Passed away overnight at the age of 82

I had one class with Tony. Seemed like a nice guy. Valuable piece of 2 NCAA's.

RIP

(05-17-2020 07:28 AM)doss2 Wrote:  I had on class with Tony. Seemed like a nice guy. Valuable piece of 2 NCAA's.

RIP

Agree. I was on campus during his coaching tenure. Seemed VERY nice.

Too bad his coaching career didn't work out. RIP Tony.

(05-17-2020 08:32 AM)Ring of Black Wrote:  

(05-17-2020 07:28 AM)doss2 Wrote:  I had on class with Tony. Seemed like a nice guy. Valuable piece of 2 NCAA's.

RIP

Agree. I was on campus during his coaching tenure. Seemed VERY nice.

Too bad his coaching career didn't work out. RIP Tony.

Let's remember him for the good player he was and skip the coaching.

Great guy, great player.

(05-17-2020 07:28 AM)doss2 Wrote:  I had on class with Tony. Seemed like a nice guy. Valuable piece of 2 NCAA's.

RIP

Sad time for all Bearcat fans but especially for us old timers. Tony came so very close together with Tom Thacker, Dale Heidotting and Larry Shingleton to being the first players in NCAA history to win three straight national championships.

I got to know Tony thru Ron Roth, ,Larry Elsasser,and Chuck Machock We had several Golf trips to Myrtle Beach. Tony was as competitive on the links as on the Basketball Floor.
You get to know the measure of a man when you spend 4.5 hours playing golf. Played strictly by the rules. A great loss for the UC Family.

Truly a Bearcat legend as a player, but sadly all everyone remembers is the coaching record.

Tony and I became good acquaintances through his wife Maxine. Maxine and I spent 25 years working together at the ATP tennis tournament, and a few more officiating college, high school, and national tournaments.

My last visit with Tony was at the NCAA first round game in Columbus which we lost to Iowa. On another occasion, he and I had many laughs and good conversation during a game in President Williams' box at Fifth Third Arena. His stories were so genuine.

Prayers to Maxine and the family. UC lost a legend. RIP my friend.

I met Tony in my first week on campus back in the fall of 1984. Nice guy to talk to.

Boys was it tough watching those basketball games for five years, however.

(05-17-2020 12:35 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  I met Tony in my first week on campus back in the fall of 1984. Nice guy to talk to.

Boys was it tough watching those basketball games for five years, however.

Remember Tony for what he did do and not what he could not do.

(05-17-2020 01:13 PM)doss2 Wrote:  

(05-17-2020 12:35 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  I met Tony in my first week on campus back in the fall of 1984. Nice guy to talk to.

Boys was it tough watching those basketball games for five years, however.

Remember Tony for what he did do and not what he could not do.

Tough to do. I am so jealous of all students who went through UC after me and got to watch great basketball as students. I would have LOVED to had a basketball team from any five year period after Yates instead of the five years I got to witness (that home loss to the Kangaroos of Missouri-Kansas City still stings).

Tony was a bit older, wiser, and more mature than many of his teammates and adversaries, and a calming influence -- perfect attributes for a floor leader. I think he did a stint in the Air Force before attending UC. I was a student at UC during the glory years, beginning my freshman year in the fall of 1959 and finally (after a military interlude of my own) graduating in 1966.

I don't think younger fans are fully aware of just what Tony Yates was up against during his time as coach. The program was already in bad shape when he took over from Ed Badger. There was no on-campus arena; all home games were played at the Coliseum. Finally, he had to recruit and coach against the great Denny Crum, who was very much in his prime. Nevertheless, Yates recruited decently and avoided sanctions, leaving the program in good shape for Bob Huggins. He always represented the university well.

My main knock on Yates was not the terrible performance on the court, it was that he let his players do whatever the heck they wanted. Go to class or not. Party all night. Involved in all kinds of stuff around campus. People think UC had a bad image under Huggins in the mid 1990’s?...that was only because we were winning and worth paying attention to. If we had actually won under Yates the perception of the program would have been worse than UNLV’s back in the day. Program under Yates was full on Lord of the Flies. The fact that we still sucked just made it harder to swallow.

