East High, part 2...
I did, in fact, continue on with my friends into the baseball season after the glorious basketball season. Certainly nothing I had done so far would give anyone reason to think that athletics was going to be in my future. Not even I thought so. I dreamed of being a lawyer and then going into politics as my idol, John F. Kennedy had done. The baseball season was a better overall experience for me, however, so I did think I would continue on in sports at some level. Coach Youree coached the jayvee team, but the freshmen and jayvee practiced together most of the time, as there was only one baseball field at the new school. Baseball was a 180 from football and basketball- totally relaxed, great weather in the Spring- almost boring. Well, in fact, it was boring compared to what many of us had gone through all year. Even Coach Youree seemed more mellow and friendly. He said he was going to have a summer basketball program, which was something most of us had never heard of. He would run it through the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation, and it would be a chance to get in somewhere cool and work out in the hot months ahead. Oddly enough, there wasn't going to be any summer baseball program, so anyone interested in that would go on to someplace else and play Babe Ruth or Pony League or whatever the progression was. Most of my friends were going to show up for Coach Youree's summer program. He also made it sound like if you were serious about basketball, then you pretty much had to be there. I wasn't too sure how serious I was about basketball, but I really took a liking to Coach Youree and his style of coaching and decided to give it a try.
Then, some marvelous things began to happen that would alter my life path forever. First, Coach Youree's summer program was fantastic. He taught the game from the ground up and insisted on constant repetition of fundamentals. Every session some progression was added and they were always challenging. We worked on things with great effort, because you just never wanted to disappoint Coach Youree on that front- we learned that in football. We worked until we got it right and never played until he was satisfied that progress had been made. I actually enjoyed learning the game at that point much more than playing it anyway. Coach Youree was intense, but had a great sense of humor. He could talk some trash, as well- you always had to be on your toes, which is something I try to be with him to this day. Second, I found myself to be somewhat ambidextrous, which lent itself well to basketball. I did most things left handed, like eat and write, but because my Mom, the softball great, was right handed, I learned to do a lot of sport things right handed. Some of the important basketball fundamentals like dribbling, shooting around the basket, and passing came much easier to me than most of my teammates. That was the first bit of separation that I had from some of my friends who were better athletes. Third, I began to grow. I grew at an unbelievable rate that first summer- a little over four inches. I went from 5'10" to 6'2" and then even started to look like a basketball player. Remember, there was no club ball or anything like it then, so we spent June and July in Coach Youree's summer program, four days a week. I really began to have an affinity for basketball after that, so much so that I decided I wouldn't play football the next year. I would concentrate on basketball, then go out for baseball to have a relaxing Spring again. And fourth, Coach Youree put me in his seventh hour PE class, a place where I would stay for the next three years. This class was for athletes, and not just basketball ones, as most people thought. We developed a bond in that class with our coaches and fellow athletes that was incredible. We would play a variety of games in that class- flag football, volleyball, handball, basketball, softball. What was great was that the coaches would also play and generally the games were "no rules". It was always about toughness there.
My sophomore year, I was rapidly improving, but so were some other guys, so I did not start out the year being a starter. I didn't really expect to anyway, as my resume from the previous three seasons was hardly stellar. But I did play a lot, kept improving, and about halfway through that season, became a starter. I was still growing, as well, and was 6'3" by the time the season ended. The season was such a success that I decided not to go out for baseball, but concentrate more on basketball. I wasn't sure how Coach Youree would take that decision, but he agreed with it. I now looked very much forward to finally playing for him. Again, we had a great summer program, which was now something more schools were doing. We actually ended that second summer by playing against some other schools in July.
As my Junior year began, I was now 6'4" and still growing. I was skinny and never a starter, but played a lot. This would be East High's last year as what they called an Independent. It was like a probation period before you could actually join the AIA. We played anyone who would play us from AAA (the biggest classification back then) to A (the smallest), or private schools or whatever. As players, we never gave any of that too much thought anyway.
