(01-13-2021 04:05 PM)rkt Wrote:  

(01-13-2021 09:13 AM)MotoRocket Wrote:  

(01-12-2021 01:35 PM)rocketpaul Wrote:  

(01-12-2021 12:00 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(01-12-2021 11:58 AM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Reading this - I decided to look up the career of Nate Thurmond, drafted #3 out of BG in 1963. I did not realize he was the back-up center to Wilt Chamberlain for 3 years. Never knew Chamberlain played for the SF Warriors. Thurmond averaged 15.0 ppg and 15.0 rpg. So then I looked at the career of Chamberlain. He averaged 30.1 ppg and 22.9 rpg. for a career. His best year was 1962 for the Philadelphia Warriors (before moving to SF) when he averaged 50.4 ppg and 25.7 rpg. while averaging 48.5 mpg.

Time for UT to recruit the next Wilt Chamberlain. Simple solution.

I'd settle for the next Nate Thurmond.

Please correct me if I am wrong but I thought that Nate was 6'7 inches out of high school and grew 4 inches while at Bowling Green

Don't think that was the case for Nate Thurmond, but that was the case for David Robinson at Navy. I believe Robinson was 6'6" coming out of high school (he was only 5'9" as a junior in high school!!). He grew from 6'7" after his freshman year to 7'0" for his soph. year. And grew another inch after that - or was measured differently. So he grew about 15 inches in 3 years - and only 1 inch in one of those years. OTOH, Thurmond turned down a scholarship to Ohio State because he did not want to be a back-up to Jerry Lucas - and ended up at BG.

Kind of took this off track when I diverted to Nate Thurmond after reading about "the Footer" passing on. Didn't mean to do that.

One of the funny things I remember happening with Doug Hess was the time he was whistled for a foul - and he didn't raise his hand. He lined up under the basket on one side of the lane, then a teammate wanted to switch sides based on how the opponent lined up. Just before crossing the lane, the ref told Hess to raise his hand so the scorer's table got the foul recorded correctly. As Hess was changing sides he raised his hand, and promptly got his hand tangled up in the net.

Does anybody remember why he skipped a season at UT? He played the '67-'68 season with Mix, then did not play in '68-'69, but came back to play the next 2 years after Mix was gone.

An answer and then a question. Doug played his sophomore year, which was Mix’s junior year, then red shirted (presumably because the combo of Steve and Doug in the lineup together didn’t work well), then Doug played two more years, 69-70 and 70-71. The Rockets won the MAC the year before he played and the year after he graduated

Question: You said he passed on. Is that accurate?

He was the only Rocket to play with arguably the 2 best players to put on a Rocket Uniform ever Steve Mix and Tom Kozelko

Gimme a 6-5 guy like Craig Sutters that can box and bang and thunder on the rim

I believe Knapke was 7 foot. If you look at last year's team photo, he is a good 2 inches taller than Edu. Some guys don't want to be listed as 7 foot.

(01-15-2021 05:29 PM)rocketpaul Wrote:  

(01-13-2021 04:05 PM)rkt Wrote:  

(01-13-2021 09:13 AM)MotoRocket Wrote:  

(01-12-2021 01:35 PM)rocketpaul Wrote:  

(01-12-2021 12:00 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  I'd settle for the next Nate Thurmond.

Please correct me if I am wrong but I thought that Nate was 6'7 inches out of high school and grew 4 inches while at Bowling Green

Don't think that was the case for Nate Thurmond, but that was the case for David Robinson at Navy. I believe Robinson was 6'6" coming out of high school (he was only 5'9" as a junior in high school!!). He grew from 6'7" after his freshman year to 7'0" for his soph. year. And grew another inch after that - or was measured differently. So he grew about 15 inches in 3 years - and only 1 inch in one of those years. OTOH, Thurmond turned down a scholarship to Ohio State because he did not want to be a back-up to Jerry Lucas - and ended up at BG.

