Page 8 Portland Observer, April 8, 1982
Blazermania. . .
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4
All-American Friendship —College players Lester
Conner of Oregon State and Jose Slaughter of the
University of Portland greet each other at Tuesday
night's Blazar vs M ilw a u k e e basketball game.
Both players were chosen on All-American teams.
Slaughter will play in the Pizza Hut tourney in Las
Vegas and Conners in the Aloha tournam ent In
Honolulu this weekend.
(Photo: Jimmy Robinson)
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The one who didn't make it
Every city, town and ghetto has
its tale o f a great athlete that made it
big, but for everyone that made it
th e re ’ s always three or fo u r that
should have but d id n ’ t. Ours is a
tragic story o f one that didn’t.
Bobby Gene, known as “ Floogje” '
to his friends, was one of those play
ground legends o f which tales o f his
feats have floated throughout the
community for years.
There just may be sadder stories
in sports today, but none could pos
sibly surpass the one o f Bobby
Gene.
Bobby Gene’s story is not one of
heartless coaches, greedy alumni or
selfish college presidents, because
Bobby Gene never got that fa r.
Bobby Gene’s story begins at the el
ementary level where he excelled be
cause he was bigger and older than
most o f the students.
Bobby Gene was forced to drop
out after the eighth grade. You see
Bib Bob led by intimidation and not
by example. By the time he reached
the eighth grade Big Bob had a l
ready been expelled from school six
tim es, once fo r knocking out his
junior high school principal.
Bob’s story was tragic in that he
had two brothers die at the hands of
dope, a fate Bob would later suc
cumb to himself.
Bob c o u ld n ’ t cope in school,
from the beginning it was impossi
ble. Bob transferred to a midwest
city after being bom the youngest of
four brothers in a small Tennessee
town called Dreslin.
W hen Bob reached the Chicago
school system he was im m ediately
placed grades back due to his lack of
the basic skills.
In a classroom setting where he
was clearly bigger and dumber than
the other students Bob searched for
other ways to show his superiority.
He soon turned to the things he did
best— athletics and fighting.
By the tim e he reached eighth
grade he was the possessor o f the
best hook fro m the p ivo t and the
best le ft hook to the ja w , all this,
mind you, on the basketball court.
Bob suffered from what they call
today the “ white m an’ s disease.**
He was not fast, couldn’t jum p, but
was a master o f positioning under
the hoop. So, at 5-10, he played cen
ter in whatever game he played and
no m atter how tall the opponent,
Bob could always manage to outre-
bound or outscore the opposition.
And most o f it, m ind you, was
not always due to superior talent.
Remember Bobby Gene w ould in
timidate, bully or whatever.
M ost o f the tim e the opponents
would miss a shot and com pletely
refuse to follow up in fear o f tres
passing on Big B o b ’ s te rrito ry ,
which was everything within three to
six feet o f the basket.
I remem ber Big Bob as the best
shot blocker our playground ever
knew.
W e had guys who later played at
such big schools as Illin o is , Iow a
and Michigan, but none could chal
lenge Bobby Gene and come away
to brag about it.
Big Bob d id n ’t just block shots,
he did it with style and class. Like a
bloody nose, a black eye or a dis
lodged tooth.
Thus for 14 years the legend o f
Big Bob circulated throu g h the
streets and tenement houses o f C hi
cago.
Bob was one o f those unfortunate
ghetto kids that went fro m grade
one through eight and could barely
write his name.
As great as Bob was it was always
a foregone conclusion that he would
never play high school sports. In Il
linois there’s a law prohibiting parti
cipation after one reaches the age o f
19. Bob was near 19 in the eighth
grade.
Some final notes on the 1981-82
Beavers and then we’ll let the cur
tain down on what was just a fantas
tic season for Coach Ralph M ille r’s
boys.
Oregon State closed the season
w ith an 11-game w inning streak
going at Gill Coliseum. The Beavers
compiled this record by winning 36
of their last 39 Pac-10 games, losing
only to A rizona State in 1981 and
U C L A in 1982.
The Beavers have compiled a rec
ord o f 77-11 since the start o f the
1979-80 season, a winning percent
age o f .875, a mark only surpassed
by D eP aul n atio n ally during the
same tim e span. D eP aul is 79-6
(.9 2 9 ) over the same period and
that’s good basketball by anyone’s
standards.
