Rec AC is ex-NBA player!

[Mark Padgett]

Sixth grade girls game. Teams come out to the floor and one team has an AC who is an ex-NBA player. It's Chris Dudley. The first thing you notice about him is how freakin' tall he is - over 7 feet. It's just a little intimidating. Anyway, he was a really good AC. He deferred to the HC and during breaks, drew some diagrams for the girls and acted like a real teacher. Of course the best part was that he never questioned a call or made any disparaging remarks.

When the game was over I went over to the HC and told him, "Your team really shot well from the free throw line. I guess I can tell which coach wasn't involved in teaching them that." He chuckled and said, "You got that right".

For those of you not familiar with Dudley's career, he was one of the worst FT shooters in the history of the NBA. If fact, he still holds the record (I think) for most consecutive missed free throws - 16. Also, he missed five in a row during one trip to the line to shoot two free throws. There were lane violations that gave him the extra three shots. You gotta need help when you miss five when you're attempting two.

[ref2coach]

Two weeks ago working a 4 game rec set one of the Dad-Coaches was a well known former UK guard. Very obvious by her play who his daughter was. At one point he questioned a no call, I gave rule citation, he had a stunned look and said "I have never heard that, guess I don't know the rules as well as you".

Two years ago my son was refereeing in the home town city rec league. One of the Dad-Coaches was a then current Titans football player. He was not well behaved. My son and I talked about it after his first encounter, two weeks later when he had him again he issued a TF, enforced the seat belt rule. His partner another teen referee was freaked out that he had enforced proper behavior on such a "big" man.

[Mark Padgett]

Here in my suburb, we've had quite a few Portland Trailblazers kids play in our local rec program, including Maurice Lucas' kids and Rick Adelman's kids. Also, Kevin Kunnert coached his daughter's team one year.

Years ago, I was working a game in which Kenny Carr's son was playing. Kenny was in the bleachers watching. Every time the point guard on the other team was dribbling, Kenny would kind of chant, "traveling, traveling, traveling". Finally, I went over to him and said, "Kenny - you play in the NBA. How would you know what traveling is?" He just laughed and said, "You know, you're right."

[paulsonj72]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Sixth grade girls game. Teams come out to the floor and one team has an AC who is an ex-NBA player. It's Chris Dudley. The first thing you notice about him is how freakin' tall he is - over 7 feet. It's just a little intimidating. Anyway, he was a really good AC. He deferred to the HC and during breaks, drew some diagrams for the girls and acted like a real teacher. Of course the best part was that he never questioned a call or made any disparaging remarks.

When the game was over I went over to the HC and told him, "Your team really shot well from the free throw line. I guess I can tell which coach wasn't involved in teaching them that." He chuckled and said, "You got that right".

For those of you not familiar with Dudley's career, he was one of the worst FT shooters in the history of the NBA. If fact, he still holds the record (I think) for most consecutive missed free throws - 16. Also, he missed five in a row during one trip to the line to shoot two free throws. There were lane violations that gave him the extra three shots. You gotta need help when you miss five when you're attempting two.

What's he doing now since he lost the election for governor in Oregon in 2010.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by paulsonj72

What's he doing now since he lost the election for governor in Oregon in 2010.

His main job is helping to coach his daughter's basketball team.

Oh yeah, he's also working for some investment company. Haven't heard anything about whether or not he's staying involved in politics.

[fiasco]

Funny I was just watching ESPN classic showing of the game between the Knicks and Heat where Alonzo Mourning got in a fight and almost knocked out Jeff Van Gundy. That's the game where Mourning was absolutely manhandling Dudley in the post.

[Freddy]

Back a decade and a half ago when I was at a high school over in RichMSN's neck of the woods, one of the 5/6 grade school teams that played an annual Lutheran tournament in our gym had a volunteer coach, former NBA-er Randy Breuer. Quite a sight seeing him bend down to help coach the kids during timeouts. 7'3" mentoring players that seemed about a third his size. They listened to him.

[grunewar]

During the recent NBA strike/hiatus a guest speaker at one of our Association meetings was a current NBA Ref. He "moonlights" as his daughter's AAU Coach (I believe he said it was 14U). He told some great stories about his dealings with the local refs. Great stuff!

[nwsquid]

Originally Posted by grunewar

During the recent NBA strike/hiatus a guest speaker at one of our Association meetings was a current NBA Ref. He "moonlights" as his daughter's AAU Coach (I believe he said it was 14U). He told some great stories about his dealings with the local refs. Great stuff!

I'd love to read any of them, if you can recall them well enough.

[cmathews]

Originally Posted by fiasco

Funny I was just watching ESPN classic showing of the game between the Knicks and Heat where Alonzo Mourning got in a fight and almost knocked out Jeff Van Gundy. That's the game where Mourning was absolutely manhandling Dudley in the post.

If you watch Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel this week, they do a story on the VanGundy Brothers....they show the fight and it is his recolection that Grandma ma is the one who actually hits him...accidentally....

[grunewar]

Hey Mark - as you recover, ask someone to bring you this week's Sports Illustrated - has a nice article (pg 112) on Chris Dudley - his career, coaching, and charity work.

Hope you are well.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Chris Dudley - his career, coaching, and charity work ...

... and his infamous free throw shooting, he once missed five in a row in one trip to the line (three opponent violations). There's a photo in the article of Dudley shooting a free throw. Hand position looks good, both the shooting hand, and the guide hand, posture is good, concentration looks good, and he looks confident, but look at the seams on the ball. I've never heard of anyone being coached to shoot free throws with the seams parallel to the shot, players are alway taught to shoot with the seams perpendicular to the shot.

[bradfordwilkins]

Pervis Ellison wasn't nervous at all when I've had him for his middle school AAU team - in fact he's a great guy and a good coach. His team I believe is in Philly but they traveled up to Brooklyn to play.