Kind of took this off track when I diverted to Nate Thurmond after reading about "the Footer" passing on. Didn't mean to do that.

One of the funny things I remember happening with Doug Hess was the time he was whistled for a foul - and he didn't raise his hand. He lined up under the basket on one side of the lane, then a teammate wanted to switch sides based on how the opponent lined up. Just before crossing the lane, the ref told Hess to raise his hand so the scorer's table got the foul recorded correctly. As Hess was changing sides he raised his hand, and promptly got his hand tangled up in the net.

Does anybody remember why he skipped a season at UT? He played the '67-'68 season with Mix, then did not play in '68-'69, but came back to play the next 2 years after Mix was gone.

An answer and then a question. Doug played his sophomore year, which was Mix’s junior year, then red shirted (presumably because the combo of Steve and Doug in the lineup together didn’t work well), then Doug played two more years, 69-70 and 70-71. The Rockets won the MAC the year before he played and the year after he graduated

Question: You said he passed on. Is that accurate?

He was the only Rocket to play with arguably the 2 best players to put on a Rocket Uniform ever Steve Mix and Tom Kozelko

You’re absolutely right about how good those two guys were.

(01-15-2021 05:06 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(01-15-2021 04:23 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  

(01-13-2021 04:05 PM)rkt Wrote:  Question: You said he passed on. Is that accurate?

Apparently not. I thought I had heard that he had died a couple years ago (not confusing it with Barry Sonenberg who I believed passed away at 39 and had worked for a company I had worked for). I did a quick search and couldn't find anything to indicate he passed away. Was not aware he was from Detroit (East Detroit HS - now Eastpointe). Did see he was drafted twice by the NBA - in 1970 (#92) and again in 1971 (#183) after he was done playing at UT. Was Honorable Mention all state Class B in his senior year. He played professionally in Belgium and Italy. I did see a Doug Hess listed in Gross Pointe, Mich. who is now a retired attorney from GM. I can't tell if that is the "footer" or not.

Then I found out that he has a son, Adam who started out playing at Eastern Michigan and ended up at William & Mary for the last 2 1/2 years of his college career. He ended up as the 13th highest scorer at W&M in that 2 1/2 years as a 6-7 jump shooting forward. He averaged over 20 points/game his senior year. He was also awarded a post-graduate scholarship at W&M, only 1 of 2 players in history to win that award at W&M

Hess is an attorney in Michigan. Didn’t see anything about Chrysler but he graduated from UT and on a site of Coach Ks it says “corporate attorney”.

Must be him. Now lives in Gross Pointe and is retired for about 6 years - but it says he retired from GM from what I remember reading of him. May have switched at some point with Chrysler making a number of changes under Fiat over the years.

Update: As I was looking for something else, I did another quick search on Douglas M. Hess, attorney. Info provided - graduated from UT with a BBA in 1971, then received his law degree from Wayne State in 1976 and was admitted to the bar that same year. Licensed for 44 years as an attorney specializing in Tax, Real Estate, Estate Planning, and Business Transactions. Found other information from that indicating he is of counsel for a firm in Eastpointe (where he went to HS) and also showed connections to law firms in Troy, Mi. and East Tawas that he was a partner in at some point. Also showed that he was living in Florida, so he may be doing the snowbird thing.

Can you imagine how intimidating it would be to walk into a legal negotiation and having a 7-foot attorney show up in the doorway to introduce himself? I would imagine he got tired of the same typical questions - do you/did you play basketball and how's the weather up there.

Wonder if Doug Hess is aware so many people are interested in him 50 years after he left UT?

(01-17-2021 10:02 AM)WHRocket Wrote:  Wonder if Doug Hess is aware so many people are interested in him 50 years after he left UT?

It's Covid, everything is interesting that is tied back to a time when we could actually watch sports in person.

If he saw the thread, he'd probably have a chuckle. I do remember the Blade running a story one time on all the Toledo Rocket basketball players that played early on for Nichols and the success they were having outside of basketball. OTOH, he might find it a bit disturbing...