Kori Ellis
03-06-2005, 01:57 AM
Sean Elliott: One Cool Cat
http://www.woai.com/spurs/story.aspx?content_id=545C6068-936B-4022-BB5B-03C5B0DF4E4D
By Rasheeb Shrestha
FullSportPress.com
When all is said and done, most of us will be lucky enough to leave behind some sort of legacy. In the case of Sean Elliott, one legacy simply is not enough.
Elliott will be most remembered, and rightfully so, for March 14, 2000 – the night he became the first known professional athlete to play in a game with an organ transplant. His comeback and subsequent role as spokesman and activist for organ donation has inspired millions and will continue to do so for years to come.
His legacy as a member of the San Antonio Spurs is also secure, as tonight’s jersey retirement ceremony suggests. His Memorial Day Miracle in 1999 ranks as his sexiest memory, but it’s his loyalty to the Spurs organization in the years following his retirement that’s just as important. Case in point, the Spurs’ current practice facility would not have been built had it not been for Elliott’s generosity to accept deferred payments from the Spurs in 2002.
But there is another Elliott legacy that isn’t well known nationally, let alone in San Antonio. In fact, unless you once resided in Tucson, Arizona, it is unlikely you can completely comprehend Elliott’s significance to the University of Arizona.
The man who benefited the most from Elliott’s impact at Arizona is the man who just last night passed John Wooden on the list for all-time Pac-10 coaching victories -- Lute Olson. But Olson will tell you that he wasn’t the first Wildcat to pass a UCLA legend. Sixteen years ago, Elliott broke Lew Alcindor’s Pac-10 career scoring mark.
There was a time when nobody thought UCLA would ever be the second best in the nation, let alone in the Pac-10. Their total domination of the college game in the ‘60s and ‘70s had propelled them into a different stratosphere, to the point where they didn’t even have to go out and recruit -- blue chippers were lining up at their door.
The rest of the teams in the Pac-10 were then left to pick up their scraps, and Arizona found out they were no different when they joined the conference in 1978. By the mid-80s, not much had changed. The new coach at Arizona, Lute Olson, knew he needed nothing short of a miracle to jump-start his program. Little did he know that his miracle would come from right down the street.
And so it was in 1985 that Tucson’s own Sean Elliott, a skinny, 6-foot-8 kid from Cholla High School, began his career as an Arizona Wildcat. He immediately teamed with Steve Kerr to help lead the Cats back to the NCAA Tournament. By 1988, they were among the nation’s elite. Elliott and Kerr were joined by perfect complimentary players such as Jud Buechler, Tom Tolbert and Kenny Lofton. It was a magical team in a magical year and Elliott was at the center of it all. He was the Pac-10 Player of the Year and he led the Arizona to a Final Four appearance.
In 1989, he took his game to another level and won the Wooden Award as college basketball’s Player of the Year. Though his college career ended with his goal of winning a national title unfulfilled, there was no denying the more important accomplishment -- he put Arizona on the college basketball map. No longer was it a second rate school in a second rate town. And no longer would there be second rate recruits. There was just something magnetic about Elliott that made kids across the country think: “How would I look in Arizona red & blue?”
Brian Williams was the first to sign up, as he transferred from Maryland after his freshman year in 1988. Chris Mills soon followed, and then the floodgates opened. Sean Rooks, Khalid Reeves, Damon Stoudamire, Reggie Geary, Miles Simon, Michael Dickerson, Jason Terry, Gilbert Arenas, Andre Iguodala, Salim Stoudamire, and so on committed to Arizona. And do you think Mike Bibby, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, all 3 who grew up in the Grand Canyon State, thought even for a second about going anywhere but the University of Arizona?
Their recruiting classes now rank in the top five annually. And with the talent came the wins for Olson -- 21 straight NCAA tourney appearances, 11 Pac-10 titles, four Final Four appearances and the 1997 NCAA Championship.
Arizona replaced UCLA as the elite of the Pac-10, but it was much more than that. Out of all the consistent, top-notch programs of the last 20 years: Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas, Arizona is the only representative from the West. It doesn’t seem like they’ll fall off that perch any time soon.
Of course, Olson deserves most of the credit for this success as it is his program. However, it is clear that without the talent, there wouldn’t be the success. Without Elliott, the talent would’ve never migrated to Tucson.
Deep down, Olson knows this. Which is why this morning -- fresh off a buzzer-beating win over rival Arizona State, fresh off passing Wooden, less than a week away from the Pac-10 tournament and less than 2 weeks away from the NCAA Tournament -- Olson boarded a plane for San Antonio.
