Does Stan make it through the season?

[Warthog]

I think Harper was a stutterer, IIANM.

That could be, but I am pretty sure Harper suffered from dyslexia.

[h2oville rocket]

MAC trivia...did someone mention MAC trivia? When Harper was lighting it up for Miami, Ball State had a transfer from Purdue who thought HE should be the MAC playe rof the year.....who was that forward for BSU?

dan palombizio, 1981 indiana mr basketball, beating out other indiana seniors including....dan dakich.

Palombezio played a game at UT with a badly injured hand-several stitches from getting bit by his pet pirahna. Nobody said he was bright.

Here's one for you really old timers. Jim Kindle came to UT in a trade with BG for what UT player (well, OK, they transferred at the same time, Kindle to UT from BG and the other guy from UT to BG)? I really couldn't remember and halfway through this post it came to me. See if anyone else knows. Hint: he was from New Joisey.

I think Steve Cooper was the player "traded" for Kindle.

You win-I can't remember if Cooper ever played much for BG though. He was in one of my freshman classes and certainly expected to be an All-American at the time.

[RayRay]

Harper had a horrible stuttering problem when he got to Miami. It was really really bad. I remember seeing him interviewed once back then and it was painful to watch but to his credit he stuck out the interview (on a local TV station I think) It still -- the stutter -- popped up from time-to-time in the pros but was much better than back in the days at Miami.

[ZiggyZoomba]

Palombezio played a game at UT with a badly injured hand-several stitches from getting bit by his pet pirahna. Nobody said he was bright.

Gotta step in and correct you on this one. The pirrahna bite victim was BGSU player Mike Midday.

[ZiggyZoomba]

As for Ron Harper... he's one of my all-time favorite players!! And, um, yeah, I think he KIND of made it in the NBA. He's got 4 chapionship rings (3 with the Bulls and one with the Lakers)! Finished his NBA career with almost 14,000 points! (13,910)



He was a stutterer coming out of HS and Miami had a great program for students with speech impediments, so he ended up there.

[jacojdm]

As for Ron Harper... he's one of my all-time favorite players!! And, um, yeah, I think he KIND of made it in the NBA. He's got 4 chapionship rings (3 with the Bulls and one with the Lakers)!

thanks for correcting me. i thought that he had won two with the lakers.

in any case, it looks like he's still gettin' around.

[factman]

I was told by one of the Bayless brothers, Martin and Jerry, who were very good friends with Harper, that he wanted to come to BG, and they told Coach Weinert about him, but Harper never received as much as a phone call from BG!!! OOPS!

[ZiggyZoomba]

thanks for correcting me. i thought that he had won two with the lakers.

Nope, you're right. He was with the Lakers for their 2000 AND 2001 championships. Good call!

[Dayons_Den]

Stupid Danny Ferry trade. . . . . .

[jacojdm]

Stupid Danny Ferry trade. . . . . .

no kidding.
i had an almost life size poster of ron harper on my bedroom door when i was a wee lad.

[h2oville rocket]

Palombezio played a game at UT with a badly injured hand-several stitches from getting bit by his pet pirahna. Nobody said he was bright.

Gotta step in and correct you on this one. The pirrahna bite victim was BGSU player Mike Midday.

I thought of that after I wrote it but couldn't remember the guy's name. He was a transfer too I think and that was my confusion. Should have known it was a Falcon!

[Dayons_Den]

Palombezio played a game at UT with a badly injured hand-several stitches from getting bit by his pet pirahna. Nobody said he was bright.

Gotta step in and correct you on this one. The pirrahna bite victim was BGSU player Mike Midday.

I thought of that after I wrote it but couldn't remember the guy's name. He was a transfer too I think and that was my confusion. Should have known it was a Falcon!

I dunno, sounds fishy to me.

[Rollo83]

dan palombizio, 1981 indiana mr basketball, beating out other indiana seniors including....dan dakich.

In 1985, I remember sitting in the then called Centennial Hall in Toledo and watching Harper’s Miami Redskins play Palombizio’s Ball State Cardinals in the MAC tournament semi-finals.

Harper had just been named the MAC Player of the Year and he and Palombizio were jumping center to start the game. Palombizio was 6’8” and Harper stood about 6’5”.

As mentioned earlier, Palombizio transferred in from Purdue after his sophomore year. Everyone one at Purdue was stunned because he had two very productive years as a underclassmen for the Boilermakers. I guess he and Purdue coach Gene Keady butted heads.

This story came out in the papers the next morning. Just before the jump ball to start the game, Palombizio turns to Harper and says, “We are going to find out tonight who the real MVP is!” Harper proceeds to go out and drop a MAC Tournament record 45 points on Palombizio and the Cardinals. We never heard much about Palombizio after that.

[OSUFALCON]

Speaking of Dan Palombizo, can anyone name the coach for Ball State at the time?


Cmon Flipper, you should know this one!

I think Steve Yoder was the coach or was it Al Brown. Palombizo was a real horse and a horses ass. The guy thought that he was God's gift to basketball. He could play but didn't make much of a career out of it. I saw him lead his team to the NCAA tournament after watching him single handling win the MAC tournament in Rockford, IL. I'll bet few of you on here ever made it to Rockford for the MAC tournament. It was there for two year, they play at the Metro Center. Nice place in it's day. I think the years were 1984 and 1986 or maybe it was 1983 and 1985.

[BGSU33]

I remember seeing an interview with Ron Harper that was a feature about his speech problem. He said when he was young, as you might imagine, he was made fun of a lot by other kids and he said it fueled him to do well in sports and that it sparked him in basketball. He said as the game started to come to him, he used the comments and jokes that were made at his expense to drive him. I thought that was pretty cool to hear. His speaking has gotten better over the years. He still has a speech impediment and does stutter, but not as much or as bad as he used to.