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Avocados and Larry Brown: A messy history with Spursw „ j i______mononor Rompmhprhim?” Dpvin RrnwrBy CHRIS SHERIDANAP Basketball WriterSAN ANTONIOBack in the days when he coached in overalls, Larry Brown was pelted with avocados on 10-cent beer night at the old HemisFair Arena.It was 1975, and they hatedhim here.Brown was coach of the rivalDenver Nuggets in the ABA, andthe fan group known as theBaseline Bums dumped gua-camole on him as he walked tothe exit tunnel.The Baseline Bums were a creation of the Spurs’ business manager, John Begzos, whose background was in minor league baseball. They wore Bums T-shirts and sat in a 120-seat section directly over the ramp leading to the visitinglocker room.“I had made this commentthat the only thing I liked aboutSan Antonio was the guacamoledip, and for eight days they keptplaying that sound bite. Andthere was a lot more to it becausetheir coach (Bob Bass) said something about me,” Brown recalled Saturday on the second straight off day in the NBA Finals.So they had that 10-beerand Jficfficent night, people werehittingwith cados)San Antonio leads series 1-0Game 2 will start at 9 p.m. todaymeavo-andthrowing dip on me. Iremembered walkingthrough the-crowd and people were punching me. In the ABA thatwas typical.“ So it was an interesting experience. But I came back and coached here, and I found out I liked a lot more than the dip about San Antonio,” Brown said.In 1988, the Spurs made a splash by hiring their old nemesis as their head coach after he had just led Kansas tothe NCAA championship. At a “Meet the New Coach” event at a local mall, the Bums showed up and gave Brown a gift.Yep, guacamole. Presented rather than pitched.Brown coached the Spurs from 1988 to 1992, a time when David Robinson was just beginning his career and the franchise was still defined by its many playoff failures.He guided the Spurs duringtheir heartbreaking seven-gameloss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1990 Western Conference semifinals, a series that included a double-overtime loss in Game 5 and an overtime loss in Game7.In that Game 7, Spurs guard Rod Strickland threw the most infamous pass of his career, blindly tossing the ball over his head and behind him to where he thought Sean Elliot would be, only to have Portland’s Jerome Kersey pick up the ball and throw it upcourt to Clyde Drexler, who was awarded a breakaway foul —two free throws and the ball back.The Trail Blazers went on to win and advanced to the finals, while San Antonio would end up having to wait nine more years before making it to the championship round.“If we win that series, I think our history is different,” said general manager R.C. Buford, who was a gofer under Brown at Kansas and moved to San Antonio in 1988 as one of Brown's assistants along with current Spurs coach GreggPopovich.Brown left the Spurs midway through the 1991-92 season after a falling out with then-owner Red McCombs.“Who knows what could have happened. Does that team stay together and make a run? Does Larry not leave?” said Buford, who left with Brown to become an assistant with the Los AngelesClippers.Buford returned to San Antonio in 1994 as Popovich’s head scout and eventuallybecame the general manager who drafted Manu Ginobili at No. 57 in 1999 and Tony Parker at No. 28 in 2001.Buford also picked Luis Scola at No. 56 in 2002, and the Spurs expect to sign Ginobili’s Argentine Olympic teammate this summer. “He’s the best forward in Europe right now,” Popovich said.Fortunes certainly have changed for the Spurs, who won their first title in 1999, their second in 2003, and currently hold a 1 -0 lead over the Detroit Pistons heading into Game 2 on Sunday night.It may be a small market, but San Antonio certainly has somebig memories.Spurs guard Devin Brown grew up here, his allegiances split between the local team and Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.“I had David’s poster, I liked Vinny Del Negro, Vernon Maxwell, Cadillac Anderson. I don’t know if you can go back this far, but Uwe Blab?Remember him?” Devin Brown said. “We had season tickets over the years at the HemisFair and the Alamodome. My sister was a ball girl, so I was always a big fan.”He remembers going to his first Spurs game, seeing San Antonio play Philadelphia and watching Hall of Famers George Gervin and Julius Erving play against each other.After the game I remember my mom talking to Dr. J. He happened to be walking by, and we were in the back. I was very young, and all I remember is my mom asking if he would hold me so she could take a picture. I remember hecouldn’t because of the liability or some sort of insurance thing.“But I got to meet him yesterday, and I told him the story. He didn’t remember, but when my mom told him it put a smile on his face and he said, ‘Well, look at him. I shook his hand and look what he’s doing now,’” Brown said Saturday.
Newspaper Details
Sandusky Sunday Register
Sandusky, Ohio, US
Sun, Jun 12, 2005
Page 16
Full Page
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WV, USA 04 Nov 2019
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