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Eleven Years Ago Today.....
Al passed away. He has certainly been guiding the program from above. Thanks to him I rode the team bus back from Chicago Stadium one evening after somehow losing my ride home. How about a better story from some of you. ..... Joe Streator Al gave me my first big break in sports medicine. I remember walking into the athletic office as a lowly freshman in the fall of 1968 asking if I could speak with Al McGuire. He actually took my meeting. I told him I wanted to be an athletic trainer and work with the team. He gave me an Al McGuire Camp tee shirt, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and said to go down to see Bob Weingart, Head Athletic Trainer, and tell him that he sent me.
The rest is history. I was working and learning in the training room, attending practices, and sitting on the end of the bench for every home game as a student athletic trainer. I even got paid once to cover a wrestling meet, I still think I have that check stub. The work study student athletic trainer, I think his name was Nathan, and I were asked to cover the state high school tournaments and that is where we met Jim Chones. I’m now going on 44 yrs in the field of sports medicine and just finished a new part time gig with the NFL as an athletic trainer observer for the NE Patriots home games at Gillette Stadium. Thank you Al McGuire. .... Brian Fitzgerald
I have many Al McGuire stories. The last time I saw Al was three weeks before he passed away , it was in his hospice room in Brookfield, Wisconsin. We talked about his family and Ray and Joey Meyer from DePaul. Joey had just gotten fired! Al was great, he knew why I was there, we hugged, and he passed away three weeks later. I am proud I went to see him, and he is the reason I went to Marquette, I miss him!..... Willie Hinsdale
McGuire would often cut through the Engine House on his way back to his old office to briefly get out of the frigid Milwaukee winter back in the day at Marquette. My Nancy would get a smile and wave from him, being a rare female engineer amid the crowd of fan-boys. Not much of a yarn but he made her feel special. Some of you knew her as Scoops. She loved telling that story. Live for the moment or as ‘the James Joyce of the airways’ would say, “Congratulate the temporary.”... Rob Sobczak
11 years ago a great man passed away. A man who gave a lift up to many and a kind word or deed to all. He was a clown with a great big smile most of the time. A gangster with slicked back jet black hair who came from the beaches of New York. Vasoline made a fortune to keep it in place. He could have been a comic in the Berkshires even though he wasn't Jewish. He was an engineer who built a dynasty that lasted 10 years. He had the scrambled eggs, a guy who couldn't throw a ball into the ocean, a fight with a fan which I think was a draw but with all of that fun and nonsense he was just Al McGuire. Just a great man and coach. From one bohemian to another just keep trucking down the road.... Gary Brell
I don't have any stories to add but I agree with the guys that the whole Marquette family misses Al.
I did know Allie but just to say "hi". We lived on the sixth floor in McCormick Hall as did Meminger, Chones, Spychalla, Ostrand, Lackey, and Lam but I don't remember who Allie's roommate was. Might have been Frazier. I remember Chones having to duck his head to get out the door of his room. There was also a smell like burning tea around their room every once in a while. I wonder what that was??
Smitty (Mike) was my roommate sophomore year. Hill, Hogan, and Webber lived there my freshman year and convinced me, Smitty, Pat Martyn, and Web Hurley to pledge. One of the reasons the next spring's pledge class was so small was there was no one on our floor to pledge. There were the varsity basketball players, us, and a few other sophomores we already knew on one side and on the other side, which normally would have been typical incoming freshmen, were the underprivileged kids from the HeadStart program (or something like that). Not much interested in a fraternity but they sure made a good sixth floor basketball team in the intramural leagues..... Al Kelly
I will gladly post any more stories about Al that anyone sends me:
alkelly2@gmail.com
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