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With the 2019 NCAA tourney tipping off next month, we will spend this month taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players/coaches who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From a comeback win to clinch the 1954 tourney title (65th anniversary) through a last-second loss in the 2014 Final 4 (5th anniversary), these legends have all carved out a little piece of history in past Marches. We continue our series with Bill Thomas, who coached Curtis Perry at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). Thomas led the golden era of Bears basketball, taking his team to 3 D-2 national title games in an 8-year span from 1967-1974. Perry (a Washington, DC native) did not play in the 1st of those title games in 1967 because he was a freshman at the time but scored 25 PTS in the 2nd title game in 1969. He later spent 8 years in the NBA and helped the Phoenix Suns make the 1976 NBA Finals, where he led the team with 15 REB in a 2-PT 3-OT loss to the Celtics in Game 5. What I will remember most about Curtis is playing for him after he was named head coach of my middle school team in Phoenix: he was a nice man and a great coach. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Thomas about the 50th anniversary of the 1969 D-2 title game and his memories of that legendary Game 5 (which is often referred to as “the greatest game ever played” in NBA history).
Perry did not play as a freshman in Southwest Missouri State’s 3-PT loss to Winston-Salem in the 1967 D-2 title game (Earl Monroe had 40 PTS): could you tell at the time that Monroe was going to become a star, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? The NCAA rule at the time was that freshman could not play in the postseason. “The Pearl” was unique/unreal: I told the kids afterward that they had just played against 1 of the best players we had ever faced. We actually held him BELOW his scoring average (which was 41.5 PPG as a senior!).
From 1968-1970 he was a 3-time 1st-team All-MIAA performer: how was he able to come in as a sophomore and dominate throughout the rest of his college career? Curtis was a wonderful player by the time he arrived: if we had him on the court in 1967 we would have probably won the title. He was 1 of the best practice players I ever had: I almost had to run him out of the gym after practice. He kept improving every single year. I was lucky to get him thanks to a 3-cent stamp: I sent him letters but never actually met him before he showed up at the bus station after a 16-hour ride. I told him that if he was not too tired I would love to get him some gear and watch him play. I had a lunch to go to so I sent 1 of my assistants to watch him, and when I came back to watch him a little bit myself I thought that he was the best player that we had ever had.
In 1969 he scored a career-high 39 PTS vs. Southeast Missouri State: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot he put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”? Not only did he score a bunch of points, but he was probably our leading rebounder as well.
What are your memories of the 1969 D-2 title game (he was named to the all-tourney team after scoring 25 PTS in a 4-PT loss to Kentucky Wesleyan)? Kentucky Wesleyan was a great team and we had to leave 1 of our best players at home due to an injury. They beat the devil out of us in the 1st half but we made a great game out of it in the 2nd half. We had a good chance to win but they beat us in a close game.
In 1970 he had a school-record 31 REB vs. Texas-Arlington and finished his career by averaging 13.6 RPG: what made him such a great rebounder? His talent: he was 6’7” and a wonderful/quick jumper. He was also a very intelligent player on both offense/defense and had an unreal knowledge of the game even as a teenager. In a lot of ways he out-thought our opponents to get good position on the boards.
In 1970 he was named conference POY: what did it mean to him to win such an outstanding honor? In my opinion he deserved it: he was our top scorer/rebounder and a very unselfish team player.
In the summer of 1970 he was picked in the 3rd round by San Diego in the NBA draft and by Virginia in the ABA draft: did he ever consider going to the ABA or was his heart set on playing in the NBA? San Diego gave him a nice big bonus but not a lot of playing time. He was later traded to Phoenix and turned into a starter on a great basketball team that almost won a title in 1976.
Take me through the magical 1976 NBA Finals:
His Phoenix team lost on the road to Boston in Game 5 in a 2-PT 3-OT classic: was that the most exciting game that you have ever seen, and did you realize during the game that it was turning into a classic? My entire family was at a wedding so we missed most of the game but got back in time to see most of the extra periods.
He had 23 PTS/15 REB in 52 minutes, including a shot with 6 seconds left in the 2nd OT to put Phoenix up by 1, which turned out to be their last lead of the game: did he think that he had made the game-winning shot, and how did he have any energy left for the 3rd OT? When his shot went in we had about 25 people watching in our den and then we all went crazy!
He averaged 9.5 PPG/8.8 RPG (the latter of which remains in the top-100 in NBA history) during his 8-year NBA career before retiring due to a back injury in 1978: did he feel frustrated that he could not go out on his own terms, or satisfied that he had a nice long career, or other? He had a parent die so he gave it up to go home and take care of his other parent. I think that it was part frustration and part satisfaction: that is the kind of guy he was.
After retiring he worked as a coach/teacher: which role does he enjoy the most, and what does he hope to do in the future? I never got to see him as a coach but he taught at a Catholic school in DC and loved it. He was a great man and everyone around here thought the world of him. You cannot talk about our program without mentioning him.