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Bill Laurie & Memphis State


Schasz

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I was correct about him playing at Memphis State and for their Final Four team. Here is something from the history of Memphis State basketball.

Perhaps the most remembered season in Tiger basketball history, the one that put Memphis State on the map permanently, was the 1972-73 campaign led by Finch, Robinson, Bill Laurie and newcomers Larry Kenon, Billy Buford, West Westfall and Bill Cook. The Tigers reeled off 14 straight wins during one stretch, captured the Missouri Valley title and received the school's first bid to the NCAA tournament since the 1962 season. Playing in the regional finals in Houston, Texas, the Tigers knocked off South Carolina and Kansas State to advance to the Final Four for the first time in U of M history. The Tigers defeated Providence in the semifinals and earned a spot in the title game against the powerful UCLA Bruins, led by Bill Walton. The U of M battled the mighty Bruins to a 39-39 halftime tie, but Walton was too much in the second half as UCLA defeated the Tigers, 87-66. The big red head hit a record 21 of 22 shots and scored 44 points to pace the Bruins. Finch and Kenon were the only Tigers to score in double figures. Finch netted 29 and Kenon tallied 20. Also that season, head coach Gene Bartow was named NABC National Coach of the Year.

I don't remember Laurie's play but did remember Finch and Larry Kenon who was a JUCO transfer. The kid that I could not remember from Sumner was Wes Westfall. The game Memphis State played Providence was a classic, as Providence had the amazing Ernie Di Gregario, Kevin Stacom, and Movin Marvin Barnes (any former Spirits fans remember ol Marvin).

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My dad was the team controller for the Spirits, and as a result, there is a substantial amount of Marvin paraphenalia at my parents' house.

It's too bad that he wasn't able to keep his act together; he could have been one of the all-time greats.

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He was quite a player and I used to attend the old ABA games when Lil' Bobby Costas got hired by Jack Buck to do their games. By the way, I just saw Bob had a biirthday the other day and is now 52...I am getting old.

I can remember attending a couple playoff series with one of them being when Dr. J played for the Nets. The ABA had their share of cool players and the Spirits had a number of them along with Marvin Barnes. I agree that Marvin could have been one of the all time greats and it is too bad that he did not attain that status. I seem to recall he had his share of problems off the court. Of course the Spirits also had Maurice Lucas play for them.

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And they had Moses Malone as well!

We still have a "Beat the Nets" clicker that was given out at one of the games to distract the Nets when they shot free throws. Very annoying.

If Marvin were in college today, he would be a perfect fit at UC. The guy beat one of his teammates at Providence with a tire iron, for pete's sake.

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Other Spirits players I remember are "Downtown" Ollie Brown, ML Carr, and a very young Moses Malone. Marvin was the most interesting by far. Costas tells some great stories about him. Here is a mention of Marvin in a piece on ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/endofcentury/s/century/unfortunate.html

* In 1972, Providence forward Marvin Barnes beats teammate Larry Ketvirtis with a tire iron. Barnes' nickname? "Bad News."

Did not Marvin end up in jail after his playing days?

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Kind of reminds me of another player that I saw quite a bit when I moved to Seattle and adopted the Sonics as my team...Shawn Kemp. Another multi-talented player who did not fully utilize his God given talents. Too busy drinking and impregnating other women.

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Perhaps the funniest thing I've ever heard was an interview with Costas about his days with the Spirits. The team was going over the flight itenerary and because they crossed time zones the plane would get in earlier than it took off and one of the players refused to board, saying "I ain't gettin on no time machine!" Classic!

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Don't forget Steve "Snapper" Jones.

Marvin did do time after his career had ended. Major drug problems. One funny story about Marvin was the time when he was upset about his contract, and walked out on the team for several days. Management finally found him in Dayton at a pool tournament.