He’ll attend the jersey retirement ceremony tonight, just as he was there when #32 was retired at McKale Center 10 years ago. After all, he knows that it isn’t every day you get an opportunity to pay respect to a man with three lasting legacies.
http://www.woai.com/spurs/story.aspx?content_id=545C6068-936B-4022-BB5B-03C5B0DF4E4D
By Rasheeb Shrestha
FullSportPress.com
When all is said and done, most of us will be lucky enough to leave behind some sort of legacy. In the case of Sean Elliott, one legacy simply is not enough.
Elliott will be most remembered, and rightfully so, for March 14, 2000 – the night he became the first known professional athlete to play in a game with an organ transplant. His comeback and subsequent role as spokesman and activist for organ donation has inspired millions and will continue to do so for years to come.
His legacy as a member of the San Antonio Spurs is also secure, as tonight’s jersey retirement ceremony suggests. His Memorial Day Miracle in 1999 ranks as his sexiest memory, but it’s his loyalty to the Spurs organization in the years following his retirement that’s just as important. Case in point, the Spurs’ current practice facility would not have been built had it not been for Elliott’s generosity to accept deferred payments from the Spurs in 2002.
But there is another Elliott legacy that isn’t well known nationally, let alone in San Antonio. In fact, unless you once resided in Tucson, Arizona, it is unlikely you can completely comprehend Elliott’s significance to the University of Arizona.
The man who benefited the most from Elliott’s impact at Arizona is the man who just last night passed John Wooden on the list for all-time Pac-10 coaching victories -- Lute Olson. But Olson will tell you that he wasn’t the first Wildcat to pass a UCLA legend. Sixteen years ago, Elliott broke Lew Alcindor’s Pac-10 career scoring mark.
There was a time when nobody thought UCLA would ever be the second best in the nation, let alone in the Pac-10. Their total domination of the college game in the ‘60s and ‘70s had propelled them into a different stratosphere, to the point where they didn’t even have to go out and recruit -- blue chippers were lining up at their door.
The rest of the teams in the Pac-10 were then left to pick up their scraps, and Arizona found out they were no different when they joined the conference in 1978. By the mid-80s, not much had changed. The new coach at Arizona, Lute Olson, knew he needed nothing short of a miracle to jump-start his program. Little did he know that his miracle would come from right down the street.
And so it was in 1985 that Tucson’s own Sean Elliott, a skinny, 6-foot-8 kid from Cholla High School, began his career as an Arizona Wildcat. He immediately teamed with Steve Kerr to help lead the Cats back to the NCAA Tournament. By 1988, they were among the nation’s elite. Elliott and Kerr were joined by perfect complimentary players such as Jud Buechler, Tom Tolbert and Kenny Lofton. It was a magical team in a magical year and Elliott was at the center of it all. He was the Pac-10 Player of the Year and he led the Arizona to a Final Four appearance.
In 1989, he took his game to another level and won the Wooden Award as college basketball’s Player of the Year. Though his college career ended with his goal of winning a national title unfulfilled, there was no denying the more important accomplishment -- he put Arizona on the college basketball map. No longer was it a second rate school in a second rate town. And no longer would there be second rate recruits. There was just something magnetic about Elliott that made kids across the country think: “How would I look in Arizona red & blue?”
Brian Williams was the first to sign up, as he transferred from Maryland after his freshman year in 1988. Chris Mills soon followed, and then the floodgates opened. Sean Rooks, Khalid Reeves, Damon Stoudamire, Reggie Geary, Miles Simon, Michael Dickerson, Jason Terry, Gilbert Arenas, Andre Iguodala, Salim Stoudamire, and so on committed to Arizona. And do you think Mike Bibby, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, all 3 who grew up in the Grand Canyon State, thought even for a second about going anywhere but the University of Arizona?
Their recruiting classes now rank in the top five annually. And with the talent came the wins for Olson -- 21 straight NCAA tourney appearances, 11 Pac-10 titles, four Final Four appearances and the 1997 NCAA Championship.
Arizona replaced UCLA as the elite of the Pac-10, but it was much more than that. Out of all the consistent, top-notch programs of the last 20 years: Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas, Arizona is the only representative from the West. It doesn’t seem like they’ll fall off that perch any time soon.
Of course, Olson deserves most of the credit for this success as it is his program. However, it is clear that without the talent, there wouldn’t be the success. Without Elliott, the talent would’ve never migrated to Tucson.
Deep down, Olson knows this. Which is why this morning -- fresh off a buzzer-beating win over rival Arizona State, fresh off passing Wooden, less than a week away from the Pac-10 tournament and less than 2 weeks away from the NCAA Tournament -- Olson boarded a plane for San Antonio.
He’ll attend the jersey retirement ceremony tonight, just as he was there when #32 was retired at McKale Center 10 years ago. After all, he knows that it isn’t every day you get an opportunity to pay respect to a man with three lasting legacies.