Creative story about Coach Abe Lemons in the 80's
 

I found this podcast while browsing the web. Officials with Whistles

There is one story that I thought was creative by Coach Abe Lemons. You can find this story at 23:23 in the podcast.


Coach Abe Lemons for Texas in the early 80's is not happy with the officiating in the game. He calls a timeout and tells his player to guard the person that has been hurting us the most in this game. At this point the game is a blow out and the other team has put in all it's bench players. The Texas player is confused because the starters who caused the most problems are now out of the game. The coach says that the person that has hurt us the most is that guy right over there and points to the official. He says when the ball goes in I want you to guard him. Match up with him and wherever he walks you go with him. Get your hands out and get in a stance and you slide right with him. The kid listens to his coach and is going to do what he says. When the ball is put in play the kid goes right to the official in the backcourt. The kid is guarding the official while he is moving into the front court and the official blows his whistle to stop play and says to the kid "What Are You Doing?!" The kid says "My coach told me to guard the person that has hurt us the most." The official called a technical on Abe Lemons.


I found some other quotes by Abe Lemons on Wikipedia.

- "Damn referees. I'll miss them less than anybody." (after losing his final game by one point, in a bid for victory No. 600)

- "It was the toughest seven man zone we faced all year."

- "Doctors bury their mistakes, mine are still on scholarship."

- "I hope they notice the mistletoe tied to my coattails as I leave town."

- "We went to Alaska once and they made us honorary Alaskans. Then we went to Hawaii and they made us honorary Hawaiians. We're going to the Virgin Islands this year."

Somebody did that in a HS game here a few years back. The next year at the beginning of the season rules meeting the guy from the state office showed it to us on tape and told us in no uncertain terms that if this happens the coach is gone gone gone.

But I loved the mistletoe comment :)

He even had some advice for Chuck (whoever that is):

“Maybe it would be best for me to finish at 599. People seem to like you better when you finish just short.”

That reminds me of a girl I knew in high school. :D

I'm guessing it's not as good a memory for her.

One you've probably heard, but bears repeating:

Shelby Metcalf, Texas A&M basketball coach, when told by one of his players that the player had all F's and one D in has classes, replied, "Well, it looks like to me you're spending too much time on one class, son."

Lemmons was a character, all right, in a conference (at the time) that had its share of them. I don't know if Lemmons really said all that stuff he's quoted as, but after retirement he did give speeches at officials' functions. I think he spoke at one of our (Texas) state meetings for basketball in the early '90s -- one that I didn't attend.

He definitely had a sense of humor and didn't take things too seriously.