(05-18-2020 06:05 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  My main knock on Yates was not the terrible performance on the court, it was that he let his players do whatever the heck they wanted. Go to class or not. Party all night. Involved in all kinds of stuff around campus. People think UC had a bad image under Huggins in the mid 1990’s?...that was only because we were winning and worth paying attention to. If we had actually won under Yates the perception of the program would have been worse than UNLV’s back in the day. Program under Yates was full on Lord of the Flies. The fact that we still sucked just made it harder to swallow.

I am sure there were some shenanigans, but this is not altogether accurate. There were definitely some loose cannons on the teams. The story in the Post about Lou Banks chasing Cedric Glover with the board full of nails, because of some argument rings true under this point of view. However, I also remember hanging out with Keith Starks and he had to leave our dorm at 11:30 because of curfew. Yes and 20 year old with curfew. Believe me lots of ribbing there. I loved Tony and supported him through the 87-88 year, but after 88-89 a change was definitely necessary. The teams had talent but were not getting better.

(05-17-2020 09:43 PM)Former Lurker Wrote:  I don't think younger fans are fully aware of just what Tony Yates was up against during his time as coach. The program was already in bad shape when he took over from Ed Badger. There was no on-campus arena; all home games were played at the Coliseum. Finally, he had to recruit and coach against the great Denny Crum, who was very much in his prime. Nevertheless, Yates recruited decently and avoided sanctions, leaving the program in good shape for Bob Huggins. He always represented the university well.

I still cannot believe that some fans wanted to move games off campus and down to the banks.

(05-18-2020 08:59 AM)rosewater Wrote:  

(05-18-2020 06:05 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  My main knock on Yates was not the terrible performance on the court, it was that he let his players do whatever the heck they wanted. Go to class or not. Party all night. Involved in all kinds of stuff around campus. People think UC had a bad image under Huggins in the mid 1990’s?...that was only because we were winning and worth paying attention to. If we had actually won under Yates the perception of the program would have been worse than UNLV’s back in the day. Program under Yates was full on Lord of the Flies. The fact that we still sucked just made it harder to swallow.

I am sure there were some shenanigans, but this is not altogether accurate. There were definitely some loose cannons on the teams. The story in the Post about Lou Banks chasing Cedric Glover with the board full of nails, because of some argument rings true under this point of view. However, I also remember hanging out with Keith Starks and he had to leave our dorm at 11:30 because of curfew. Yes and 20 year old with curfew. Believe me lots of ribbing there. I loved Tony and supported him through the 87-88 year, but after 88-89 a change was definitely necessary. The teams had talent but were not getting better.

Exceptions to be sure, but it was pretty well understood that guys were breaking into cars, fencing stuff, the credit card theft that hit the news at one point made people collectively shrug their shoulders. There was a steady stream of issues with guys on his rosters out on the streets and in certain bars. Would have probably been a bigger deal had we been winning...in the 80’s media didn’t care much about bad to middlin’ programs. Like I said, was my only knock on him. He did the best he could with what he had to work with. The 80’s were the UC dark ages for facilities and support.

(05-17-2020 12:28 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  Truly a Bearcat legend as a player, but sadly all everyone remembers is the coaching record.

Tony and I became good acquaintances through his wife Maxine. Maxine and I spent 25 years working together at the ATP tennis tournament, and a few more officiating college, high school, and national tournaments.

My last visit with Tony was at the NCAA first round game in Columbus which we lost to Iowa. On another occasion, he and I had many laughs and good conversation during a game in President Williams' box at Fifth Third Arena. His stories were so genuine.

Prayers to Maxine and the family. UC lost a legend. RIP my friend.

Very well said. He should always be held in high esteem for his pivotal role in reaching the national championships and I hope UC finds a way to appropriately honor his role during the greatest era of UC basketball.

As others here have shared, he came to UC to coach when our athletic facilities were abysmal and games were played downtown. The campus environment itself was in bad shape at that point in history too, well before President's Steger's rebuild began.

Huggins first win was mostly with Tony's players in what was then a shiny new Shoemaker Center. Tony never had the recruiting advantage of that 13,000 seat campus facility nor any of the Varsity Village amenities that followed. Would his coaching tenure have been more successful under those circumstances? Maybe.

Our condolences to Maxine and the entire family.

Won titles as a PG and then rose to be head coach at his alma mater. Remarkable. Bless him and his family.