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By Anthony Wilson
Sports Writer
I remember lying awake in bed at
night, transistor radio on the night-
stand, listening to Gene Peterson’s
play-by-play calls, anticipating the
moment when
the Houston
Rockets’ of
fense needed a
spark or some
instant offense and Coach Del Har-
would send in No. 23.
Peterson also seemed to favor
sixth-man Calvin Murphy. When
ever the ball made its rounds around
the perimeter and ended up in Mur-
ihy’s hands, Peterson’s voice
nibbled over the airwaves with even
than its usual enthusiasm:
Paultz sets a pick for Murph on the
right wing. Murphy takes the bo
unce pass from Dunleavy. He fakes
thej, dribbles through the lane, stut-
steps and puts up the baby hook.
(Pause) It’s GOOOOOOD!! 1”
When Calvin Murphy retired
from pro basketball in 1983, it was a
solemn day indeed for all true
Rocket fanatics. I remember Mur
phy even symbolically wore a black
suit, shirt and tie to make the an
nouncement. I think I grew up a
litde that day, because 1 Tost my fa
vorite childhood hero.
But Wednesday when I picked up
the Houston Chronicle and read the
sports page, it was a time to rejoice
and reflect on some good memories
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Friday, December 11,1987/The Battalion/Page 13
about Murphy that I hadn’t thought
about in a long time, because Murph
is back — it said so on page 4, section
3.
No, Murphy won’t be back in the
Summit wearing gold and red and
blasting off with Akeem, World and
the other Rockets. He’ll be launch
ing jumpers in Toronto where he’ll
be the player-coach of that city’s In
ternational Basketball Association
team.
The IB A is a newly formed 10-
team league for basketball players
who are D-foot-4 or shorter. The 39-
year-old Murphy was the First pick in
the league’s draft Tuesday.
Some may be skeptical of the wis
dom of Murphy’s decision to return
to the court, but I for one am not.
After all, when the 5-foot-9 Murphy
entered the National Basketball As
sociation as the Rockets second pick
in the 1970 draft, critics said he was
too small to play with the big boys,
even though he had set several
NCAA scoring records at Niagara.
He finished his 14-year career
23rd on the NBA’s all-time scoring
list with 17,949 points. He made the
NBA’s All-Rookie team his first sea
son and is the Rockets’ all-time
leader in scoring, assists, games,
steals and minutes played. He is
sixth in scoring average and second
in free throw percentage.
In 1980-81 he set NBA records
for free throw percentage in a sea
son, .958, and consecutive free
throws made with 78. His No. 23 was
retired last year by the Rockets,
something the team had done for
only one other player.
Along the way, Murphy created a
niche for the little man in basketball
making it possible for current
mighty mites such as Spud Webb,
Muggsy Bogues, Michael Adams
and Andre Turner.
Although he hasn’t played profes
sional basketball in four years, I
doubt Murphy would return to play
ing if he wasn’t sure he could per
form at the level at which people
were accustomed to seeing him play.
The reason Murphy’s retirement
was so hard for his fans to accept was
that his physical skills had shown no
signs of decline, even at the age of
35. He was still one of the best pure
shooters to ever play and seemed to
be as lightning quick as he ever was.
One opponent compared guarding
Murphy to trying to catch a fly with
your bare hand.
And after enduring “the Caldwell
(Jones) years,” with his skills intact,
Murphy should have been looking
forward to playing with draft picks
Ralph Sampson and Rodney Mc
Cray. The team’s future looked
stunningly bright, but Murphy said
it was time for him to move on and
let the younger guys have an oppor
tunity at the big time.
Murphy is a proud man, fierce
competitor and a fighter. No, not a
fighter in the literal, pugilistic sense,
although he has been known to go to
fist city to engage in some fisticuffs
when a bigger man tried to manhan
dle him just because he was smaller.
Murphy never gave up or gave less
than all he had to give, no matter
what the score or situation was.
I remember watching one Rocket
road game on television where Mur
phy and a 6-foot-8 player squared
off for a jump ball. The crowd
laughed at and jeered Murphy, but
was silenced when Murphy won the
tip over a man 11 inches taller.
Maybe I’m just a dreamer who
can’t let go of the past, but I believe
Murphy can step in and provide
some of his old magic for a new
league. It sure would be sweet to lie
in bed one night in the near future,
listening to the radio and hear a
rambunctious voice say, “Murphy
bounces his man off one, two, three
picks. Smith passes cross court to
Murphy. He takes two quick dribbles
and a lets a 19-footer fly. (Pause) It’s
GOOOOOD!!! Nothing but cotton
for Murphy!”
