Dr. Dunkenstein and the Doctors of Dunk, the sad story of Maurice Stokes, and Ms. 59 - This DiSH for March 16

It's March 16th, and without a doubt, many of you have filled out your tournament brackets

already feeling pretty confident with most of your picks, and hoping that a few of those

upsets you selected actually happened.

Well on this day, after 33 years of waiting, the ultimate bracket buster happened.

I've also got a story about a guy who was destined for greatness, but was struck down

well before his prime, and Anika Sorenstam did something that no other woman who's lived

on this planet has been able to duplicate.

All that plus a non-sports fun fact, about two menacing kids who did not know the other

existed.

I'll get going right after this.

That's the end of the first half, as the team said to the locker room, the Spartans

lead the Bulldogs by a score.

You guys, steak.

Geez, Coach, we're only down a couple of points.

No, I mean you guys really smell.

You need to hit the showers.

And here, I got every one of you new bars of soap from the Sterling soap company.

Each bar is artisan crafted using natural ingredients and essential oils.

They also have shaved soaps, cologne, beard balm, and a whole lot more.

Now get in there.

But Coach, we have another half to play.

I don't care, I can't stand to be around you.

A few minutes later.

Alright, bring it in tight.

You guys are still playing terrible, but you're smelling great out there.

Now listen, you're going to need to stock up for the rest of the season.

We got a lot of tough games left.

So go to sterlingsoap.com after the game.

That's STIRLINGSOAP.com.

You got that?

Yes, Coach?

Great.

Sterlingsoap.com on three.

One, two, three.

Sterlingsoap.com.

So yesterday I mentioned that the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985 with a 16

nearly beating a one in that first iteration when Michigan survived a scare by Farley Dickinson.

While there were several close calls, it took 33 years where it's to actually happen.

On this day in 2018, UMBC was taking on the top team in the country, the Virginia Cavaliers,

and leading up to this one, there was not any indication that this would be the day.

The retrievers did not exactly have a long history of NCAA appearances.

This was only the second time they'd qualified for the big dance.

Their previous trip back in 2008 had been as a 15 seed, and they'd lost in their first

round match up with Georgetown by 19.

During the 2018 season, they'd only played two power conference teams, Arizona and Maryland,

and lost both by 20 plus points.

They'd finished second in the America East Conference, but had won their tournament to qualify.

Now, on the other side, it was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Virginia, but Coach

Tony Bennett had done a masterful job coaching the Cavaliers to a 17-in-1 conference record

winning the ACC regular season with a four-game cushion.

They were the top-ranked team in the country and had won 23 of their last 24, which included

winning the ACC tournament.

Virginia went on a little spurred in the first half to take a six-point lead, but UMBC came

back and it was tied at 21 after the first 20 minutes.

Out of the break, though, the retrievers came out firing.

UMBC hit 12 of their 24 three-point attempts on the afternoon to open up a double-digit

lead.

Virginia, on the other hand, was a chili for 22 behind the arc, and as the clock wound

down to triple zeroes, it was a decisive 20-point win for the retrievers.

Serious Liles led the way with 28.

There was a special connection for retrievers head coach Ryan Odom.

Ryan is the son of Dave Odom, who was a long-time assistant under Terry Holland at Virginia,

and had distinct memories of when his dad coached in Charlottesville.

And of course, Ryan is now the current head coach at Virginia.

Let's go back to 1980 for an NCAA tournament match-up between the eventual national champions

and a team that many thought had a legitimate shot at one, you know, for those that actually

played the game, the objective is pretty simple.

When and advance?

For those of us who watch, we want to be entertained while watching our team win and advance.

The 1980 Louisville Cardinals were one of the most entertaining teams in college basketball,

with the Doctors of Dunk led by Dr. Duncan Stein himself, Darryl Griffith.

Griffith was the national player of the year in 1980, and on this day, the Cardinals were

playing an elite eight game against the number one seed from the Midwest region, and third-ranked

team in the country, the LSU Tigers.

It was supposed to be a close game, especially after the Cardinals had been pushed to back-to-back

overtime games in the round of 32 and the sweet 16.

