“One tough group of Cats.”

Lute Olsen, Monday, March 31, 1997

Arizona’s Wildcats proved better than Kentucky’s Wildcats that Monday night almost 14 years ago, when the Arizona men’s basketball team won the NCAA Title, and in one way ended a journey for me that had started when I first arrived in Tucson in January of 1974.

Having grown up just outside of New York City, I wasn’t a stranger to having local professional teams win championships. A New York team was in the World Series for 12 of the first 13 years of my life. In the NFL, the NY Giants were there for 5 of 6 years starting in 1958. As I grew older I watched the NY Jets win a Super Bowl, and the Miracle Mets win in ’69. The Knicks won two NBA titles in 1970 and 1973. My high school basketball team was named the best team in the NYC area by the New York Daily News my Junior year when they went 21-1.



The Fox electrified the desert in the early '70s

I became a fan of the Arizona "Kiddie Korps" that the late Fred "The Fox" Snowden had put together for the 1973 season. By 1974, Coneil Norman, Eric Money, Al Fleming, and Jim Rappis had helped create a buzz that eventually moved the Wildcats into national recognition. This was hugely aided by the fact that Snowden was the first African-American head coach at a major American university.

I did a little research on some old Arizona teams, and realized that I had a few more connections to players and coaches associated with the program than I had readily recalled.

The closest connections and best stories I have are from my old friends, Donald Mellon and Mark Jung, and an X-rated story my ex-wife told me.

Don Mellon was in one of Snowden’s last good recruiting classes (1978) and was unlucky enough to be around for the Ben Lindsay coached disaster in 1982-83.

Don’s best story was about a local kid from Cholla High School named Harvey Thompson who was a teammate, and the worst trash talker Don said he ever knew, and Don was from Detroit, so he knew some trash talk.



Harris punked Harvey

In a game I was at that Ben Lindsay coached about 28 years ago, the Cats were hosting the University of Tulsa. Tulsa had a 6’5" kid named Steve Harris who later played a few years in the NBA, and that night he was on fire, dropping 16-22 foot jumpers over who ever was trying to guard him.

Don got the job of trying to stop Harris, and when he quickly realized he couldn’t, he started sweet talkin’ Harris. Don told him how good he was, how he’d make big money in the NBA, and how seeing as Tulsa was kickin’ the Cats ass that night anyway, he should "go easy on the brutha."

Don said it worked, and Harris eased up, as Tulsa had a big lead anyway. Eventually, Lindsay took Don out for a blow, and put Harvey Thompson in the game. Don tried to tell Harvey to "be nice" to Harris, but

Harvey said "Screw that mutha." And proceeded to diss Harris in any way he could.

Harris got angry, and decided to go on another roll, lighting Harvey up from all over the court. Lindsay saw this and immediately inserted Don back in the game with orders to "shut Harris down!"


Of course Don immediately became the supplicant again, fawning over the magnificence that was Steve Harris, and telling him again how fabulous he was.

Don said Harris drained another 21 footer over him and told Don to go fuck himself.

"My Legend Comes Alive in My Mind," by Harvey Thompson.

Mark Jung was the 7 foot center from Canyon Del Oro High School in Tucson, who played briefly at the U of A before transferring. It was no secret by 1981 that Snowden couldn’t recruit very well anymore because he was deathly afraid of flying, so he tried very hard to get as many local kids as he could to play for the Cats. According to Mark, Fred Snowden would serve up young ladies as a kind of ‘escort service’ for the young men coming for official visits, with one of the ladies being a relative of the Fox.

"Fear of Flying: My Odyssey from Coach to Pimp," by Freddie "The Fox" Snowden.


Brian Jung, Mark’s older brother is also a friend of mine. Brian was another highly recruited 7 footer who ended up in the Big 10 at Northwestern, and was drafted by the Celtics.

Sometime back in the ‘90’s, I played a round of golf with Mark, Brian and their 6’5" nephew. I am a bit over 5’8" tall. Folks with cameras were snapping photos of us as we walked Randolph South Golf Course one day. I told anyone within earshot that we were searching for a 6’1" shooting guard.

Funny, but it was shortly after that when I met Don Mellon, and I later played golf with Harvey Mason who was a shooting guard, albeit a poor one. I also got to know Albert Johnson pretty well, and played golf with him a number of times, and lifted a number of beers after. Albert played for the Cats from 1962-1965, was an All WAC selection 3 times, and played with the Harlem Globetrotters.



Onion rings, anyone?

The last story will always be my favorite about Arizona men’s basketball players, and it’s a short one about Herm "The Germ" Harris. Herm was a (yet another) 6’5" wing player with an often deadly long jumper, and no reluctance to shoot it.

I had been dating the woman who later became my first wife for some time when she told me a story a co-worker had told her about her roommate and her boyfriend, who was Herm the Germ.

Apparently, this story revolves around onion rings, and the young lady nibbling the onion rings off an appendage of the Germ, with other hormone-driven high jinx naturally ensuing.

When I told that story to a good friend of mine, he swore off onion rings for about 20 years.

"Have it Your Way or Mine: Fun Things to do with Snacks, " by Herm "The Germ" Harris.


Have em Herm's way

How about, "An Appendage of the Germ," a novel by Michael Crichton, with Herman Harris, and forward by Linda Lovelace?



Thanks Miles.

It’s been a long time since those days, and a long time since that 1997 Arizona Wildcat championship season – so long ago that Michael Bibby is now an aging and slow point guard, but the luster of what he, Miles Simon, and those Cats did hasn’t worn off yet.  It was a magical ride, beating three number 1 seeds to win that title on a Monday evening in Indianapolis, and when the game ended, CBS’s Billy Packer said it best:

"Simon says championship!"