I am not a particularly religious man, but now is the time for prayer. I am now praying for Chuck Daly.
Daly, a legend in the game of
Basketball, is fighting for his life battling pancreatic cancer. This is a tough fight for anyone, and when you're 78-years-old, the fight is
certainly more difficult.
I have known "Daddy Rich" - as John Salley called him in Detroit during the days of the Bad Boy Pistons - since the early-70s when I began my career calling Princeton University basketball games and Daly was the head coach of the University of
Pennsylvania.
I learned the game from Pete Carril, then coach of the Princeton Tigers, who never cared about his wardrobe. That was the opposite of Daly, who wreaked of sartorial splendor, a trait he inherited from his father. He then went to Boston College where he succeeded the legendary Bob Cousy, and eventually into the NBA where he was an assistant to Billy Cunningham, who is as close to Daly today as anyone in the world.
After a dismal stay in Cleveland, he landed in Detroit, which became his most famous stop, winning two NBA titles with the Bad Boys - Dennis Rodman,
Isiah Thomas, Bill Lambeer, and the good guy Joe Dumars. Along the way, Chuck Daly was the head coach of the gold medal-winning USA Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics. In 1994, the ultimate compliment, a trip to Springfield, Mass., and the Basketball Hall of Fame.
I spent two seasons with the "Prince of Pessimism", as he was dubbed for his glass-half-empty philosophy, when he was the head coach of the New Jersey
Nets, and I called the games on radio. We would visit before each game and tape the "Chuck Daly Show" for airing in the pregame of the broadcast. I loved every minute of being around a guy who taught me about the NBA in every conceivable way. I remember things about Daly
that I will remember forever.
When he was hired as the coach of the Nets, he went to dinner with the owners and their wives. During the dinner, one of the wives said that it wasn't necessary to charter a plane for the road trips. Daly said that was fine; he would then only coach the home games.
The Nets were a losing franchise after Dr. J until Daly arrived, and he had them in the playoffs during his brief two-year run. They had gone many years to the west coast and not won more than they lost until one five-game trip when they won the first four games of the trip before losing at Portland by six when Clyde Drexler went off for 36 points. Still, it was a successful trip winning four of five. Yet Daly earned his nickname - the “Prince of Pessimism” when he dwelled on the one loss rather than the four wins. I have played golf on occasion with Chuck,
and it was always entertaining and fun even listening to his griping about getting old and feeling everything aching in his body.
So I now I pray for Chuck Daly and I want to you pray for him as well. He will be 79 in July and I hope he's here for his birthday and many more after that. Because, you see, Chuck Daly is unforgettable in my life and I want to hear him complain about everything and anything again.
If you would like to comment on this blog, please email Howard David at howarddavidh3@yahoo.com.
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