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News release prepared by: Mark Janssen, K-State athletics
Friday, Aug. 13, 2010
WILDCAT GREAT BOB BOOZER TALKS HALL OF FAME 'DREAM 1xbet online games login '
MANHATTAN -- Bob Boozer had a dream and he followed it.
The former Kansas State Wildcat delayed his entry into professional basketball for the right to try out for the 1960 Olympic basketball 1xbet online games login . Boozer made that 1xbet online games login , and tonight in Springfield, Mass., that Gold Medal-winning 1xbet online games login will enter the storied Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Times have changes, Boozer said.
&1xbet online games login ;With the money they're passing out today, it would have been a very difficult decision. But at the time, the No. 1 draft choice was only getting ,000 or ,000, and for me, the possibility of making an Olympic team was a single chance of a lifetime to fulfill a dream.&1xbet online games login ;
After a three-year playing career at K-State, the 6-foot-8 native of Omaha, Neb., was the No. 1 overall selection in the 1959 NBA draft by the Cincinnati Royals.
Boozer had averaged a school record 21.9 points in his 77 games as a Wildcat, which included 62 victories. He was a vital cog in Tex Winter's &1xbet online games login ;Purple Machine&1xbet online games login ; that won the Big Seven title in his junior year, 1957-58, and the first-ever Big 8 Championship the next year when the Wildcats went 14-0 and reached No. 1 status in the nation.
Still, there was more for Boozer to accomplish as an amateur player.
&1xbet online games login ;Since I was young, I always dreamed of playing in the Olympics,&1xbet online games login ; said Boozer, member of K-State's Hall of Fame, the university's &1xbet online games login ;All Century&1xbet online games login ; team and one of just 10 Wildcats to have his uniform retired. &1xbet online games login ;Some people in the NBA thought I was a fool to wait a year to start my professional career, but for me, it was the right thing to do.
&1xbet online games login ;I knew it was a long shot to make the team, but it was going to be my only opportunity,&1xbet online games login ; he said.
You may have never heard of the NIBL. The National Industrial Basketball League was formed in 1947 and later became the National AAU Basketball League.
In his year-in-waiting to try out for the 1960 Olympics, Boozer played for the Peoria Cats in a league that included the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers, Wichita Vickers, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, Denver-Chicago Truckers and New York Tuck Tapers, to name a few.
&1xbet online games login ;You worked for your company for eight hours a day, and then you practiced and played basketball for your corporation,&1xbet online games login ; said Boozer. &1xbet online games login ;It was very competitive -- a step above college basketball.&1xbet online games login ;
Boozer said his Peoria 1xbet online games login won the postseason tournament in Denver, and then advanced to an Olympic tournament that included a small college all-star 1xbet online games login ; a 1xbet online games login of university all-stars, including Jerry West, Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson; an armed forces all-star unit; and a group from the NIBL.
Just hours after the tournament, Boozer heard his name as one of 12 called to make up the 1960 U.S. Olympic basketball 1xbet online games login .
&1xbet online games login ;Now, that was a thrill,&1xbet online games login ; he said. &1xbet online games login ;I had made the sacrifice to not turn pro, and without a guarantee that I would make the USA team. So to hear my named called was very rewarding and exciting.&1xbet online games login ;
The 12 members of the 1xbet online games login were Jay Arnette, Texas; Walt Bellamy, Indiana; Bob Boozer, Peoria Caterpillars and K-State; Terry Dischinger, Purdue; Burdette Haldorson, Bartlesville Phillips 66ers and Colorado; Darrall Imoff, California; Allen Kelley, Peoria Caterpillars and Kansas; Lester Lane, Oklahoma; Jerry Lucas, Ohio State; Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati; Adrian Smith, U.S. armed forces and Kentucky; and Jerry West, West Virginia. The head coach was Pete Newell; assistant coach was Warren Womble.
This year's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class includes eight individuals and two teams: Jerry Buss, Cynthia Cooper, Bob Hurley Sr., Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, members of the 1960 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team and the 1992 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, also known as the &1xbet online games login ;Dream Team.&1xbet online games login ; The hall's class also includes three legendary players: Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson and international star Maciel &1xbet online games login ;Ubiratan&1xbet online games login ; Pereira, who are being honored posthumously.
Featuring Oscar Robertson and the two Jerrys -- West and Lucas -- the 1960 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team might have been the first &1xbet online games login ;Dream Team&1xbet online games login ; before the famed 1992 unit with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.
&1xbet online games login ;We were recognized as a strong team. For its time, one certainly to be compared to the 'Dream Teams' of today,&1xbet online games login ; said Boozer, now 73 and living in Omaha. &1xbet online games login ;We were a team recognized as one that should win the gold and we did. We definitely think we were the first 'Dream Team.'&1xbet online games login ;
The USA did win gold, going 8-0, averaging 101.9 points and winning games by a 42.4-point average. It was a greater margin of victory than the 1992 gang had on their way to a golden finish.
&1xbet online games login ;It was like a team we had at K-State. We were a family,&1xbet online games login ; said Boozer. &1xbet online games login ;We were special. We had some horses, and it was fun to watch the horses run. Like at K-State, we got the ball off the board and we were off to the races.&1xbet online games login ;
While it was natural that Robertson, Lucas and West received the headlines, Boozer said it was a 1xbet online games login without egos.
&1xbet online games login ;We had a group of starters, but we substituted five-for-five and that second group really got after you,&1xbet online games login ; said Boozer, who was one of the reserves and averaged 8.6 point in Olympic competition. &1xbet online games login ;We had teams play with us in the first half, but our strength was the second half when we just wore teams down. We were overpowering.&1xbet online games login ;
The USA scored at least 104 points in five of its eight games, which included a 112-81 victory over host Italy in the semifinals before a 90-63 thumping of Brazil for the gold medal.
To this day, Boozer calls his days at K-State the best experience of his life.
&1xbet online games login ;To win the gold medal, to represent your country, to hear the star spangled banner -- that ranks ahead of anything I did professionally, which includes winning the NBA championship when I was with Milwaukee. But that K-State experience -- it was No. 1,&1xbet online games login ; he said.
Boozer said he's stayed in touch with Robertson more so than any other of his Olympic teammates. Frequently, he says, stories are re-re-re-re-told of the K-State vs. Cincinnati games.
The first was in 1958 in the NCAA Midwest Regional in Lawrence where the Wildcats won 83-80 in double-overtime.
&1xbet online games login ;Robertson still says he was cheated,&1xbet online games login ; Boozer laughs. &1xbet online games login ;I forget if it was regulation or overtime, but we led by two with only a few seconds left when he was fouled. Well, he made the first one, but when the ref threw him the ball, he put it on the floor and started to walk to the other end of the floor shaking his hands trying to get them loose.
&1xbet online games login ;At the same time, the referee was making the 10-count. His teammates started hollering at him to come shoot, but by the time he got back to the ball, the count was at eight, so he had to hurry his shot and he missed it,&1xbet online games login ; Boozer said. &1xbet online games login ;He missed it, and I guarantee you it was all purple and white around the rim for the rebound and we beat them.
&1xbet online games login ;To this day, and he's serious about it, he thinks Cincinnati was robbed.&1xbet online games login ;
The next year the &1xbet online games login ;Big O&1xbet online games login ; and the Bearcats got sweet revenge with an 85-75 victory over the then 25-1 and No. 1 ranked Wildcats, ending their season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.