News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Amey Takes Aim

January 13, 2010

AMEY TAKES AIM: Pick a skill and Billy ‘The Kid’ Harris had it

TERRE HAUTE — This column is for longtime Sycamore fans — emphasize the “long” part — who remember the CMU.

No this isn’t an account of the trip I once made to Mt. Pleasant, Mich., to see the Central Michigan Chippewas play basketball on their tartan floor. It is about long-ago Indiana State opponents, however.

Billy “The Kid” Harris died on Jan. 3.

The CMU was the Conference of Midwestern Universities, a five-team (which was the problem) league formed almost 40 years ago uniting Indiana State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Ball State and Northern Illinois.

It died a premature death because six teams were necessary for an automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament, and that’s a shame. In its few years of existence, the league had five teams who basically hated each other, the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick in Doug Collins of Illinois State, and the best college basketball team nobody has ever heard of.

That would be the Northern Illinois Huskies in 1972 or 1973. I know it wasn’t 1971, because Jim Bradley didn’t have grades after graduating from unbeaten East Chicago Roosevelt in 1970 and had to sit out a year, during which I watched his NIU intramural team beat the NIU freshman team by about 50 points — but I digress.

ISU was playing a pretty beefy schedule in those days, and because I worked for a paper with a huge travel budget — The Statesman, believe it or not — I saw them all. I saw the Sycamores win the UNLV Holiday Tournament during the 1970-71 season, a tournament in which Jerry Tarkanian’s Long Beach State team with All-America Ed Ratleff finished fourth. Those two tournament games were the last ones Long Beach lost until a one-point decision to one of John Wooden’s national championship UCLA teams in the NCAA tournament.

Northern was way better than Long Beach State was.

The Huskies had Bradley, who was 6-foot-10, Kevin Garnett with point guard skills; they had a 6-9 center whose name I can’t recall who didn’t do much but block out and get rebounds (but was pretty good at it, and left-handed to boot); they had a forward named Zielinski who likewise had one skill — shooting — but could use that skill from anywhere, particularly the deep corner; a 6-4 point guard named Jackson, the most fundamentally sound of all of them and a beast defensively; and they had Billy The Kid, dubbed by Slam Magazine back in 1998 as “the best playground baller ever.”

Pick a skill — quickness, jumping ability, long-range shooting, dunking, trash talk — and The Kid had it. Howard Williams was one of my best friends on the team and, as ISU’s best defender, always got that defensive assignment, but The Kid put a move on him one time in the ISU Arena (came full-speed at Howard on the dribble, causing Howard to stumble backward, at which point The Kid nailed a 35-footer with Howard on the floor) that had me feeling like standing and applauding.

Good citizenship wasn’t always that team’s strong point, one of the reasons I suspect that they never got an NCAA bid despite a record of something like 21-4. Coach Wooden probably didn’t mind, because the Huskies would have given his Bruins as good a battle as any of the teams they beat in that year’s tournament.



Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Amey Takes Aim
Latest News
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Join the Conversation
Helium
Front page
AP Video
Raw Video: Biden Greets Chinese VP for Visit Authorities: Houston Found Underwater in Tub Whitney Houston Funeral to Be Invitation Only Raw Video: Heavy Shelling in Homs, Syria New Details in Search for Missing Utah Mom Bacteria Keep Swimmers Off Some Fla. Beaches Raw Video: 5 People Injured in Bangkok Blasts Trial Opens for Ala. Man in Bride's Diving Death Raw Video: Kim Jong Il Statue Unveiled Baltimore's 'Crime Stopper' Is a Basketball Star Raw Video: Hearse Arrives at N.J. Funeral Home Raw Video: Houston Body Flown From L.A. to N.J. Arm Wrestler Not Guilty Plea in Wife's Death Raw Video: Protesters, Security Clash in Bahrain Obama: Good US-China Ties Help the Whole World First Person: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show School Pays Students to Attend Class And the Winner for Best Super Bowl Ad Is... Obama's New Budget: The Winners and Losers Raw Video: Whitney Houston's Last Performance
NDN Video
Kim K. Wet, Wild and Natural Ultimate Tazer Ball is a Shocking New Sport Shakira Attacked By Sea Lion Modern day treasure hunter searching for $3 billion prize What Happened Inside Whitney's Hotel Room? Saying 'I Love You' With a Sewage Plant Tour VS Models Wow for V-Day Olympic Swimmer Proposes on Podium After Big Win Kate Upton MLB 2K12 Commercial Watch: Whitney Houston's Golden Hearse Scarlett Johansson's Bikini P-D-A Man Allegedly Drowns Wife While Scuba Diving Glee Pays Tribute to Whitney Wash. becomes 7th state to okay same-sex marriage Romijn's 60 Pound Weight Loss The 'Celebrity Apprentice' Cast Meets Donald Trump Kissing contest heats up Hugh Hefner's Son Arrested Jacqueline Kennedy's personal papers released Did Tyler Perry Have a Secret Wedding?
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News