Crawford Chronicles: Scooter Edition

Second in a series of remembrances by former Cardinals about iconic Crawford Gym.

class="has-text-align-none">If not nearly as magnificent as those dimes he fed Bobby Turner through traffic as a high profile, eerily impassive freshman, it was still “Assist Scooter McCray.”

class="has-text-align-none">I was on my way out to chat him up and had misremembered the exact location of his La-Z-Boy store on Hurstbourne Parkway.

class="has-text-align-none">“Sorry,” I apologized upon arrival after he guided me in over my cell, “just an old man with a bad memory and aches and pains.”

class="has-text-align-none">“Tell me about it,” he responded pointing to his legs, “I have to wear compression socks.”

class="has-text-align-none">“It’s the tenth anniversary of the summer they tore down Crawford, just wondering what you remember about practice and those summer nights?”

class="has-text-align-none">“There were no ticky tack fouls.

class="has-text-align-none">“The games were very competitive. We all just wanted to win. You were really pushed if you wanted to keep playing and not sit out. Really quality players.”

class="has-text-align-none">Remember this is a fellow who grew up competing in the City. For the Trio Crusaders in the Bronx. For the famous Riverside Church team. Summers in the Rucker.

class="has-text-align-none">“Those crowds in the summer meant a lot. You were really pushed to be better. It was a continuation of my New York experience.”

class="has-text-align-none">Everybody who played did so to the max. Some were more in your face than others. None more than Derek Smith.

class="has-text-align-none">“There was a time soon after Charles got here. Derek was showing no mercy. Once he stood over Charles screaming. He went and called his mother, he didn’t think he would make it here.”

class="has-text-align-none">The Crawford Gym experience forged steel.

class="has-text-align-none">Playing against former players — he mentioned Wes Cox, Rick Wilson, Phil Bond — and others, “I learned what you had to do to be a pro.”

class="has-text-align-none"> * * * * *

class="has-text-align-none">McCray never visited Crawford during his recruitment.

class="has-text-align-none">“I was supposed to come in for a game, same time as Wiley. But the game was cancelled. He came anyway and committed. Tried to talk me into it. I wasn’t quite ready.”

class="has-text-align-none">Scooter was recruited hard by Marquette. “My next door neighbor, literally, was Earl Tatum. But Al McGuire was leaving and I wasn’t sure about Hank Raymond.”

class="has-text-align-none">He visited Kentucky.

class="has-text-align-none">“Joe B kept trying to get me to sign right then. But they kept showing me horse farms.”

class="has-text-align-none">His HS coach was going to Wichita State.

class="has-text-align-none">He finally visited during the postseason banquet. He sat next to Alice Houston. She helped close the deal.

class="has-text-align-none">“How long are you going to keep chasing around the country?”

class="has-text-align-none">He’d also struck up a friendship with Jerry Eaves, when they played a HS All-American game together.

class="has-text-align-none">He cancelled his visit to Larry Brown and UCLA.

class="has-text-align-none"> * * * * *

class="has-text-align-none">I was curious what it was like for him, given his injury, to be around the ’80 title team?

class="has-text-align-none">“I realized what it was like when basketball is taken away.

class="has-text-align-none">“It changed my focus on the rest of my life.

class="has-text-align-none">“I did recover enough and started practicing with the team. I could have come back that year but decided to redshirt.”

class="has-text-align-none"> * * * * *

class="has-text-align-none">The ’83 team?

class="has-text-align-none">My opinion, which I told him, “I’ve always believed that was U of L’s best team ever.”

class="has-text-align-none">“We were really in sync. Mature.

class="has-text-align-none">“Coach Crum did a lot less hands on coaching that season. He trusted us.”

class="has-text-align-none">Ever the competitor, he offered this about the Houston loss in Albuquerque at altitude : “If the game was at sea level, we’d have won. They were just deeper than us.”

class="has-text-align-none">Of Knoxville: “It gave the fans a chance to brag. Remember we were set to play them the year before in Nashville, but they lost to Middle Tennessee.

class="has-text-align-none">“We were not going to lose that game.”

class="has-text-align-none"> * * * * *

class="has-text-align-none">McCray didn’t need context to answer my last question.*

class="has-text-align-none">*If there are readers here who really don’t know what I’m referring to, I’ll answer in the comments.

class="has-text-align-none">“Who tipped it in, you or Charles?”

class="has-text-align-none">“I did. Not Charles. Every once in awhile he’ll say it was him. He knows better.”

class="has-text-align-none">— c d kaplan