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Oilers ready to face
playoff-bound Saints
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston
Oiler Coach Jerry Glanville ex
pects to be greeted in the Super-
dome Sunday by a capacity New
Orleans Saints crowd booing the
Oilers and cheering their playoff
bound Saints.
And after Sunday’s game,
Glanville will cheer for the Saints
too.
“I hope we kick their butts and
then they win all the rest because
nobody deserves it more than
those people,” Glanville said.
“They never gave up.”
After 20 years of frustration,
the Saints are in the NFL playoffs
with the first winning season
ever.
At last, Saints fans have some
thing to cheer about and Glan
ville already knows about being
booed in the Superdome.
“Nobody can boo better,”
Glanville said admiringly. “They
boo as good as Detroit and Chi
cago. That’s part of the fun. I’m
glad we’re going over there.”
Glanville recalled playing
against the Saints when he was an
assistant coach with the Atlanta
Falcons.
“You come out at one end and
have to walk across the field to get
to your side,” Glanville said.
“They’d give you a standing boo
when you walked across. It was
the greatest feeling. You knew
you were in the NFL.”
Glanville also praised the re
building work of second year
head coach Jim Mora.
“It’s not mirrors, it’s not a
fluke, it’s no mystery, it’s just
good football,” Glanville said.
“When you watch the film, it’s no
mystery, they’re the hottest team
in football right now.”
The Oilers will take a 7-5 re
cord and playoff hopes into the
f ame after a 33-18 victory over
an Diego last week. The victory
ended a two-game skid in which
the Oilers suffered big game
fever in losses to Cleveland and
Indianapolis.
“I think we realized that we
hurt ourselves in the Cleveland
game by being too nervous and
up tight,” Glanville said.
“I think we realized last week
that the only way we can play well
is if we’re relaxed and free-!
ited.”
Oiler quarterback Warren
Moon thinks the team learned
from the big-game jitters against
the Browns.
“We can’t go into this game re
alizing the importance of it,”
Moon said. “That may sound
crazy but you have to approach it
as a regular season game. If we
can do that and not get caught up
in the hype, we’ll be OK.”
-spir-
Cards 7 game Sunday
may be last in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tickets and
apathy were plentiful Thursday as
the St. Louis Cardinals prepared for
a game that may end a 28-year run
in this city.
Busch Stadium could be one-third
empty Sunday when the Cardinals
play their final game in St. Louis this
season — and possibly forever —
against the New York Giants.
“There haven’t been too many
sales today,” Cardinals ticket man
ager Steve Walsh said. “Not much is
happening.”
The Cardinals, who have a 5-7 re
cord after winning nine games total
over the last two seasons, have im
proved their on-field performance.
But with owner William V. Bidwill
entertaining offers from several cit
ies to move the NFL franchise and
advising his players not to buy
homes in St. Louis, fan fallout has
been signficant.
Only 11,795 showed up Oct. 11
for the replacement game against
the New Orleans Saints, and many
of them hooted at the hometown
team. Only twice have the Cardinals
drawn more than 30,000 this season.
A newspaper reporter from Balti
more, one of the cities angling to get
the franchise, said Thursday he had
been looking for diehard fans to talk
to all week but couldn’t find any.
The Cardinal players have been
prepared for a move for a long time.
“I’m sure it will be an emotional
game Sunday,” quarterback Neil Lo
max said.
“But I’ve learned through several
years of experience to go with the
flow, roll with the punches.”
Not everybody is resigned to Bid-
will moving the club, which has been
in St. Louis since 1960.
Three years ago, when Bidwill
first began complaining that 54,392-
seat Busch Stadium was too small to
be competitive in the NFL, business
man Ed Watkins founded “Keep
The Birds In Their Nest.”
Last week, Watkins and Jim Otis,
a running back for the Cardinals in
the 1970s, were behind a move that
persuaded the team to buy 1,000
tickets for the Washington Redskins
game and donate them to charity.
“The team’s been here for 28
years and this might be the last one
and that should be a compelling rea
son to show up,” said Watkins, who
has planned a postgame rally for the
team and expects the players and
coaches to attend.
“The experience itself could be a
collector’s item.”
And because Bidwill said no on
Thursday to representatives from
Columbus, Ohio, and hasn’t yet said
“yes” to Baltimore, Phoenix, Ariz.,
or Memphis, Tenn., some fans are
hopeful. But not nearly enough for
a snow of force on Sunday.
Flowers in the Attic
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BOTHERS BOOKSTORES
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More bytes,
less bucks.
$298.00
Seagate ST-225 hard disk drive,
20 MB, Western Digital
controller and cables included.
30MB: $338.00.
Sale ends December 19, 1987.
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