R.I.P. Ron Coleman

[slufanskip]

7 minutes ago, willie said:

No. I don't believe  there has been any since Rick left. Rick liked to talk "ball" with anyone even us lowly boosters. 

They were fun. Also the trips the Billiken Club used to make. Flew to Memphis once and to Tulane once with the Billiken Club. Great time both trips

[willie]

8 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

They were fun. Also the trips the Billiken Club used to make. Flew to Memphis once and to Tulane once with the Billiken Club. Great time both trips

Margo use to put some of those together. If we ever get thru Covid we may see something in the future. How about a bus trip to Chicago? 

[slufanskip]

55 minutes ago, willie said:

Margo use to put some of those together. If we ever get thru Covid we may see something in the future. How about a bus trip to Chicago? 

Margo was great. Always made you feel like she knew you better than she actually did. I remember once I said Marquee was my fav player and asked about autographed pics. Next thing you know I get an autographed pic from Marquee. Always above and beyond

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, willie said:

Margo use to put some of those together. If we ever get thru Covid we may see something in the future. How about a bus trip to Chicago? 

Amtrak to chicago would be more fun.

[willie]

5 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Amtrak to chicago would be more fun.

Over a beer sometime I will tell you about the tip-off trip on Amtrak to a Loyola game with athletic director Larry Preo. 

[AGB91]

2 hours ago, slufanskip said:

Margo was great. Always made you feel like she knew you better than she actually did. I remember once I said Marquee was my fav player and asked about autographed pics. Next thing you know I get an autographed pic from Marquee. Always above and beyond

Margo should be inducted into the Billiken Hall of Fame.

[thetorch]

On 12/28/2021 at 7:43 PM, almaman said:

More if u  can.

I did some research (asking my father and his friend who both claimed to have been present for the aforementioned Tip Off Club Meeting).

Some background.  Coleman was Randy Albrecht's assistant.  In the 76-77 season Coleman quit his assistant job with 2 or 3 games left in the season.  Albrecht was fired at season end and Coleman was promptly rehired as Head Coach.

Coleman was hired with the idea that he could recruit at will all the local players.  He brought in Ricky Frazier and Mark Alcorn.  Mark Dressler and then....Stipo would be soon to follow along with other local stars.  

Dressler went to Mizzou instead.  Frazier flunked out and also went to Mizzou.  Alcorn took off for LSU and tragically developed cancer.  Stipo never came.

End of season Tip Off Club meeting and Coleman is addressing the crowd.  Most likely John Krey Stephens asks some pointed questions about new recruits, why we lost Dressler and Alcorn, and what the future plans are.  Coleman blows him off and leaves the meeting.  This was a Thursday or Friday.  By Monday Coleman was out. To be fair Coleman was mistreated since day one.  There were alot of racist undertones during the meetings and many of the big donors liked the "idea" of a black coach bringing in local talent but didn't like it actually happening.  Coleman was held to higher standards and never given much of any chance.  The answer was to bring in Ekker who took over the whole AD, changed the mascot to some Hee Haw straw chewing caricature while banging cheerleaders and getting punched in the face by his players during games.  

Stephens was a board member at SLU, a large donor, and also at the time wanted Rich Grawer to be hired instead of Coleman.  He didn't get that wish for a few years.  Stephens owned a meat packing plant on the North Side which incidentally employed many many current and former Billikens players over the years in high paying cushy jobs.  He also ran an old AAU team through his company which many Billikens players participated in as well.  While he was an active donor to SLU for a longtime coincidentally he sold his business just during that time period of the Albrecht/Coleman/Ekker hiring and firing and became much more vocal in the machinations of the basketball program.  

If this is not accurate some of the old heads can correct me.  I wasn't alive for any of this.

 

[Old guy]

My two cents worth about the Majerus / Crews relationship. I do not know how close they were, but I do know that someone who is actually in the process of dying is likely to make mistakes. I think Crews was a mistake.

[almaman]

34 minutes ago, Old guy said:

My two cents worth about the Majerus / Crews relationship. I do not know how close they were, but I do know that someone who is actually in the process of dying is likely to make mistakes. I think Crews was a mistake.

