A SCOUT'S PERSPECTIVE - OBSERVATIONS & RUMINATIONS

Coach Steve Finamore sent me an article written by Harvey Araton on Earl Monroe, the greatest basketball player that my father, Clarence "Big House" Gaines ever coached. The article is entitled "The Parable of the Pearl" and it's a great read. The article is excerpted from Araton's book, "When The Garden was Eden," and focuses on a trade that rocked the basketball world on November 11, 1971. On that date, Earl Monroe was traded by the Baltimore Bullets to the New York Knicks. The central question that basketball fans and experts had on their minds after the trade was consummated was a simple one; could Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe coexist in the same backcourt? Araton's article addresses the question in the first paragraph: The trade was announced on November 11, stunning the basketball world. Imagine hearing in 1985 that Magic Johnson had been traded to the Celtics -- that's how unimaginable the dealing of Earl Monr...

Ernie Barnes, great American artist, died on 4/27/09. Linking  Ernie Barnes' biography .    Barnes' life journey is  inspirational and I love how he acquired  his authentic voice and expressed himself through his unique style of painting.   I first became aware of his art work by watching the hit TV show, Good Times . JJ's art work was done by Ernie Barnes. It was alluring and always captured your imagination. However, Barnes didn't really enter my consciousness until I had an encounter with Coach Bill Hayes, head football coach at WSSU, in the late 70's. In his office was an Ernie Barnes original. The first time I saw it, I said to Coach Hayes, 'that's a nice print.'  He gently corrected me and told me that it was an original piece of art from his friend and teammate at NCCU, Ernie Barnes.  How cool was it for me to see an original piece of Barnes art in a small, cramped office at a historical Black University. Actually, given Barnes backgr...

Billy Packer! The name is a lightening rod for most college basketball fans. If you're a college basketball fan, odds are, you know Billy Packer and have an opinion about him. This quote from "Why is Billy Packer Considered a Better College Basketball Analyst than Bill Raftery?" sums up the typical negative criticism of Packer: "Packer seems to be hated by more fans than he is loved, mostly for his intense ACC bias (particularly towards his Alma matter Wake Forest), his refusal to accept mid-major conferences as worthy competition for power conferences, and his inability to admit when he is wrong." I decided to write this blog because a couple of people I follow on twitter characterized Packer as a racist. I immediately objected and told them of the relationship between Packer and my father, Clarence "Big House" Gaines. How they met is a most unique story and I've decided to post excerpts from my father's book, "They Ca...

The above picture is my father, Clarence "Big House" Gaines and Mary Garber. I'm betting that it's a picture of them after she received an honorary degree from a local University in Winston-Salem, NC, most likely, Winston-Salem State University. When Mary died in 2008, I was in the midst of coaching my daughter's GU14 soccer team. I wanted every girl on that team to know about Mary. I shared the following missive with them and their parents. It's my tribute to Mary. She was a great friend to my family. This world lost a great human being on Sunday, September 21, 2008. I doubt that any of you know anything about the life of Mary Garber, but you should. Mary is known in the sports world as one of the "first full-time female sportswriter at a daily newspaper in the USA." She wrote for my hometown newspapers, the Winston-Salem Journal and the Twin City Sentinel from 1946 - 2002, and was a very good friend of my father and our family. Mary was the ...