On this day, the Cardinals unleashed a dunk fest on LSU.

Just like Dick Pepperfield in the movie Simi Pro struggling to come up with words to

describe the alley-oop, Dick Inberg had no words to describe Griffith's dunk that was

known as the Round the World.

But his teammates sure knew what it was.

In fact, in the time out that followed shortly after that play, Cardinal players snuck

over to NBC's broadcast location to take a peek at the replay of that dunk.

Griffith had 17 points in only 18 minutes of action, and Louisville rolled to the 86-66

win.

And still, nearly 50 years later, Griffith is the all-time leading scorer in Louisville

basketball history, and with the current state of college basketball and college athletics

overall, that is likely to never change.

On this day in 1958, basketball player Maurice Stokes collapsed on the plane ride home

after a game, and he never played again.

The Cincinnati Royals had just lost 183 to the Detroit Pistons.

It was the first in their postseason Best of Three playoff series with Detroit.

Cincinnati's Maurice Stokes scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in that game.

The 6-foot-7-240-pound Stokes was only in his third year as a professional, but he'd

already established himself as a force in the paint and on the boards.

He averaged 17 rebounds a game in his career, and guys who played with him or against him

said if given the chance to play out his career, the name Maurice Stokes would have been

a top 50 all-time guy.

A name that could be dropped with the likes of Bill Russell or Elvin Hayes.

Boston Celtic great Bob Coosie called Stokes the first great athletic power forward.

He was Karl Malone with Morphiness.

Stokes had been one of the NBA's best in his pro debut.

He scored 32, pulled 20 rebounds, and handed out 8 assists.

He went on to win Rookie of the Year in 1955.

He was an all-star every year he was in the NBA.

He led the league in rebounds in his second year, and he was among the league leaders and

assists.

If only he'd been given the chance to play out his career is one of those great what-ifs

in sports.

Instead, on this day, tragedy struck.

The team boarded a plane for their short return flight to Cincinnati in preparation for

Game 2 the following night.

Shortly after takeoff, Stokes collapsed and he had a seizure.

He was rushed to a hospital after landing.

The seizure was determined to be caused by post-traumatic encephalopathy from an incident

three nights prior on March 12.

In that final regular season game against the Minneapolis Lakers, he had fallen to the

floor and was knocked unconscious after hitting his head.

The seizure on the plane ride home on the 16th left him paralyzed and with permanent brain

damage.

Stokes' teammate, Jack Twyman, stepped in as his caretaker, helping raise money for

his medical expenses and his daily care, and eventually became his legal guardian.

Stokes learned how to type again and he was able to communicate a little bit.

He became an inspiration to many by keeping his good humor and attitude despite his unfortunate

circumstance until his death in 1970 at the age of 36 due to complications from the seizure

that occurred on this day.

He was posthumously inducted into the basketball hall of fame in 2004, with Twyman delivering

his induction speech, choosing not to talk about his basketball talent.

But instead, Stokes, the man, and how he approached life each and every day for the remainder

of his short life.

It was amazing and never, ever in the 12 years, did I ever see him depressed or angry

or why me or how did this happen.

He looked forward to the new day every day and he was an amazing person and it was an

unbelievable opportunity for me to be exposed to this man and to see what he was made of

and as Wayne said in his piece, he inspired everybody that came in contact with him.

On this day in 1974, the Oakland A's signed Herb Washington to their roster.

Never heard of him?

Well, there is probably a reason for that.

Herb Washington was not really a baseball player.

He may have played a little bit back in high school, but he was a track and field star.

He was a world class sprinter and he holds the distinction as the man at the top of a really

obscure list.

More moving forward, what you should know is that Washington was really, really fast

and so A's owner, Charlie Finley, signed him to be a pinch runner and steel bases.

In 1974, Washington appeared in 92 games stealing 29 bases and scoring 29 times.

His 29 base swipes was good for seventh best in the American league, but he was called

stealing 16 times.