We're all in  the process of dying

[Bay Area Billiken]

I was told that had SLU hired Rich Grawer (instead of Ekker) that Mark Dressler would have come to SLU (instead of Mizzou).  At least that was the thought.

[cheeseman]

11 hours ago, thetorch said:

I did some research (asking my father and his friend who both claimed to have been present for the aforementioned Tip Off Club Meeting).

Some background.  Coleman was Randy Albrecht's assistant.  In the 76-77 season Coleman quit his assistant job with 2 or 3 games left in the season.  Albrecht was fired at season end and Coleman was promptly rehired as Head Coach.

Coleman was hired with the idea that he could recruit at will all the local players.  He brought in Ricky Frazier and Mark Alcorn.  Mark Dressler and then....Stipo would be soon to follow along with other local stars.  

Dressler went to Mizzou instead.  Frazier flunked out and also went to Mizzou.  Alcorn took off for LSU and tragically developed cancer.  Stipo never came.

End of season Tip Off Club meeting and Coleman is addressing the crowd.  Most likely John Krey Stephens asks some pointed questions about new recruits, why we lost Dressler and Alcorn, and what the future plans are.  Coleman blows him off and leaves the meeting.  This was a Thursday or Friday.  By Monday Coleman was out. To be fair Coleman was mistreated since day one.  There were alot of racist undertones during the meetings and many of the big donors liked the "idea" of a black coach bringing in local talent but didn't like it actually happening.  Coleman was held to higher standards and never given much of any chance.  The answer was to bring in Ekker who took over the whole AD, changed the mascot to some Hee Haw straw chewing caricature while banging cheerleaders and getting punched in the face by his players during games.  

Stephens was a board member at SLU, a large donor, and also at the time wanted Rich Grawer to be hired instead of Coleman.  He didn't get that wish for a few years.  Stephens owned a meat packing plant on the North Side which incidentally employed many many current and former Billikens players over the years in high paying cushy jobs.  He also ran an old AAU team through his company which many Billikens players participated in as well.  While he was an active donor to SLU for a longtime coincidentally he sold his business just during that time period of the Albrecht/Coleman/Ekker hiring and firing and became much more vocal in the machinations of the basketball program.  

If this is not accurate some of the old heads can correct me.  I wasn't alive for any of this.

 

Interesting explanation.  The real problem that Coleman had in my mind was that he was not really ready to be a head coach at a D1 school like SLU and all the issues that existed here and so he was doomed from the beginning.  I do not doubt the racist overtones you reference and I am sure that did not help either.  Coleman ended up at Lincoln in Jeff City I believe and never really progressed any farther.  He probably was not dealt with fairly as you said but while it was not his fault that he was hired to do a job that he wasn't really ready for it was a bad deal all around.

 

[RUBillsFan]

15 hours ago, thetorch said:

The answer was to bring in Ekker who took over the whole AD, changed the mascot to some Hee Haw straw chewing caricature while banging cheerleaders and getting punched in the face by his players during games.  

Holy crap!  I knew Ekker's teams were bad and he run the program into the ground, but I didn't know how scandalous his tenure was.  Googled him & found this article which indicates that he was punched in the face by a player in his motel room after a game not during a game - unless you're talking about a separate incident of him being punched. 

Also looks like Ekker was on social media (Twitter & LinkedIn) a few years back, but hasn't been very active recently.  His last LinkedIn post was 7 months ago (and one before that was 3 years ago) and his last tweet was October 2013.  If we could get him on @Midtown Madness to talk about banging cheerleaders & fights with his players that would be incredible.

[billiken_roy]

18 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Holy crap!  I knew Ekker's teams were bad and he run the program into the ground, but I didn't know how scandalous his tenure was.  Googled him & found this article which indicates that he was punched in the face by a player in his motel room after a game not during a game - unless you're talking about a separate incident of him being punched. 

Also looks like Ekker was on social media (Twitter & LinkedIn) a few years back, but hasn't been very active recently.  His last LinkedIn post was 7 months ago (and one before that was 3 years ago) and his last tweet was October 2013.  If we could get him on @Midtown Madness to talk about banging cheerleaders & fights with his players that would be incredible.

fyi he is married to one of those cheerleaders now.

