Gator Country

qwghlmgator · 03-08-2013, 03:21 PM

Winning the SEC this year has been wonderful. I was lucky enough to take my youngest two kids to the game Wednesday and watch us cut the nets down. But that scene reminded me of a time when things were much different. As kid growing up worshipping Gator Basketball and going to Alligator Alley to watch my heros like Malcome Ceasare and Reggie Hannah, the NCAA tournament and conference champions were for other guys. We didn't mope or complain about it. Heck we didn't think about it at all. Like we didn't think about an asteroid destroying the Earth or Steve Austin losing to Bigfoot.

As a poor graduate student in the Winter/Spring of 1989, it was painfully clear that winning an SEC championship would remain an impossible dream.

Oh, the 88-89 team had started off with high hopes, ranked #15 in the preseason, but ominous storm clouds quickly gathered over the program. By the time the storm was over, Coach Stormin' Norman Sloan's prized #4-ranked recruiting class had been vaporized as prep Jordan-esque wingman Stacey Poole's season ended with a torn achilles tendon in preseason practice, All-American forward Johnny Walker transferred to Chipola JC after being declared academically ineligible, and the prized All-American tandem from Miami Senior High - center Ceasar Portillo and guard Jose Ramos - had embarked on a path that would find them at Palm Beach Community College by Valentine's Day.

By Thanksgiving our mighty Gators were out of the polls and sinking like a stone. Portillo was a clear bust playing a total of 19 minutes by New Year's. Ramos, however, was perhaps the bigger disappointment. Counted on to fill the void at point guard created by Ronnie Montgomery's graduation, Ramos provided more turnovers than big plays. Unfortunately, backup point guard Renaldo Garcia wasn't much better as the Gators limped into Christmas with a 3-6 record.

By January the team was a shellshocked disaster of bad shooting and worse chemistry. Liv Chatman and the late, great Dwayne Schintzius did yeoman's work in the post, but with the poor guard play and forward Clifford Lett laying more bricks than a stone mason teams the Gators were easy pickings for any team capable of saying the word "zone."

Sloan tried everything he knew how to do to right the ship, but to no avail. The team barely had a pulse by the time they walked on the court at the Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia to play the 20th-ranked Bulldogs on January 7, 1989. They were already 0-2 in the SEC (4-7 overall) and losers of three of their last four. In an act that smacked of desperation, Sloan inserted senior forward 6' 5" Clifford Lett in at point guard. This allowed him to start the exuberant fan favorite Dwayne "3D" Davis at power forward and move Chatman to his more natural 3 spot.

This new lineup had the benefit of a large, verastile and athletic front court but one big problem. It featured a forward at point. Lett was certainly no stranger to the gaurd position, having played the two much of his undistinguished college career, but point was another matter entirely. Never known for his ballhandling, he had never played a single possession at point for UF. Now he would now be responsible for running effective offensive sets every trip down the court. Still, Lett was determined to make the best of his chance.

The experiment was a success from that first night in Athens where Lett finished with 15 points, 8 assists and 8 steals. Clifford and the team took a few more games to completely settle in to the new rotation finishing the next four games 2-2. But from there the team, under Lett's calm and steady guidance, defied every expectation, winning eleven of the next twelve games, including eight straight at one point. The biggest win of that streak perhaps came in Nashville one tennis ball-filled night in late January...

And the rest of the story is posted for all to see on a banner on the O'Dome wall: 1989 SEC Champs.

So let's take a second the next few days to remember and honor those five warriors in orange and blue who blazed the trail against all odds. For me Livingston Chatman, Dwayne Schintzius, Dwayne Davis, Renaldo Garcia and - their heart and inspiration - Clifford Lett define why I am proud as hell to be a Gator. And why every SEC Basketball Championship will mean the world to me.

1988-89 Florida Gator Basketball
(21-13, 13-5 SEC)
Southeastern Conference Champs

F – Livingston Chatman, 16.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg
F – Dwayne Davis, 13.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg
C – Dwayne Schintzius, 18.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg
G – Clifford Lett, 13.1 pgg., 4.2 rpg
G – Renaldo Garcia, 8.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg

Top Subs – Michael Kerr, 3.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg
Brian Hogan, 2.9 ppg, 1.1 rpg
Kelly McKinnon, 2.2 ppg, 0.5 rpg

akaGatorhoops · 03-08-2013, 03:39 PM

great post!

