For those of you who think the history of Oregon basketball did not begin until the 21st century…you are sorely mistaken. The “Tall Firs” actually won the very 1st NCAA title in 1939 by beating Ohio State 46–33 in the championship game. They did not do much during the next few decades until the emergence of the “Kamikaze Kids” in the 1970s who were known for a swarming defense that was good enough to upset some legendary top-ranked UCLA teams not just once but twice. 1 of the stars of those teams was Ron Lee, a 3-time All-American who remains the leading scorer in school history. Drafted 10th overall by Phoenix in 1976, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1977 and led the league in steals in 1978. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Ron about being named NIT MVP in 1975 defender and beating David Thompson in a dunk contest. Today is Ron’s 70th birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
At Lexington High School you set a New England area record by throwing the javelin 234 feet, were named team MVP as a goalie on the soccer team, and won 2 consecutive state basketball titles under coach Rollie Massimino: what was your favorite sport in high school, and could you tell at the time that Coach Massimino would go on to bigger and better things? I was good at baseball/soccer but average at basketball. I did not know how far Rollie would go but he had an opportunity so he had to take it.
You ended up going to Oregon and became 1 of the “Kamikaze Kids” under Coach Dick Harter (who made his players hold bricks in each hand during defensive drills): what was it like to play for him? He was almost like an extension of Coach Massimino: they both focused on defense and allowed us to be aggressive. Harter made us take charges and dive for loose balls.
2 of your teammates were future college coach Ernie Kent and future NBA Executive VP of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson: what were they like as players, and were you surprised by their career choices? They both love the game and grew up with it so I am not surprised. They both got hurt and wanted to remain part of the sport. Stu was really smart. We also had GB (Greg Ballard), who had a good pro career (and won the 1978 NBA title with Washington).
You are the only player to ever be named 1st-team All Pac-8 during each of your 4 years: how were you able to come in and contribute as a freshman, and how were you able to dominate throughout the rest of your college career? It just kind of happened. My intention was just to play with the other guys under Coach Harter. I considered myself an average ball-handler/shooter but I loved to play defense.
In your 3rd game as a Duck you got the 1st triple-double in school history (15 PTS/12 REB/11 AST) in a win over Montana State: when did you realize that you had made history? We just went out and tried to do what we were supposed to do. They did not have 3-PT shots back then and we did not think about triple-doubles: just winning the game was good enough.
Take me through the 1975 NIT:
You missed a shot at the buzzer in a 1-PT loss to eventual-champion Princeton in the semifinals: did you think the shot was going in, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterwards? I thought the shot was good. They could have called a foul but they did not. We were disappointed: we lost 12 games that season by 1-2 PTS.
You scored 31 PTS/11-11 FT in a 4-PT OT win over St. John’s in the 3rd-place game: how were you able to pull out the win, and how exhausted were you after playing 85 minutes in less than 24 hours?! We were tired but Coach Harter pushed us so much in practice that it was fun to play the games. He would wake us up at 4AM so by game time we were ready to play. Our only problem was playing in Denver due to the high altitude.
You were named NIT MVP by averaging 21.8 PPG/6.5 RPG/7.3 APG: were you surprised to win MVP despite not winning the title? As a matter of fact I was going to head home after the St. John’s game so it was a big surprise/honor.
In January of 1976 you scored a career-high 41 PTS in a win over Seattle: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? The game that actually stands out for me was the following month when we beat UCLA by 20 PTS in Pauley Pavilion. We played good defense and Bruce Coldren shot the hell out of the ball!
What are your memories of the 1976 NIT (you had a school-record 8 STL in a 7-PT loss to UNC-Charlotte)? We did everything right in the 1st half but it was chaos in the 2nd half. Cedric Maxwell and the rest of his team just turned things around and beat us. It just shows that at a certain point good things can go bad.
You were a 3-time All-American/1976 conference POY: what did it mean to you to win such outstanding honors, and did you feel like you were 1 of the best players in the country? For me it was an honor but I never considered myself to be 1 of the best. I just went out there and worked at my game. I was not a good shooter but I could score. To make it with the ability I had: I was just lucky.
You remain the leading scorer in school history: did you realize at the time how prolific a player you were, and do you think that anyone will ever break your record? I thought the record would have been broken by now due to the 3-PT line. Records are made to be broken…except for Pete Maravich’s career scoring record! It was a different time but I am happily surprised that I accomplished that.
In the summer of 1976 you were drafted 10th overall by Phoenix (2 spots behind Robert Parish) just 2 days after they lost to Boston in Game 6 of the NBA Finals: were you thrilled to realize your dream of getting drafted, and what was it like to go to a team that already had so much talent? I wish I was there 1 year earlier! It is a dream come true for any player to make it to the pros so I was almost in awe. It felt like I was in a fantasy world playing against Hall of Famers like John Havlicek/Walt Frazier who I had watched since I was in high school.
In a slam dunk contest the following year you beat David Thompson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before having to withdraw because of a knee injury: how were you able to out-dunk the legendary Thompson? I made a joke out of it. I went to Denver, made my dunk, and then took a shower because I thought that I would lose…but Thompson missed 1 of his dunks and they told me to come back out to get my trophy! Alvan Adams was supposed to go but he had a knee problem. I was expecting to lose but it did not happen that way. It was fun: I took everything as a challenge.
In 1978 you led the NBA with 225 STL (finishing ahead of such defensive stars as Quinn Buckner/Gus Williams) despite only playing 23.5 minutes/game: how much importance did you place on your defense, and how were you able to get so many steals while only playing half of the game? I played under a lot of defensive coaches. The key is anticipation: I would come from behind and steal the ball as a help defender by catching people off-guard. I prided myself on defense even though people do not always look at that.
After retiring from the NBA you played professionally in Italy/Sweden: what did you learn from these experiences, and how did they compare to the NBA? There is a little more contact overseas that they let you get away with than they do here. A guy would knock you down, apologize…and then come back down the court and knock you down again the next time! I played because I still loved the game.
Your brother Marshall was a 1st-round pick of Milwaukee in 1972, your brother Russell signed with an NBA team before being waived, your brother Gerald played in Finland before becoming the 1st foreign-born player ever chosen for the Finnish national team, and your son Ron Jr. was the starting PG as a freshman for his high school team in California: was it a coincidence that you had such an athletic family, or do you credit at least some of your success to genetics? My father could not walk and chew gum at the same time on the basketball court but he could do everything else well (bowling, football, etc.). My brothers all played basketball but my son was even better than me when it came to certain skills. My game was about being physical while his game was based on speed.