The IronDog Chronicles

Fare thee well to an unsung hero…

It seems that most college basketball fans of today believe that the sport was born in 1979 with the legendary Michigan State/Indiana State final that debuted the intense rivalry of Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird.  Yet, many college basketball aficionados don’t realize how close the DePaul Blue Demons altered Final Four history.  More importantly, that particular Blue Demon team launched one of the more powerful runs of any program in the late 20th century.

Coach Ray Meyer’s grandfather presence on that 1978-79 team combined with freshman “dough-boy”, Mark Aguirre, Senior, Gary Garland, who is better known for his back-up singing for sister Whitney Houston, and Clyde Bradshaw, who shredded defenses with his flashy ball-handling and yes…with his beard, was a spitting image of his namesake, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, to lead a powerful stretch run.  However, many people forget that one of the great Blue Demons of that time was Curtis Watkins, who passed last week of a clogged artery.

Curtis Watkins was the ‘glue’ of that magical team and that Final Four run.

In order to reach the Final Four, the Demons beat perennial powerhouse, UCLA with All-American, David Greenwood.  I was mesmerized the Demons, and I absolutely fell for the quiet, gritty play of Watkins with his 24 point performance that pushed them to the Final Four.  He was a city tough from Harvey, who seemed to hold down any challenge that came his way.

I found my boyhood love with the Demons on my kitchen Zenith Technicolor.  Perhaps, following that team helped me learn the fragility of how good times roll.  Watkins landed a bruised knee at the end of the UCLA game, and the team really didn’t perform at the level of efficiency with him banged-up.  The result was Larry Bird dropping 35 on the Demons and landing a trip to the feted 1979 final.  Now, I’m not saying that Watkins would have shut down Bird, but man…if only he could have been healthy.

In this Chicago Sun-Times article, then DePaul Assistant Coach, Joey Meyer, who was the top assistant on his father’s staff, seems to agree.  “”Bird might have gone off on us anyway [he scored 35 in Indiana State’s 76-74 victory], but it really, really hurt not to have Curtis [at full strength] to defend him…He was the kind of kid coaches love — so quiet but so talented. We always said you could always win if you had kids like Curtis. You wished you could clone him.”

I wish that he could have had a few more years of eligibility to enjoy him into the early ’80s with those powerhouse teams.  As a nine-year old, he was the reason why I wore my socks to my knees.

May the grit and quiet grind of Curtis Watkins live on…

Fare Thee Well,

BD