My brother-in-law was on that team. It was the subject of the first column I wrote for GC:

http://www.gatorcountry.com/basketba..._walk_on/14761

**oragator1** · 03-08-2013, 03:55 PM

Who else was at the airport when the team came back from Baton Rouge?

Between the vandy tennis ball game, the home vandy game where we held them without a FG for the last 11 minutes to win by one on DDs layup, the road game at LSU where RG made seemingly countless consecutive FTs to ice it and the championship, and Norm's wife making her final appearances as the singer of the national anthem, what a unique year that was. Too bad it ended with such a whimper to CSU, if I remember right, the SEC went 0-5 in the tournament that year.

GatorJeff · 03-08-2013, 03:59 PM

Remember it well. The Vandy tennis ball game was as nutty as it gets......I actually remember where I was when John Clougherty called the technical foul on Vandy's crowd with one second left in the game and Vandy's ball up by two points (after we threw it out of bounds). Sloan selected Dwayne (who was a very good foul shooter at 7 ' 1'') to shoot the technical foul shots. He hit both, sent the game into overtime, Gators won and went to 4-4 in the SEC. Had they lost, at 3-5 there's no way they'd have started a winning streak in the wake of that game. Ironically, Vandy finished second in the conference standings, one game behind the Gators. I heard Barry Booker (who was a senior player at Vandy at the time) lamenting it the other night on television.

I also vividly remember the LSU game that sealed the title for us. When it was clear that the Gators would win, the LSU crowd started throwing tennis balls and were called for three technicals. This time, Sloan chose Clifford Lett to shoot the six shots.

Clifford turned out to be a very good ball handler and excellent outside shooter. He played in the CBA for several years and was very good, often scoring in the 30s. His CBA performance earned him several 10-day contracts with NBA teams.

jrcg8tor · 03-08-2013, 04:06 PM

Great posts. Have a whole lot of nice memories from that period. Al Bonner was my favorite player from the late 70's. He had a sweet baseline jumper.

If my memory is correct we clinched the SEC title on the road at LSU. Renaldo Garcia made a bunch of clutch free throws down the stretch. Do not believe the game was on live in Jacksonville, but in those days it would be on tape delay at 11:30 at night. Listened to the game and then stayed up and watched the taped broadcast after that.

**fxgator91** · 03-08-2013, 04:32 PM

I was lucky enough to be in school at the time this happened. My friend and I waited by their locker room and they all signed the poster (which I have attached). The best thing was getting Norm to it. I even asked him (and he obliged) to write "1988-89 SEC Champs" because I didn't want to bastardize the poster with my handwriting.

NWGaGator · 03-08-2013, 04:42 PM

Whatever happened to Dwayne Davis? He was one of my favorite Gators of all time, an absolute monster around the rim. That was a great front line.

GatorJeff · 03-08-2013, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrcg8tor

Great posts. Have a whole lot of nice memories from that period. Al Bonner was my favorite player from the late 70's. He had a sweet baseline jumper.

If my memory is correct we clinched the SEC title on the road at LSU. Renaldo Garcia made a bunch of clutch free throws down the stretch. Do not believe the game was on live in Jacksonville, but in those days it would be on tape delay at 11:30 at night. Listened to the game and then stayed up and watched the taped broadcast after that.

I listened to the LSU road game and watched and taped the delayed broadcast as well. Still have the VHS tape.......a little grainy, but still works. It was Tom Hammond on the play by play for Jefferson Pilot's game of the week.

themistocles · 03-08-2013, 05:28 PM

I only remember the LSU game, because I was quite restricted time-wise in those days (having 2 young kids to care for), but that was really one of the most amazing turnaround stories in the history of sports, and Lett played an amazingly good PG after being an underwhelming forward.

Ahab · 03-08-2013, 05:37 PM

I think I still have an 89 SEC champ t-shirt somewhere. Loved that team.

kygator · 03-08-2013, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oragator1

Who else was at the airport when the team came back from Baton Rouge?

Between the vandy tennis ball game, the home vandy game where we held them without a FG for the last 11 minutes to win by one on DDs layup, the road game at LSU where RG made seemingly countless consecutive FTs to ice it and the championship, and Norm's wife making her final appearances as the singer of the national anthem, what a unique year that was. Too bad it ended with such a whimper to CSU, if I remember right, the SEC went 0-5 in the tournament that year.