The next summer was equally a time of learning from a great coach as the others had been and finished with a much more organized summer league. Going in to my senior season, I was 6'6" and we were placed in the AAA Metro Conference, where all the power was in Arizona at that time. North was great, as was Central, Maryvale, West High, and Alhambra. And there was two time defending state champions Phoenix Union, coached by the legendary "Wimpy" Jones. Their gym was a palace and was unlike any high school gym I had ever seen before or since. When I was a seventh grader, my friend, Keith Kenney, took me to see a game there. His brother played for North and I just remember thinking how cool it would be to play there. Our third game of the year was against Phoenix Union and would, in fact, be played in their gym. We started 1-1. Our opener was against West, and we went over there thinking we were going to handle them. They handled us- 75-50 and we were thoroughly embarrassed. In the third game against Phoenix Union, they were on a 38 game winning streak and had clobbered their first two opponents. My parents decided not to go to the game, fearing the worst outcome. I just remember not being nervous, but being very excited to be on that court with them. They were so athletic and big- we were going to have to play out of our minds to beat them. We did. We won 65-64 and I remember how it felt to this day. Coach Youree said that was the moment when he knew East would have a great program, which they subsequently did. He said it was like watching a college game. When I got home, my parents had no way of knowing how the game went (no cell phones back then). I told them we won and they were amazed. Typical of parents, they asked me how many points I scored and I said I didn't know. They asked how many rebounds I had, and I said I didn't know. We won and that's all that mattered. Back in those days, there was a sister newspaper to the Arizona Republic called the Phoenix Gazette. They covered prep sports heavily and had players of the week in all sports. That week, I was the first East High player to be so honored in any sport in the first four years of the school. Turns out I had 6 points and 16 rebounds against Phoenix Union, followed by 25 points and 17 rebounds against Yuma Kofa the next game. I ended up the year averaging more rebounds than points (12.6 points and 13.5 rebounds) and was the first East High player to be named to the All-City team, which was a big deal back then. We had an up and down year, ending up 13-10. The Metro was predictably tough and Phoenix Union would go on and win another AAA title. They beat Maryvale for the title, which was tough to watch, as we had beaten both teams during the year. Nobody could really predict what Coach Youree would do over the next 13 years until East closed. He would win 5 state championships. In those years, he would never finish worse than state quarterfinals. He would lose only one state championship game, and that was a four overtime loss to Alhambra, with their great player Steve Malovic. In one stretch, East won 54 games in row, then lost a state quarterfinal game in four overtimes, and then won 35 more in a row. His 1980-81 team was named the best high school basketball team of the 20th Century by the Arizona Republic, and was also honored as the Coach of the Century. I didn't know all of those things would happen, but I did know that he was a great coach and man, and someone that I still lean on for support to this day. I also thought that if this is high school, then boy, college coaches really must be something great. Boy, was I wrong.
Next time- On to college.....
I did, in fact, continue on with my friends into the baseball season after the glorious basketball season. Certainly nothing I had done so far would give anyone reason to think that athletics was going to be in my future. Not even I thought so. I dreamed of being a lawyer and then going into politics as my idol, John F. Kennedy had done. The baseball season was a better overall experience for me, however, so I did think I would continue on in sports at some level. Coach Youree coached the jayvee team, but the freshmen and jayvee practiced together most of the time, as there was only one baseball field at the new school. Baseball was a 180 from football and basketball- totally relaxed, great weather in the Spring- almost boring. Well, in fact, it was boring compared to what many of us had gone through all year. Even Coach Youree seemed more mellow and friendly. He said he was going to have a summer basketball program, which was something most of us had never heard of. He would run it through the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation, and it would be a chance to get in somewhere cool and work out in the hot months ahead. Oddly enough, there wasn't going to be any summer baseball program, so anyone interested in that would go on to someplace else and play Babe Ruth or Pony League or whatever the progression was. Most of my friends were going to show up for Coach Youree's summer program. He also made it sound like if you were serious about basketball, then you pretty much had to be there. I wasn't too sure how serious I was about basketball, but I really took a liking to Coach Youree and his style of coaching and decided to give it a try.
Then, some marvelous things began to happen that would alter my life path forever. First, Coach Youree's summer program was fantastic. He taught the game from the ground up and insisted on constant repetition of fundamentals. Every session some progression was added and they were always challenging. We worked on things with great effort, because you just never wanted to disappoint Coach Youree on that front- we learned that in football. We worked until we got it right and never played until he was satisfied that progress had been made. I actually enjoyed learning the game at that point much more than playing it anyway. Coach Youree was intense, but had a great sense of humor. He could talk some trash, as well- you always had to be on your toes, which is something I try to be with him to this day. Second, I found myself to be somewhat ambidextrous, which lent itself well to basketball. I did most things left handed, like eat and write, but because my Mom, the softball great, was right handed, I learned to do a lot of sport things right handed. Some of the important basketball fundamentals like dribbling, shooting around the basket, and passing came much easier to me than most of my teammates. That was the first bit of separation that I had from some of my friends who were better athletes. Third, I began to grow. I grew at an unbelievable rate that first summer- a little over four inches. I went from 5'10" to 6'2" and then even started to look like a basketball player. Remember, there was no club ball or anything like it then, so we spent June and July in Coach Youree's summer program, four days a week. I really began to have an affinity for basketball after that, so much so that I decided I wouldn't play football the next year. I would concentrate on basketball, then go out for baseball to have a relaxing Spring again. And fourth, Coach Youree put me in his seventh hour PE class, a place where I would stay for the next three years. This class was for athletes, and not just basketball ones, as most people thought. We developed a bond in that class with our coaches and fellow athletes that was incredible. We would play a variety of games in that class- flag football, volleyball, handball, basketball, softball. What was great was that the coaches would also play and generally the games were "no rules". It was always about toughness there.
