[I never had the pleasure of watching Richie Guerin, his “irrepressible drives” to the basket, or the quick flick of his trusty two-handed set shot, refined under the watchful eye of the great Knick sharpshooter Carl Braun. I was just too young to remember number 9. So rather than stammer on, I’m just going to introduce this brief profile of Guerin, which provides just enough flavor of his early NBA career.
The profile appeared in the paperback titled Basketball Stars of 1962 by the one-and-only Bill Mokray. And just FYI‚ Guerin spent his first seven seasons as a pro wearing a Knicks jersey in his native New York.]
****
Richie Guerin credits two of his former teammates for what success he’s encountered in NBA ball. It was Dick McGuire, the current coach of the Detroit Pistons and one of the finest playmakers the game ever knew, who taught him the art of setting up his teammates. On the other hand, the one-time Iona College star credits Carl Braun, the former Knick coach, for improving his shooting.
“When I first broke in, I made one big mistake,” explained Richie last winter. “I did not learn how to pace myself. I used to go at full speed for just so long, and then I had to be taken out when I was most needed. Now, I can go to the full 48 minutes, if necessary, by learning when and how to slow down.”
Breaking into the NBA ranks was not easy for Richie, one of the few fellows who managed to break in with a hometown club, the goal of the most athletes. This not only allows a player to appear before friendly, familiar faces, but it also makes it more economical since a fellow does not have to maintain two homes.
When Guerin first broke in with the Knicks in 1956, it was not easy. The team had fine backcourtmen in Braun, McGuire, and Ron Sobie. Within two months, the Knicks acquired Slater Martin, but he remained with the club only a fortnight, for he then went on to St. Louis for Willie Naulls.
But that hasn’t lessened Richie’s duties, for his is the unhappy assignment of playing the opposition’s strongest man. It means that he has to match wits with the likes of a Tom Gola, Bob Cousy, Larry Costello, and Oscar Robertson, game after game. He apparently has done all right for he’s kept increasing his yearly output of points. Last winter, he attained a personal high of 1,720 points, 11th highest in the league and third best among backcourtmen.
At that, Richie is not as happy as he would like to be. In his six seasons with the Knicks, the team failed to stay out of the cellar but once, in 1958-59, when they finished second in the playoffs and then were rudely eliminated by the Syracuse Nationals in two games.
“When the Knicks were accustomed to winning, we used to walk down the street a little more proudly. Everyone loves a winner,” says Richie. “Playing for a losing team does not make our work as pleasant as we’d like to have it. I simply hate to lose!”
A serious fellow, Richie does not leave his game in the dressing room. He takes it home or on road trips, trying to replay it, detect where he or one of his teammates made a mistake that might have affected the actual outcome. It’s the only way one improves on his game. On the other hand, it might mean you take it out on your family or neighbors.
****
[On December 11, 1959, Richie Guerin became the first Knick to score 50 points or more in Madison Square Garden. What follows is an edited melding of three newspaper accounts of the game from the following day. They are: Newsday (Bill Searby), Newark Star Ledger (Jim Ogle), and Jersey Journal (no byline). The final result isn’t overly rich in detail, but does give a sense of what an unexpected breakout it was for Guerin. Enjoy!]
Friday night didn’t start off like a special one for Richie Guerin. He drove his Volkswagen from Huntington [on Long Island’s north shore], threaded through the crosstown traffic, and parked outside Madison Square Garden, just like he does for all Knick home games. But coming home, Guerin, the man who prophetically was pictured on the program cover, had to make room for two things . . . the game basketball and the new Knick single-game scoring record.
Guerin pumped in 57 points as the Knicks, go-going like they hadn’t gone at any time this season, crushed the Syracuse Nationals with a club-record output, 152-121. Perhaps this will be the game the Knicks can look back on as the one that brought them out of their daze. Even if. Fuzzy Levane’s team doesn’t start the long climb out of the doldrums, last night’s game certainly brushed away the cobwebs when it comes to the Nats. For eight-straight games, stretching back into last season, Syracuse “owned” the Knicks.
With Guerin on the firing line, it was a drastically different Knick team last night. Even taking into account that the Nats had taken the Lakers in Seattle Wednesday and in San Francisco Thursday, and flown cross country earlier yesterday. It was the Knicks all the way.
Here’s what Richie and his friends did to the record book:
- Guerin’s 57 points rubbed out the former Knick record of 47, set by Carl Braun against Providence in 1947, and set new club marks with 18 field goals (in 31 shots) and with 21 free throws (in 26 tries).
- It also stands as a new Garden floor mark, topping the collegiate mark of 56 by Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati. Neil Johnston of the Philadelphia Warriors held the old pro mark of 50.
- The Knicks’ 152 points erased their previous high of 142, set against the Lakers in 1957, and combined with the Nats’ 121 for a new two team total of 273.
- There were also assorted quirks for a half game, including Richie’s 32 points, the Knicks’ 78 points, and their 32 field goals.
Guerin had opened the season with a rush and was the highest-scoring Knick for a while. Then he flattened out, bothered on and off by a bad back, and hadn’t been much help to the floundering Knicks these past few weeks. “I never felt bad,” he said after the game, “but things just weren’t going well.”
In fact, earlier in the week, Levane and Knick president Ned Irish severely criticized Guerin as a key reason for the Knicks’ last-place position in the NBA’s Eastern Division. Things were so bad that Guerin was brooding, and his play went from bad to worse.
Before the Nats’ game, Guerin said to Levane, “If I’m real bad, please take me out.” Guerin then sank his first shot [a trademark two-handed set shot] and proceeded to crack off 32 points, including 16 straight, to lead the Knicks to a 78-60 halftime lead. “At the beginning of the game, I just happened to be at the right spot at the right time,” Guerin explained. “Then, as my point total got higher, I got more confidence and began looking for my shots.”
Though Guerin cooled off to seven points in the third period, he rang up 18 more in a furious fourth-period drive to finish with 57. (Technically, Guerin earned only 55 of the points. One basket was a gift, declared good though it missed, because of Nats’ center Connie Dierking’s slap at the rim was called goaltending.)
The 6-4 Guerin had plenty of help last night. Willie Naulls had a banner 32-point night of his own and grabbed 22 rebounds. Guerin, Ken Sears, and Charlie Tyra all collared 12 rebounds. It wasn’t, however, just a pure shooting night for Richie. He also made eight assists, tops for both teams. (Guerin, incidentally, holds the Knicks assist record of 21, set last year.)
In 38 minutes of action, Guerin was guarded to little effect by all five of the Nats’ fleet backcourtmen (Hal Greer, Larry Costello, Al Bianchi, Frank Selvy, and Dick Barnett). He was driving, popping, stealing, and rebounding like a demon. He cracked Braun’s scoring mark on a three-point drive with 5:30 to go, and there was no stopping him.
Guerin, curly-haired graduate of Iona College, was recalling that his highest total—pro, college, or high school—was the 41 he scored for the Knicks a year ago. Then Levane leaned into the huddle of reporters, “When we lose,” he wise-cracked, “it’s me who has to answer all the questions.”
Braun, posing with Guerin for endless pictures and in his 11th season as a Knick, offered congratulations with a gag line: “Good thing Fuzzy kept me on the bench at the end. If I’d been in there . . . no new record. Why did you keep telling Fuzzy to keep me out?”
When Braun set the record, Guerin was 15 years old. “I was a Knick fan even then,” Richie said, “but I can’t honestly say I remember Carl setting the record.”
Afterwards, Ned Irish was so enthused that he came into the clubhouse and handed Richie the game ball, saying: “You may as well keep it, you owned it all night.”
From Way Downtown 