[RUBillsFan]

20 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

fyi he is married to one of those cheerleaders now.

Interesting.  That last part or my post should really be in blue font.  I've edited.

[AGB91]

Wallace Robinson was the player that punched Ekker.

He was a 6’8” forward from a JUCO in Mississippi.

At the next home fame, this incident spawned the sign, “I’d rather fight then coach.”

A true high point in Billiken basketball.

[Pistol]

On 12/29/2021 at 9:55 PM, thetorch said:

I did some research (asking my father and his friend who both claimed to have been present for the aforementioned Tip Off Club Meeting).

Some background.  Coleman was Randy Albrecht's assistant.  In the 76-77 season Coleman quit his assistant job with 2 or 3 games left in the season.  Albrecht was fired at season end and Coleman was promptly rehired as Head Coach.

Coleman was hired with the idea that he could recruit at will all the local players.  He brought in Ricky Frazier and Mark Alcorn.  Mark Dressler and then....Stipo would be soon to follow along with other local stars.  

Dressler went to Mizzou instead.  Frazier flunked out and also went to Mizzou.  Alcorn took off for LSU and tragically developed cancer.  Stipo never came.

End of season Tip Off Club meeting and Coleman is addressing the crowd.  Most likely John Krey Stephens asks some pointed questions about new recruits, why we lost Dressler and Alcorn, and what the future plans are.  Coleman blows him off and leaves the meeting.  This was a Thursday or Friday.  By Monday Coleman was out. To be fair Coleman was mistreated since day one.  There were alot of racist undertones during the meetings and many of the big donors liked the "idea" of a black coach bringing in local talent but didn't like it actually happening.  Coleman was held to higher standards and never given much of any chance.  The answer was to bring in Ekker who took over the whole AD, changed the mascot to some Hee Haw straw chewing caricature while banging cheerleaders and getting punched in the face by his players during games.  

Stephens was a board member at SLU, a large donor, and also at the time wanted Rich Grawer to be hired instead of Coleman.  He didn't get that wish for a few years.  Stephens owned a meat packing plant on the North Side which incidentally employed many many current and former Billikens players over the years in high paying cushy jobs.  He also ran an old AAU team through his company which many Billikens players participated in as well.  While he was an active donor to SLU for a longtime coincidentally he sold his business just during that time period of the Albrecht/Coleman/Ekker hiring and firing and became much more vocal in the machinations of the basketball program.  

If this is not accurate some of the old heads can correct me.  I wasn't alive for any of this.

Really interesting stuff. Thanks.

And @RUBillsFan we would totally have him on the show. Would probably need a primer from some of the more veteran members around here, though.

[thetorch]

Ironically it is 40 years to the day since Wallace Robinson was kicked off the team by Ekker.  Ekker would resign a few days later ending the 2nd worst period in Billikens history.

The Ekker incident was kind of a big story.  UPI wrote about it and the Times and Washington Post have blurbs about SLU/Ekker fiasco at the time.  I wish I could access some Post Dispatch archives from that time period.

This thread has some good info in it as well.

I don't know what happened to Ekker.  I don't think he is dead.  He has strangely been scrubbed from the internet.  No wiki page (which I know he used to have) and no page on NBA.com which he had for years as he was a scout, asst GM!!!, led an NBA development program in China etc etc.

[billiken_roy]

he married a girl from Belleville (the cheerleader), who's father was an assistant coach at Belleville West high school back in joe wiley days.   the entire family is over the top Mi$$ouri Fans.   the cheerleader's big brother is actually a pretty good friend of mine and tells me all the time Ekker has been very good to her over the years and takes care of her.   he is of course retired now and i think they live either in Cleveland or New Jersey.   he's had to move around a lot do to his NBA travels.   

that's all i know.   i havent had a chance to meet up with my friend for 2 years now due to the chinese flu virus fiasco.   but i assume we (a group of rabid college basketball fans in Belleville) will get together soon.