Kori Ellis
02-24-2006, 08:50 AM
Five questions for Gregg Popovich
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/SPORTS0403/602240477
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has come a long way since graduating from Merrillville (Ind.) High School in 1966. A good-but-not-great player, he attended the Air Force Academy and got his first head coaching position at Division III Pomona-Pitzer in 1979. The Spurs have won three NBA titles since he became coach in 1995.
Question: How did you wind up at the Air Force Academy? Didn't any Indiana colleges recruit you?
Answer: The only college I visited was Wabash. I actually pledged a fraternity on my visit there. I loved it down there. Nobody had recruited me; I was just going to go there and major in pre-med and try to play basketball. Then the Academy thing came up. A couple of high school buddies were recruited for football and basketball, and after I found out about the thing, I applied on my own and got the appointment.
Q: Who were your influences for basketball growing up?
A: East Chicago Washington players. Washington had a gym that sat 5,000 people. That's where I grew up. If you were in East Chicago growing up, you played basketball. You'd go up to Gary and watch the guys from Gary Tolleston and Gary Froebel. You'd go to the outside courts and play in the summer. At that time it wasn't about the NBA or college or anything like that. Everything was happening right there in Gary and East Chicago.
Q: Do you have any particular memories of watching the state high school tournament?
A: You know what my biggest memory is? It was listening on the radio. It was in 1960, when East Chicago Washington won the championship with guys like Ron Divjak and Bobby Cantrell. Listening to that game on the radio was just a huge thrill for me.
Q: Did you ever come down to games at Butler Fieldhouse (now Hinkle)?
A. I went one time; it was pretty cool. But when I got older it hit me a lot more. So now when we come here in the preseason and we have a day off, we go to Hinkle and practice.
Q: What do your players think of it?
A. I don't think they give a damn, really. The first time they were impressed. After that, they were like, "OK, we get it. Can we go back to the hotel?"
-- Mark Montieth
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/SPORTS0403/602240477
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has come a long way since graduating from Merrillville (Ind.) High School in 1966. A good-but-not-great player, he attended the Air Force Academy and got his first head coaching position at Division III Pomona-Pitzer in 1979. The Spurs have won three NBA titles since he became coach in 1995.
Question: How did you wind up at the Air Force Academy? Didn't any Indiana colleges recruit you?
Answer: The only college I visited was Wabash. I actually pledged a fraternity on my visit there. I loved it down there. Nobody had recruited me; I was just going to go there and major in pre-med and try to play basketball. Then the Academy thing came up. A couple of high school buddies were recruited for football and basketball, and after I found out about the thing, I applied on my own and got the appointment.
Q: Who were your influences for basketball growing up?
A: East Chicago Washington players. Washington had a gym that sat 5,000 people. That's where I grew up. If you were in East Chicago growing up, you played basketball. You'd go up to Gary and watch the guys from Gary Tolleston and Gary Froebel. You'd go to the outside courts and play in the summer. At that time it wasn't about the NBA or college or anything like that. Everything was happening right there in Gary and East Chicago.
Q: Do you have any particular memories of watching the state high school tournament?
A: You know what my biggest memory is? It was listening on the radio. It was in 1960, when East Chicago Washington won the championship with guys like Ron Divjak and Bobby Cantrell. Listening to that game on the radio was just a huge thrill for me.
Q: Did you ever come down to games at Butler Fieldhouse (now Hinkle)?
A. I went one time; it was pretty cool. But when I got older it hit me a lot more. So now when we come here in the preseason and we have a day off, we go to Hinkle and practice.
Q: What do your players think of it?
A. I don't think they give a damn, really. The first time they were impressed. After that, they were like, "OK, we get it. Can we go back to the hotel?"
-- Mark Montieth