I was a UF student at the time and it didn't occur to me that the fans would greet the team at the airport. One of my regrets in college was not being there for the celebration. There was a pic of Schintzius in the Gainesville Sun, with the happiest look I think I've ever seen from him when he got off the plane and saw the crowd.

ApexNC · 03-08-2013, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oragator1

Who else was at the airport when the team came back from Baton Rouge?

Between the vandy tennis ball game, the home vandy game where we held them without a FG for the last 11 minutes to win by one on DDs layup, the road game at LSU where RG made seemingly countless consecutive FTs to ice it and the championship, and Norm's wife making her final appearances as the singer of the national anthem, what a unique year that was. Too bad it ended with such a whimper to CSU, if I remember right, the SEC went 0-5 in the tournament that year.

I was there...went to Skeeter's right after and stayed up almost all night!

hoopnscoopuf · 03-08-2013, 07:40 PM

Great post !

I was living in Pensacola back then and got to meet Mr. Lett and his parents at a Gator Booster club meeting that year. Fine people.

Drove by myself, leaving the wife and 2 young boys at home to watch that game at Baton Rouge. The vicious crap the LSU fans were yelling at Dwayne in the pre-game was so over-the-top, I'm still amazed he could keep his composure. A great game to cap off a great season. Like you, I have been going to Gator basketball games since the days of Neal Walk and Mike Leatherwood in the Alley. Fans like us can really appreciate the job the greatest coach in UF history, Billy Donovan has done.

Remember the great quote by the legendary Shakey Rodriguez HS coach of center Ceasar Portillo and guard Jose Ramos re: their eligibilty issues? When asked if the 2 players tutors would enable them to qualify for UF he said "Well maybe so, but I doubt it will make up for all the goofing off at school for the last 3 years"

JaxLizard · 03-08-2013, 07:51 PM

I really enjoyed that season. It was my last year at UF and having season tickets and sitting in what is now the Rowdy Reptiles section was awesome. I remember Chris Jackson just lighting us up when we played LSU, and him getting an alley oop and dunking on Schintzius. Toward the end of the season, I ran into Clifford Lett and thanked him for what he did that year. He was a good guy. Thanks for bringing this up.

BA69MA72 · 03-08-2013, 08:09 PM

The three bench guys played very few minutes.caught up with them in the SEC tournament--ran out of gas against Alabama in the final.

Kerr was actually a LB from the football team because bodies were needed.

Didn't Ramos get into a physical altercation with Sloan?

gulfgator · 03-08-2013, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oragator1

Who else was at the airport when the team came back from Baton Rouge?

Between the vandy tennis ball game, the home vandy game where we held them without a FG for the last 11 minutes to win by one on DDs layup, the road game at LSU where RG made seemingly countless consecutive FTs to ice it and the championship, and Norm's wife making her final appearances as the singer of the national anthem, what a unique year that was. Too bad it ended with such a whimper to CSU, if I remember right, the SEC went 0-5 in the tournament that year.

I couldn't believe that old roof at the airport could hold that many geeked out of their minds, pumped up Gator hoop fans. No way it was designed for that

Thanks for reminding me !

drcoldblood · 03-08-2013, 11:10 PM

They also had a celebration in the (now) Swamp for the team, and a huge crowd showed up. Seems like it was around 40K.

**oragator1** · 03-08-2013, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drcoldblood

They also had a celebration in the (now) Swamp for the team, and a huge crowd showed up. Seems like it was around 40K.

Yeah we still had AstroTurf and the team drove onto the field in limos to Queen. After the scheduled stuff there was a meet and greet on the field. Good times.

GatorPlanet · 03-09-2013, 01:29 AM

Yeah, that team went on a tear after a slow start. I remember watching the game in Baton Rouge on TV, and the Gators winning the crown that night. Good stuff.

Dwayne Davis...they called him "Triple D" for Dwayne Davis Dunk. Guy was 6'-7", but was one of the highest jumpers I've ever seen in the orange and blue.

Clifford Lett...extremely athletic, and a tremendous perimeter defender. Came to UF with horrendous shooting form and percentage, and left with a textbook jumper. Parlayed that growth into a stint in the NBA.

It'd be nice to bring back the guys for a halftime recognition at a Gator game. Schintzius has passed away, but I think the rest are still around.

**GothamGator** · 03-09-2013, 08:16 AM

Great stuff. I have a lot of fond memories of those days.