Bob Brannum was my body guard on the court. He was 6'-6 and built like a bulldog.

We hung out on the streets, played stickball, and did all of the things that other kids did.

But as a coach I wanted to keep things from being too complicated.

Race wasn't an issue. My family was French, but Yorkville was a melting pot of races and cultures.

I had endured six years of frustration so I think winning it all meant more to me than most of the others on the team.

Every jock gets up and tells the world how lucky he is. But I feel that I may be the luckiest one of all in terms of timing and being at the right place at the right moment-even though, for the last 30 years, I was told I was born 20 years too soon, for obvious reasons.

That seemed to be the case with most of the teams based in the smaller towns - the fans were more rabid, and they wanted to literally kill the opposition.