By Ernie McCray
Back when I was playing
in the old Bear Down Gym
doing my “Easy Ernie” thing,
draining 2’s
and what today|
would be 3’s
and snatching rebounds
like I was taking back
something that had been stolen from me,
I couldn’t have dreamed
that all that balling
would someday
result in my name hanging from a rafter
in the University of Arizona’s
Basketball Ring of Honor,
because who had heard of such a thing?
But the tribute, by the way,
to use a cliché,
literally blows me away
because I flat out
love the U of A,
having spent my childhood,
hanging out with my mother,
going to the campus
for lectures and concerts
and recitals and plays
and to watch the Wildcat basketball teams play
back in the 40’s and early 50’s.
The great hoopsters of the time
made me want to
wear the old Red and Blue,
and in a flash,
as life moves fast,
my dream came true
and now I’m being immortalized
before my very own eyes,
and I want to accept this prize
for myself
and my teammates,
a bunch of wonderful guys
who believed in me
and made it fun
although we hardly ever won
(but, we “Fought like Wildcats”
when all is said and done),
and for
my beloved hometown’s
Black community,
folks who loved me
and cheered me on,
patting me on the back
and giving me some skin,
with a “Way to go”
and “Great game”
every now and then,
encouragement
that sounded like a sweet symphony
to my ears,
filling my heart and soul
with a kind of joy
that made me want to dance
like Gene Kelly
in a scene in “Singing in the Rain,”
from the lessening of the
ever present somewhat
hidden away dull pain
that accompanies
living as a second-class citizen,
as no human being wants to be considered
“less than.”
So, I not only played for me
and the team,
but for all of them,
as a minute contribution
to the furthering
of our hopes and dreams
and I will continue,
in their honor,
to BEAR DOWN,
for as long as I breathe,
to make the world
the way
we wanted it to be.
I thank my hometown
and my university
which are always,
as in forever,
on my Sonoran Desert inspired mind,
for honoring me
so grandly.
And I, particularly,
want to acknowledge Greg Hansen,
Arizona Daily Star’s
sports columnist,
for advocating for my induction
into the Ring of Honor,
for his appreciation of history,
his deep understanding
that Arizona sports
didn’t just originate yesterday,
that some athletes go back a ways
and set standards
for future days.
Anyway, it’s so nice
being home.
I’ll cherish this honor
and these moments
for the rest of my days.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats, Ernie! How did you find out about it? What an honor!
Greg Hansen a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star looked at the Ring of Honor who and wasn’t on it and brought it up with the university and, voila, there I was.
Did you go to the event & game?
Congratulations Ernie on this well-deserved honor! To those who do not know, when Ernie graduated, he held something like ten major U of A records, including most points in a single game, most points in a season, most points in a career, the same for rebounds, at so on. To this day his record for most points in a game still stands.
Ernie,
Congrats! I too went to the U of A, though you were a bit ahead of my time. I was born the year you were drafted by Cincinnati. I was there when Kerr was lighting up McKale with threes.
You got to see the great teams.
Ernie,?
Congrats! Those are some records!??
I too went to the U of A, though you were a bit ahead of my time. I was born the year you were drafted by Cincinnati. I was there when Kerr was lighting up McKale with threes.??
I’m reminded of a story we used to tell around 1990.??A UA student and an ASU student are watching the two teams play in the Territorial Bowl. The ASU guy has a dog. ASU scores a field goal and the dog does a back flip. Then ASU scores a touchdown and the dog does two backflips with a full twist.??
The U of A guy says, “That’s amazing! What’s the dog do if ASU beats the U of A?”??
“I don’t know,” says the ASU fan. “The dog is only 9 years old.”
Love it.