” said
Fitch. “There is nothing more
important to the stability of a
franchise than good ownership.
That’s what Houston has in
Charlie Thomas. This was a
good trade for me.”
Fitch signed with Thomas be
fore beginning talks with the
Clippers or Bulls. He said he did
not renege on any appoint
ments.
Fitch discussed the talents of
Sampson, a certainty to be
Houston’s first-round draft and
the No. 1 pick overall in the
NBA draft.
“I’m looking forward to
coaching someone of Ralph
Sampson’s ability, but he’s got an
awful lot to live up to,” Fitch
said. “If you come into the NBA
and live on your laurels, you can
spend some awful long nights.
He’s going to need some help
aand I think he’s the type of
player who realizes that.”
In Fitch, the Rockets hired a
veteran with a proved NBA
track record.
year contract plus incentives
worth more than $50,000.
Fitch said he expects to have
to “whip” the Rockets into
shape.
“It’s easy to be optimistic ab
out the future here,” he said.
“But the players are going to
have to work hard and pay the
price. What part I have in that
I’m not sure — other than bring
ing the whip and getting after
it.”
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“He’s really what we’ve been
looking for,” Thomas said.
No details of Fitch’s contract
were disclosed, but it was esti
mated the Rockets offered him
$200,000 the first year of a four-
He said after leaving the Cel
tics he was “hiding” in Cleveland
and was found by Rockets’ Gen
eral Manager Ray Patterson be
cause Patterson had “an old
phone book.” Fitch decided to
visit the Rockets before any
other interested club because he
wanted to meet Thomas.
SMU grid coach resigns
United Press International
DALLAS — Southern
Methodist University assistant
football coach Mike Barr
announced his
Wednesday.
resignation
Barr, who coached at SMU
for seven years — most recently
as defensive end coach, said he
was leaving to become a real
estate agent in Dallas.
Barr joined the SMU
coaching staff in 1976 under
former head coach Ron Meyer.
He played defensive end for
Purdue from 1969-73 and was
an assistant coach there from
1973-75.
Barr served as defensive
coordinator for the Lafayette
Generals, a semi-pro football
team, before joining the SMU
staff.
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Jack Dempsey brought|
respect to pro boxing
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by Milton Richman
UPI Sports Editor
No profession ever was in
need of a good image more
than boxing, and nobody ever
gave it a better one than Jack
Dempsey.
He took it out of the realm of
a racket and brought it back to
being a sport. He couldn’t purify
boxing completely, all by him
self. But he certainly was re
sponsible for creating a much
cleaner, more wholesome aura
for it during the seven years he
was the world heavyweight
champion from 1919 until 1926.
Lionized, idolized and publi
cized like no other sports figure
before him, Dempsey grew in
fame, reputation and personal
stature after retiring in 1927.
He already was champion the
year I was born and although I
never actually saw him fight, I
had met and spoken with him a
number of times, seen movies of
several of his bouts and talked to
men he had fought, like Gene
Tunney and Jack Sharkey, so 1
felt I knew something about him
and what he was like.
It turned out I was wrong, I
didn’t really get to know him at
all until one day a few years ago
when I had the opportunity to
visit him and his devoted wife,
Deana, in their Manhattan
apartment. I’m grateful I had
efort
that chance before he died
Tuesday, because he talked so
openly and candidly — about so
many things in his life — and
because there will never be
another opportunity to speak
with him again.
One of the things Jack De
mpsey told me was that some
times when he reflected on his
life, he felt he hadn’t made any
thing of himself. It was a curious
statement and he expanded on
it.
“My father was a school
teacher,” he said. “He always
said, ‘get an education, get an
education.’ I didn’t go to school.
With my father’s help, I did get
an eighth-grade diploma
although I never attended
school regularly. How 1 wish
now 1 did. I would’ve liked to
have made something of my
self.”
Like what?
pounds heavier than he,
do, Ohio, to becomet
on July 4, 1919.
Years back, more soil
recent ones, people ofltl
inisci atrd with Dempsflf
inm how badly they ftjl
him !>eing the victimofil
count in his second f
Tunney. He thanked i
then expressionsbuthel
he e\ ent wally came tM
that long-count loss tun
to be one of the best dll
ever happened to I
“People remembtH
cause of it,” he said, “lod
man like- Tunney wasf
grace. He was a greatf
Besides, it was my own
should’ve gone to at
corner.”
“A lawyer, a doctor,” De
mpsey said.
He wasn’t joking.
The two fights that stuck out
most in his life, he said, were his
two losses toTunney, particular
ly his controversial “long-count”
defeat in the second one, but the
biggest single kick he ever had
was beating outsized Jess Wil
lard, six inches taller and 60
These last few yean«i
tremely difficult ones it
mpsev. Severe arthrilhl
him to get around witll
and there were other/
problems. But he seldcil
good humor anil nevetf
sire to live. For that,
wife to thank, whicht
did.
lark
I
I
I
OCT. 1
MCAT
“Dear God has been;
me,” he said. “First, Hta
a wonderful mother ja
such a good wife. Sheil
the work and I get theMplant
I had one last quest] pipe
him. How did it feel be® *
Dempsey? He spilled at®/| s ^
said: [VI V J
“You can’t believe ht]
derful it feels. People
to you and people are
you. Everybody wants
you.”
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