November 19: Cousy Still Impressive A man who has been in the sports reporting business a long time let out a deep breath as he walked away from an interview with Bob Cousy last night after the Knicks' 112-94 victory over the Royals. He said, "It's an inspiration just to talk to him. There are so many pains in the vocabulary in this business, a guy like Cousy warms you all over." What did Cousy say to merit the gush of affection? Nothing special. He was just Bob Cousy--warm, frank, sensitive and with that overwhelming sense of perspective about sports that makes him 20 points better than many of the gaboons in the coaching business.
First, there was this business of his return to playing status now that he's a pro coach with Cincinnati. His wish to unretire after six years ran into a snag when Boston Celtics Mahatma Red Auebach, Cousy's old boss, demanded his ounce of flesh in return. Cousy didn't think he would be so significant that the Celtics deserved a full body as compensation. So there was an impasse until the thing was worked out yesterday with a deal in which Boston would get injured Royals player Bill Dinwiddie in return for a draft choice. Cousy said, "I'm ashamed to have even been a part of the whole charade. The thing that bothered me about it is that we chipped away at a friendship of 20 years. I don't blame Red for trying to get something, but still. . . In a week, it won't mean much, it won't be that significant, and I'd hope we pick up the 20 years." It was suggested that Auerbach wss only treating Cousy the way he would treat anybody else, because that's the way Auerbach is. Cousy answered, "Yes, I know. He said I was naive. Well, I guess I'd rather be naïve than many other things." Cousy left college coaching because he couldn't stand the hypocrisy of recruiting. He immediately asserted himself at Cincinnati by instituting a system stressing tenacious defense and running. This made Jerry Lucas unhappy because it wasn't a pattern to which he could adjust. Lucas, though, had a clause in his contract which said he couldn't be traded without his consent. So Lucas came up with San Francisco as a team for whom he would willing to play, and a two-for-one deal was consummated. The other part of Cousy's long-range planning is building a Royal team that can take advantage of the great Oscar Robertson, but without Robertson being the near one-man team that he has been. Without saying so in many words Cousy wants Robertson to be like Robertson, but also like Walt Frazier. Cousy said, "Oscar could always get his 40 points a night, but it doesn't necessarily win for you. We've got to get a continuity going where Oscar can still get his 20 shots and still score, but not have a situation where he's the only one we look for." This is where Cousy thinks he can help. "In a tough game, with a lot of tenacious defesne, I could not help. But there are times when we are uptight and when I think the rookies can be steadied that I can put in two or three minutes." He expects to be in uniform tonight when the Lakers play in Cincinnati. There arises the question of Cousy taking the chance of tarnishing his old image as one of the great masters of the game of basketball. A Cousy who is fat and slow and inept would sadden people. He said, "I'm aware of that. I've kept in reasonable shape working out ever since I retired. I have enough pride in what I've accomplished in the past not to make a fool of myself. On the other hand, all these things like image are important, but as you get older, you see that they are not that important. He said, "You might like to know I've taken out a $500,000 term insurance policy. That makes my wife happy." There was a point in last night's game in which Cousy called three times out in a row. He explained, "I told them it was a propitious time to foul. But the Knicks came down and scored again. So I called a timeout again to remind them. When the Knicks scored again without any of our guys fouling, I said it would cost the guard who did not foul the appropriate ball handler $100." The Royals then fouled. They had learned what "propitious" meant. Among other things, Cousy is teaching them vocabulary. There was one other thing. Some time ago Cousy had mentioned that his will to win was so strong, he couldn't let his own children beat him at checkers. He said he tried to let them beat him sometimes, but he couldn't actually go through with it. So the question was, "Now that you are older and wiser, do you let your chidren beat you at checkers?" Cousy smiled. "I don't know. Maybe my children are particularly poor checker players, but. . ."
I should amend to this column an incident when I was a star sports reporter on the "Gold and White", the newspaper of Eastern District High School. I accompanied our basketball team one day for a pre-season scrimmage against Andrew Jackson High, one of the basketball powers in New York City. Because it was only a scrimmage, Eastern District coach Gyp Shuman allowed Howard Shamburger, the last man on the squad, to start the game. Sham, as we called him, was something of the team clown. He looked at the Jackson players, noted that there were four well-built studs and one smaller wiry player. He pointed to the wiry guy, said, "I'll take him." With Sham guarding him, the wiry guy threw dazzling passes and made unorthodox shots. Sham had chosen to guard none other than Bob Cousy. Sham thereby became a legend in Williamsburg for his epic move.
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John Wooden could take the Seven Santini Brothers and mold them into a respecrtable basketball team. |
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