CHUCK DALY
1982 was a transitional year.
I was teaching tennis at Greg Luzinski’s Cherry Hill tennis courts, working in the weight room as a personal trainer, and doing anything I could to make money as I awaited my next professional football opportunity. Actually, as fate would have it, this is where I ran into Carl Peterson, the ex-player personnel director of the Eagles who had just signed on to run the Stars of the USFL. He was there getting tennis lessons for his daughter Dawn, and signed me to a contract for the 1983 season on the spot. If anyone ever tells you that timing and “who you know” doesn’t mean EVERYTHING, don’t believe them.
The weight room was rather tiny and offered just a couple of exercise bikes, a few nautilus machines, and some small dumbbells (I was the larger one). A middle aged man with a head full of great thick hair combed back in a pompadour entered one day, gave me a nod and a smile, and made a beeline to an exercise bike as he pedaled at a ferocious pace and devoured several newspapers in about a thirty minute workout. When he pulled the paper down from his face, I recognized it was Chuck Daly, the former assistant coach of the 76’rs and recently fired Head Coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers who was currently doing the color analysis for the Sixers games on the then local cable network Prism.
He asked me if I was who he thought I was, and I asked him if he was who I thought he was (even though I KNEW), and we started a friendly relationship and talked sports several times a week during his workouts. He was furious at being fired by Cleveland in less than one season, and was anxiously awaiting his next coaching opportunity. Not knowing how solid the USFL was going to be, I offered to be his assistant coach, gofer, equipment manager, or anything else that might get me into professional basketball. He thought I was joking and laughed me off, but if he had said yes to any one of the above I was his man!
Later that year, Daly was hired as the Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons, and went on an amazing run coaching the “bad boys” Isaiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, and Rick Mahorn to two NBA championships back to back in 1990 and 1991. He finished his coaching career with the NJ Nets and Orlando Magic, but never attained the success he had with the Pistons.
As we sat there talking about our respective futures back in 1982, little did we know we would win 4 championships between us in the upcoming years. Not too bad for a couple of South Jersey boys killing time in a local tennis club.
1982 was a transitional year.
I was teaching tennis at Greg Luzinski’s Cherry Hill tennis courts, working in the weight room as a personal trainer, and doing anything I could to make money as I awaited my next professional football opportunity. Actually, as fate would have it, this is where I ran into Carl Peterson, the ex-player personnel director of the Eagles who had just signed on to run the Stars of the USFL. He was there getting tennis lessons for his daughter Dawn, and signed me to a contract for the 1983 season on the spot. If anyone ever tells you that timing and “who you know” doesn’t mean EVERYTHING, don’t believe them.
The weight room was rather tiny and offered just a couple of exercise bikes, a few nautilus machines, and some small dumbbells (I was the larger one). A middle aged man with a head full of great thick hair combed back in a pompadour entered one day, gave me a nod and a smile, and made a beeline to an exercise bike as he pedaled at a ferocious pace and devoured several newspapers in about a thirty minute workout. When he pulled the paper down from his face, I recognized it was Chuck Daly, the former assistant coach of the 76’rs and recently fired Head Coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers who was currently doing the color analysis for the Sixers games on the then local cable network Prism.
He asked me if I was who he thought I was, and I asked him if he was who I thought he was (even though I KNEW), and we started a friendly relationship and talked sports several times a week during his workouts. He was furious at being fired by Cleveland in less than one season, and was anxiously awaiting his next coaching opportunity. Not knowing how solid the USFL was going to be, I offered to be his assistant coach, gofer, equipment manager, or anything else that might get me into professional basketball. He thought I was joking and laughed me off, but if he had said yes to any one of the above I was his man!
Later that year, Daly was hired as the Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons, and went on an amazing run coaching the “bad boys” Isaiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, and Rick Mahorn to two NBA championships back to back in 1990 and 1991. He finished his coaching career with the NJ Nets and Orlando Magic, but never attained the success he had with the Pistons.
As we sat there talking about our respective futures back in 1982, little did we know we would win 4 championships between us in the upcoming years. Not too bad for a couple of South Jersey boys killing time in a local tennis club.
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