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how about fly williams. one game decided he needed a drink and just dribbled to the water cooler during the game. i guess he wanted to make sure he didnt miss any of the action and he had the ball.

the best story though about the spirits is the way the franchise folded. the way i heard the story is that the team was owned by two young playboys that got the cash from their wealthy fathers. when the nba took out the aba, the spirits were not included but the settlement was a one time buy out. the kids asked if they could instead have an equal share of the playoff money for the nba.........forever. at the time, the nba playoffs were not even breaking even. the games were on tape delay after the local news in most locals. some didnt even pick it up. the nba guys thought, sure, if you would rather have nothing over a few million, what do we care. of course to this day they get an even share of the nba playoffs. talk about foresight.

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My little brother played for Memphis and was the guy who showed Bill Laurie around when he made his recruiting visit to the campus. He sees Bill in Columbia and he acts like they never met. He said Bill was from a tiny Mo. town and became a very decent player at Memphis.

When Rick was there for 2 years after winning the JUCO national championship at Moberly JC Moe Iba (son of Hank) was the coach and they only won a few games each year. When Coach Bartow replaced him it didn't take long for things to change.

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The game between Memphis State and Providence in the semis was one of the most exciting games I ever saw. Providence jumped to big early lead but when Barnes got hurt (I believe a knee injury)Providence did not have a force inside and Memphis eventually took control of the game.

Another memory from that year was that the Bills played Memphis in the final regular season game at Kiel. The Bills won 70 to 56.

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The owner of the spirits gets several million dollars every year from the NBA. He gets like a 5% share of the TV take of the remaining ABA teams in the league.

Marvin served two stints for drugs. He still struggles with it. He hangs around Rhode Island and Virginia nowadays running a charity program. He pops up in the news every once in a while. He has no job, the old owner of the spirits still supports him. He says Marvin is the nicest con man he ever met.

Marvin was the craziest player in a crazy era. He would come to game late dressed in big pimp hats and floor length fur coats with his uniform on underneath. He hads big Rolls Royces he would drive around and he was a huge drug user. Late in his career when he was w/the celtics Marvin claims he snorted coke on the bench while wearing a towel over his head. He was a great great ball player, such a waste. I still don't think he has fully kicked his drug habit. Every couple years he ends up back in rehab. People still treat like a god in Providence.

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In that Providence game Ernie D just put on a clinic on ball handling and passing and his shooting wasn't too bad either...I mean I just marveled at what a magician he was with the basketball. I know that he got drafted and I think played some for Buffalo at least that is what I remember. His pro career was not memorable, but I will never forget the show he put on in that game against Memphis State. Back in those days, the Bills usually beat Memphis State at home and it made some of the Memphis State grads that I knew just shake their heads in disbelief.

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Remember that Memphis team very well, I was junior year at SLU back then. That year I went to both the away and home Memphis State games. When I went to the away game a couple of friends of mine at SLU went to Fr Ryan HS in Nashville that went with us. They had very close friends on the Memphis State football team they went to HS with so we stayed in the athletic dorm with them. What a bunch of crazy but great guys. They introduced us to Beale Street.

On the away game, SLU was up by 5 at the 1/2 and we could of blown Memphis away if it wasn't for Laurie. The team defense keyed on the other players (Finch, Kenon, and Robinson) but Laurie kept hitting these nice 20 ft jumpers that kept them in the game. In the 2nd 1/2, several SLU players fouled out and they walked away with it. At the old Kiel, we dominated and won the game easily.

Went to my one and only final four that year at the Arena. As I recall Providence was winning the game till Barnes got hurt and then Kenon took over and won it. In the final game, Memphis played aganist UCLA. Walton dominated and subsequently Memphis lost badly.

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Schasz, I remember this as if it was yesterday

It was the first play of the game, Ernie did a behind the back pass from just behind 1/2 court line inwhich Marvin caught the ball in mid-air for an easy dunk. WOW, what a pass that was. The whole Arena just went ooooh.

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tarheelbilliken,

I'm sure that was before ESPN, but that game by Ernie D could have been a highlight reel featuring the unbelievable passing and ball handling show he put on that day...only thing was, that was his trademark in college. Great college player just not quick enough or athletic enough to become a great NBA player.

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