And to show that the OSU sche
dule was anything but easy in the
span o f six weeeks the Beavers
played Pepperdine, Idaho, Pennsyl
van ia, the Iv y C h am p io n s, P itts
burgh and L ouisville, winning all
except for the loss in the Far West
Classic to Coach Don Myreson and
the Idaho Vandals.
Oregon State finished the season
ranked fourth by both A P and U P I.
The Beavers credit most o f their
success to their defense.
The Beaver defense held their op
ponents under 40 points three times
and that’s saying something when
I
you consider the high powered o f
fense being used in to d ay’ s game.
The Beavers held S ta n fo rd to 38,
w hile lim itin g both W ashington
State and U SC to a mere 36 points’
each.
All season long OSU preferred to
refer to itself as a team w ith o u t a
star. B ut, 6-4 a ll-A m eric a n guard
Lester Conner was indeed a shining
star. Lester “ The Molester” Conner
simply had a fantastic year for the
Beavers. Conner has won numerous
honors to date. The follow ing is a
list o f his achievements so far:
I. 2nd team All-American, A P
2. 3rd team All-American, U P I
3. 3rd team All-American,
Basketball Weekly
4. Honorable mention, All-American
Sporting News
5. N C A A Western Regional All-Star
team
6. Pacific-10 Conference Player of
the year, coaches
7. Pacific-10 A ll Conference,
coaches
8. Pacific-10 Player o f the year,
Eugene Register Guard
9. District 8 All-Star Team, USBW A
10. District 14 All-Star Team,
N A BC
I I . Pacific-10 Player O f The Week
two times
C onner, however, d id n ’ t garner
all the awards. Team m ate Charlie
Sitton, a second year man, was vot
ed to the all Pac-10 team by the
FREE* FREE* FREE
RECAP TIRE
M akin g a bad mistake he began
sm oking m a riju a n a . H e became
hooked, started dealing and one
night it was alleged that he got in a
scuffle over some dope and shot and
killed a man.
P urchase 3 recap tire s fo r y o u r car
1
« X 7 Î* J
Bob did time but was never again
to return to the athletic fie ld . He
was found stabbed to death in his
cell. Rumor has it that he was set up
by dope pushers on the outside. Bob
died in J o liet, but his playground
reputation lives on today.
The last Beaver wrap up
by Ron Sykes
Stop M arkl The Blazers tried a number of defenders to try to stop
Dallas player M ark Aguirre. Michael Harper gives him the halt sign in
Portland win over Dallas.
(Photo: Jim m y Robinson)
2
LJ
and g e t th e 4th one FREE
»Jr.
r u m m il
P tir e i
coaches, and received honorable
mention on the Sporting News A ll-
A m erican T e a m . Freshm an A .C .
Green was chosen on the Pacific-10
all-Rookie team, by the coaches and
picked as the Rookie player o f the
year in the conference.
The Beavers will miss Conner, but
should carry on well without him in
the years ahead.
Coach R alph M ille r w ill be the
coach o f the West team and Lester
Conner will play for the West in the
Pizza H u t Basketball Classic which
will be played in Las Vegas in April.
Tennis tourney
scheduled here
The Peugeot Tennis Invitational
is set for the Memorial Coliseum on
April 19th.
Czech player Iv a n Lendl easily
beat Conners in their last two meet
ings and has defeated McEnroe four
times.
C h ip H o o p e r, 23, is a tw o-tim e
all-Am erican from Arkansas U . A t
17 Jimmy Aries is a prodigy. By age
14 he had already won two national
titles.
F o u rth m em ber o f the team is
Roscoe T anner, who had two pre
vious appearances in Portland.
The invitational should be full o f
superb play and excitement.
Uva Music
at
WADE’S
Sat.
Country
Waatarn
Sun.
Country
Qospal
G 78x15 .
$39.95
G 78 x 15 .
$47.00
A 78x13 .
$32.95
JR 7 8 x 1 5
$49.00
Gr 7 8 x 1 5 .
$47.00
BR 7 8 x 1 5
$36.95
700x15 ..
$64.00
750x16 ..
$67.95
L 7 8 x 1 5 ........................$49.95
1 2 x 1 6 .5 ........................$70.95
HR 7 8 x 1 4 ....................$56.00
1200 x 15.................... $59.95
each
ÌL»,
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Mounting and Balancing axtra
w***
WADE'S TIRE CENTER
Tires are the name o f the game
7315 N. Fessenden
286-9052
Across from Gaorga Park In St. Johns
Frank Wade Jr., Owner
/
286-3103