A base stealing blunder in the 74 World Series may have been the beginning of the end for

him, after being substituted as a pinch runner for Joe Rudy in Game 2 and representing the

tying run on first, he wandered a bit too far from the base and he was picked off.

The A's lost that game, but they eventually won the series for their third consecutive

World Series title.

He did come back in 1975 and appeared in another 13 games with two stolen bases, but

was released soon after, replaced by another speedy player, but one who could actually play

in the field and take some swings at the play.

So here is Washington's distinction.

He is the only major league non-pitcher to play in at least 100 games and never have

an ad bad.

Another interesting fact about Washington is 1974 contract had a clause in it that he

had to grow facial hair, which he actually struggles to do.

He used an eyebrow pencil to add in more and to satisfy this weird contractual obligation.

So why was this in this contract you might ask?

Well, the only reason I found for that clause is that Reggie Jackson showed up to spring

training with a handle bar mustache.

Finley, thinking Jackson was doing it as an attention grabber for himself, paid players

extra or mandated it in their contracts to grow facial hair, so Jackson would not stand

out in an era when facial hair on ball players was mostly discouraged.

In fact, the A's became known as the mustache gang because of Finley's strange efforts.

From this day in 1975, Jack necklace won the derailleur Eastern Open without a pitching

wedge in his bag for nearly half his round.

Nicholas was warming up on the range prior to his round and he was working on his short

game with his wedge when the head of the club separated from the shaft and went flying

down the range.

The broken piece was retrieved and a friend of his went to work on it with what at the

time was called fast drying blue to repair the club.

The epoxy had to dry for a few hours and it was finally returned to Nicholas' bag at

the 7th.

He used a variety of clubs on the few times he needed the wedge on the front nine.

He kept the day not with the wedge but with a 3 iron from a divot on the 18th fairway

to about 20 feet.

He rolled that in for birdie for a 3 shot win.

He had a new wedge in his bag by the time he showed up in Augusta for his classic duel

with Johnny Miller a few weeks later.

On this day in 2001, Anika Sorenstein became the first women's golfer to shoot a 59 during

an event.

It was the second round of the standard register ping at Moon Valley Country Club and Phoenix.

She birdied the first eight holes on the day and at that point the nerves started to

fray.

She did par number nine and strangely that calmed her down so she got back on the birdie

train at 10 and birdied four in a row to get to 12 under for the day.

She finished the afternoon on the 6500 yard par 72 course with 13 birdies and 5 bars.

She actually had a legit chance at a 58 but rolled her 10 foot birdie put on 18 just

past the hole and tapped in for another par.

Sorenstein's 59 was two shots better than the previous LPGA low round of 61 shot by

Cariweb and Sayri Pock.

Sorenstein is still the only woman to ever go, sub 60.

And on this day in 1964, Detroit defensive lineman Alex Caris and Green Bay Packer running

back Paul Horning were reinstated by the NFL after serving an 11 month suspension for

gambling on football.

These two were two of the league's best.

Horning was the 1961 MVP and Caris wasn't all pro.

Peter Pete Rosell suspended the pair in April of 1963 for betting on football games.

Horning says his bets were with friends and never exceeded $200.

But Rosell said he had found evidence of $500 wagers on NFL games between 1959 and 61.

Caris was found to have made at least six bets between $50 and $100 on NFL games.

With other lions were also fined $2,000 by the league for betting on the 1962 title

game between New York and Green Bay, but those were not suspended.

Horning would go on to be elected to the pro football Hall of Fame in 1986.

Caris would also become more well known in the 80s as the TV dead on the sitcom Webster.

And time now for today's, that's got nothing to do with sports, fun fact.

On the same day in March 1951, two completely different and independent versions of Dennis

the Menace debuted on comic pages, one in the UK and the other in the US.

Hank Ketchum drew a blonde headed kid in a striped shirt who'd tormented Mr. Wilson

here in the States, and David Law drew a black haired boy in a striped shirt who tormented

everybody in Scotland.

The two were not aware of each other and neither was concerned about copyright infringement,

and they are both still being published.

This has been an original, thrifesweet production.