Note: This story first appeared the Feb. 2018 issue of Gold and Black Illustrated so many of you may not have seen it. But it begins a series on Purdue's last Final Four men's basketball team, a squad that faced off in Indy for a chance at the national title on March 22, 1980.
It’s been 38 years, so excuse me if my mind is a little bit fuzzy on the facts.
But this is how I remember it. I was as a sophomore basketball manager in 1979-80, the year a Purdue’s men’s basketball team most recently reached a Final Four. Off the court, the team didn’t appear to hang out together all that often. In some cases, they didn’t appear to like each other all that well. (Note--I have heard from a couple former players in the past two years that contest my statement.)
But four decades of separation apparently makes the heart grow fonder. At least it did the weekend of Feb. 17-18, when eight team members and seven managers returned to be honored in Mackey Arena.
“You realize how different things were back then,” said Brian Walker, the starting point guard. “Today, teams live together, train together, do everything together. Back then, it wasn’t that way. You played the season and then went your separate ways for the most part.”
Make no mistake, however: On the court this team was all business and functioned well as a unit. It had a cerebral, sometimes difficult, coach in Lee Rose. Rose would challenge his players in ways physical and mental. Always looking for an edge for his team.
“Some of the guys loved him and some struggled with Coach’s approach,” Walker said about Rose, now 81, who wasn’t able to make it to Mackey from his home in Charlotte due to health issues.
“But we all respected him.”
Rose, a consummate tactician, had talent on the roster, starting with No. 1 NBA draft pick and All-America center Joe Barry Carroll. But there was a good supporting cast, too, including a physically imposing leaper at the 4 in Arnette Hallman, versatile and talented swingmen Keith Edmonson and Drake Morris and a tough-minded point guard in Walker. The bench wasn’t deep, but it was usually productive with forwards Mike “Scooby Doo” Scearce, current Pitt coach Kevin Stallings and Walker’s older brother, Steve, who was an undersized but hard-nosed forward. Even the deep bench came up big in the clutch as freshman center Ted Benson and guards Jon Kitchel and Roosevelt Barnes had moments of production.
With the reunion scheduled for a Sunday night 8 p.m. game against Penn State, it wasn’t easy to get everyone back to campus. Coach Matt Painter’s administrative assistant Deb Hayworth did yeoman’s work to get as many of the guys as possible back. She made arrangements for every detail, including last-minute travel for Hallman and Edmonson, the two that had to travel the farthest. Hallman lives in Frankfurt, Germany, and hadn’t been back to the U.S. since his mother died 21years ago. Edmonson had to shuffle his and wife Amanda’s work schedule in order to make it.
“It was the best move I’ve made in a while,” Edmonson said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect coming back and seeing these guys again, but I am so glad I did.”
As a townie, I felt fortunate, along with fellow Lafayette area residents Brian Walker and walk-on guard John Anthrop, to host Edmonson and Hallman for much of the day Saturday, taking them around campus and to the athletics complex. It was an eye-opening experience for both the former Boilermaker standouts.
Unlike Hallman, Edmonson had at least been to campus since graduation, returning once for a Gene Keady roast back in the late 1990s. But that visit was brief, as Edmonson had little time to explore the changes Purdue had made, even back then.
The topics at breakfast, which included Anthrop and Brian Walker as well, were free flowing and ranged from how much things had changed at Purdue to the tough loss to UCLA in the Final Four to why Rose bolted Purdue right after the 1980 season. Rose’s departure was still an unresolved mystery in the minds of Hallman and Edmonson.
They looked to me for an answer, for which I didn’t have a very good or very satisfying one. I told them there were many circumstances, not wanting to have to explain all the theories and facts surrounding why Rose headed to the University of South Florida for the 1980-81 season. Edmonson and Hallman seem understanding that even 38 years ago, things were complicated and beyond their ability to grasp then and now. And in the end, it really didn’t seem to matter much.
That topic wasn’t brought up again, at least in my presence, over the rest of the visit. All seemed ready to move on to the next story, the next memory, the next place on campus to see. In truth, there was much more laughter and storytelling/embellishing than there was serious conversation.
Not surprisingly, campus was barely recognizable to Hallman and Edmonson. The unrecognizable places far outnumbered the recognizable ones, making it nearly impossible for the two to get their bearings.
Hallman wanted to see his favorite restaurant Morris Bryant only to learn it had been gone for nearly 25 years. Morris Bryant had the dubious distinction of being destroyed in a fire and tornado in the same week back in 1994. But the search for familiarity continued for Hallman as he thought his old apartment was close to the old smorgasbord restaurant that served as a team meal hangout back in the day. After a little driving around, we were finally able to find the old one-story row home.
“Man, compared to those beautiful apartments I see around campus now, I realized we lived in the ghetto back then,” Hallman said with his infectious laugh. “But being back here again made me realize how great we had it back then, too.”
I found Edmonson’s and Hallman’s personality traits to be the same as I had remembered all those years ago. When our impromptu tour made its way to Mackey Arena to try to catch a bit of practice in the afternoon, Edmonson was working the 2018 equipment managers to try to get some Purdue swag the same way he worked me and my fellow managers four decades earlier.
And it worked.
Edmonson left town convinced there will be a care package sent to his home in San Antonio before long. Those goodies would be in addition to the framed photos, Red Mackey bobblehead and other commemorative items that Hayworth and the basketball staff generously put together for the 15 of us.
Edmonson was still Edmonson, and I found it comforting to know that. It was also comforting to see the guys back on Keady Court, in awe of what the place they had spent so many hours during their college days had become.