My sophomore year, I was rapidly improving, but so were some other guys, so I did not start out the year being a starter. I didn't really expect to anyway, as my resume from the previous three seasons was hardly stellar. But I did play a lot, kept improving, and about halfway through that season, became a starter. I was still growing, as well, and was 6'3" by the time the season ended. The season was such a success that I decided not to go out for baseball, but concentrate more on basketball. I wasn't sure how Coach Youree would take that decision, but he agreed with it. I now looked very much forward to finally playing for him. Again, we had a great summer program, which was now something more schools were doing. We actually ended that second summer by playing against some other schools in July.
As my Junior year began, I was now 6'4" and still growing. I was skinny and never a starter, but played a lot. This would be East High's last year as what they called an Independent. It was like a probation period before you could actually join the AIA. We played anyone who would play us from AAA (the biggest classification back then) to A (the smallest), or private schools or whatever. As players, we never gave any of that too much thought anyway.
The next summer was equally a time of learning from a great coach as the others had been and finished with a much more organized summer league. Going in to my senior season, I was 6'6" and we were placed in the AAA Metro Conference, where all the power was in Arizona at that time. North was great, as was Central, Maryvale, West High, and Alhambra. And there was two time defending state champions Phoenix Union, coached by the legendary "Wimpy" Jones. Their gym was a palace and was unlike any high school gym I had ever seen before or since. When I was a seventh grader, my friend, Keith Kenney, took me to see a game there. His brother played for North and I just remember thinking how cool it would be to play there. Our third game of the year was against Phoenix Union and would, in fact, be played in their gym. We started 1-1. Our opener was against West, and we went over there thinking we were going to handle them. They handled us- 75-50 and we were thoroughly embarrassed. In the third game against Phoenix Union, they were on a 38 game winning streak and had clobbered their first two opponents. My parents decided not to go to the game, fearing the worst outcome. I just remember not being nervous, but being very excited to be on that court with them. They were so athletic and big- we were going to have to play out of our minds to beat them. We did. We won 65-64 and I remember how it felt to this day. Coach Youree said that was the moment when he knew East would have a great program, which they subsequently did. He said it was like watching a college game. When I got home, my parents had no way of knowing how the game went (no cell phones back then). I told them we won and they were amazed. Typical of parents, they asked me how many points I scored and I said I didn't know. They asked how many rebounds I had, and I said I didn't know. We won and that's all that mattered. Back in those days, there was a sister newspaper to the Arizona Republic called the Phoenix Gazette. They covered prep sports heavily and had players of the week in all sports. That week, I was the first East High player to be so honored in any sport in the first four years of the school. Turns out I had 6 points and 16 rebounds against Phoenix Union, followed by 25 points and 17 rebounds against Yuma Kofa the next game. I ended up the year averaging more rebounds than points (12.6 points and 13.5 rebounds) and was the first East High player to be named to the All-City team, which was a big deal back then. We had an up and down year, ending up 13-10. The Metro was predictably tough and Phoenix Union would go on and win another AAA title. They beat Maryvale for the title, which was tough to watch, as we had beaten both teams during the year. Nobody could really predict what Coach Youree would do over the next 13 years until East closed. He would win 5 state championships. In those years, he would never finish worse than state quarterfinals. He would lose only one state championship game, and that was a four overtime loss to Alhambra, with their great player Steve Malovic. In one stretch, East won 54 games in row, then lost a state quarterfinal game in four overtimes, and then won 35 more in a row. His 1980-81 team was named the best high school basketball team of the 20th Century by the Arizona Republic, and was also honored as the Coach of the Century. I didn't know all of those things would happen, but I did know that he was a great coach and man, and someone that I still lean on for support to this day. I also thought that if this is high school, then boy, college coaches really must be something great. Boy, was I wrong.
Next time- On to college.....
