Vitale is a workaholic. His non-stop drive to succeed may stem from the fact that he never made it as a player himself. An infection at the beginning of his junior year in high school cost him the sight in his left eye, and he could never recapture the form that made him a 25-point-a-game scorer the year before.
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Rickey Green: The Fastest of Them All
“Rather than sitting around and worrying about the NBA, you’ve got to do something else. I mean, everybody wants to be in the NBA. It’s the best in the world. It’s everybody’s dream. But dreaming about it grows old, and you just got to move on.”
Tuning Up the Utah Jazz, 1981
Despite the size factor, despite the fact that the Jazz have never had a winning record in five years, they are welcomed in Salt Lake City, their now year-old home, as if they were on the verge of a world title.
Jeff Hornacek: Not Just Another Face in the Crowd, 1992
“My whole career, all I’ve done is try to work harder than anyone else,” Hornacek says. “Maybe other players don’t have the drive that I have to work.” Maybe that’s why Jeff Hornacek is standing out from the crowd in the NBA these days instead of sitting in the crowd and watching.
What Makes Jack Ramsay Roll, 1988
Invariably, too much is made of the rumor that Jack Ramsay is in better shape than the athletes he coaches. “Let’s put it this way,” he says diplomatically. “I can’t do what they do on the court, and they can’t do what I do in the pool, on the bike, or on the roads.”
Lou Carnesecca: Now Playing at the Island Garden, 1971
The car pulls into the driveway, and the inner tension reaches a peak. Defeat is too fresh in Carnesecca’s mind for it not to show on his face.
Lou Carnesecca: Are the Pros Ready for Looie? 1971
“Wait a minute,” he whispered after losing his voice during a practice session, “who am I that the pros should be ready for me? Am I ready for them? That’s the question.”
Red Holzman: The Plainest Man in the World, 1970
And after, when Red had finished hurling wonderfully descriptive expletives at the officials, when he had talked to the reporters who cluster in ever-increasing numbers these days, he went to Russell’s near the Cadillac Hotel with a few friends. Russell’s is a late-night steak place.
Holcombe Rucker: ‘Each One, Teach One,’ 1971
When asked what kind of man Holcombe Rucker was, Pelham Fritz, present director of the Rucker Summer Basketball Tournament, summed it up very nicely: “Holcombe Rucker was a man—a man in every sense of the word.”
Balls of Confusion: The First ABA Game, 1967
To the best of my knowledge, both sides of the NBA-ABA War have never been woven together and retold in one book. Neither would it ever get done in fine detail, unless I went back into my cabinet and started relistening to the tapes, researching their claims, and writing another book.
From Way Downtown 