When on the floor awaiting Coach Matt Painter’s team practice, Edmonson, Hallman, Anthrop and the Walker brothers reverted to what came naturally to them. They grabbed a basketball and started shooting, each possessing a stroke reminiscent of what it was back then. All are in their late 50s or early 60s, but their casual shootaround took me back to our college days. Their shooting form was recognizable to days past.
While on Keady Court, the conversation became focused on the two guys that initially thought they would be able to make the reunion, but couldn’t: Scearce and Carroll.
Brian Walker, a lawyer in Lafayette, got Carroll on the phone and used his ample persuasion skills to try to coax him to jump on a plane from his hometown of Atlanta and come last minute. The same was true in a subsequent phone call to Scearce, now a preacher in Lexington, Kentucky.
Hallman and Edmonson joined the last-minute coercion effort, but to no avail. Carroll, a philanthropist, wealth advisor and author couldn’t make a last-minute get-away, and Scearce’s religious obligations for that Sunday meant he had to sit this one out.
Yet, the phone calls did produce something: A pledge to have a 40-year reunion in 2020.
This much was true 38 years later: When this group was on the court, it got something done.
Hallman, Edmonson and Anthrop also were treated to a tour of the new Football Performance Complex, courtesy of sophomore Jackson Anthrop, John’s youngest son and Purdue’s leading receiver in 2017.
“You always want to see progress at your university, and this (football) facility and what they did with Mackey a few years ago leaves me speechless,” Hallman said. “I am blown away.”
The tours were great, but Hallman admitted later it was even better to meet Painter’s basketball team in its locker room a little later. The team had just finished a team meeting, focused on ending a three-game skid.
“Those guys are impressive,” Hallman said. “They look you right in the eye and made us feel important and welcome. They have been coached-up right by Coach Painter. You can tell that right away.
“I can see why the guys play for him. He is a real person, and you can tell that he and his staff take good care of the guys.”
Brian Walker hosted all the Saturday visitors for a beer-and-pizza event at his spacious home south of Lafayette. More detailed discussions ensued on the potential for a 40th reunion, but there also was plenty of basketball chatter. It even included Walker moving around Hallman and Edmonson like chess pieces to better explain a basketball situation he had remembered.
Anthrop finished off a busy day for Hallman and Edmonson with a visit to Painter’s house on the opposite end of Tippecanoe County. The pair had visited Rose’s house while they were in college and the difference between the two homes was another not-so-subtle reminder of how college basketball has changed over the years.
The following evening, Morris, Kitchel and Barnes joined the group along with my fellow managers for a dinner event hosted by the John Purdue Club. It was a challenge to get everyone to sit down for dinner with all the stories and reminiscing going on.
Once the dinner concluded, a brief program ensued giving each player an opportunity to say a few words, prompted by some of the questions I asked as the makeshift host.
Barnes, who entered late as his son Caleb Swanigan was being honored at halftime that night as well, chimed in at the end of the questioning. He quickly took credit for the many nicknames he had given to teammates and managers and talked about giving Kitchel, who was raised and still works around agriculture in Cass County about 40 miles northeast of campus, the nickname “Country.” On a roll, Barnes told a second quick story about the first time he and Kitchel were at study table together.
“Country just kept peeking up from his books and kind of staring at me,” Barnes said. “After this went on for a while, I finally just said to him, ‘You’ve never been this close to a black man before, have you?’”
With laughter filling the JPC conference room, Kitchel stood up and in his straight-forward way, he owned the fundamentally truthful statement and said,
“Rosie, you are right. I hadn’t.”
It was a humorous reminder that players on this team, like so many in college sports, came from different places, different perspectives and found a way to blend together.
But there were poignant moments as well. Hallman, still an imposing 6-foot-8 figure, stood up and asked his fellow forward Steve Walker to stand up with him.
Hallman told the story of how Steve Walker had earned a starting position at forward over Hallman due to points earned in Rose’s intricate practice scoring system.
“Thirty-eight years later, I have to publicly thank the man that had the courage to go to Coach Rose and say, ‘Arnette should be starting for the good of the team,’ ” Hallman said as
his voice cracked. “He didn’t have to do that, but he did it for the good of the team. I haven’t thanked him enough for that, and it was time I did.”
There were tears in the eyes of Steve and brother Brian as the room was silent as every word was spoken.
By the time the team was announced at halftime, the mood returned to being light. Brian Walker addressed the Mackey Arena crowd and reminded Boilermaker fans about how the ’80 team beat IU in the Sweet 16 on the way to the Final Four.
It was playing to the crowd to be sure, but it was also another reminder of a remarkable season. And also a challenge and encouragement for the 2018 Boilermaker team to become the next team to reach college basketball’s hallowed ground.
After the thrilling win over Penn State, the players and managers gathered outside the basketball offices to pick up their things. No one seemed in a hurry to leave, despite it being nearly 11 p.m. on a Sunday. I found it hard to say goodbye to my manager brethren, who I had shared so many fun and challenging times with and around the basketball program. We were close then, and we are close again now.
By the time the weekend was over, it was obvious to me the team that may not have been all that close 38 years ago had become close now. It was also a reminder that it is never too late to do that, and to celebrate and remember what was truly the time of our lives.
I look forward to seeing everybody again in two years.
And I mean everybody.
Editor's note: Unfortunately we didn't get together for the 40 year reunion this year. I was glad to see Carroll on our LIVE show back in November. Maybe a 41-year reunion is in the offing? I hope so. We will have more on this team, and coach Lee Rose in the coming weeks.
