July 8, 2024 • 32 mins
In this episode, we explore the pivotal role Brooklyn played in shaping the Big East Conference, one of college basketball's most storied leagues. Featuring interviews with Chris Mullin, PJ Carlesimo, and Jack Armstrong, we delve into the rise of St. John’s and Syracuse, and the legendary careers of Brooklyn ballers like Chris Mullin and Pearl Washington.
- 02:01 - 06:00: Glenn Braica on the early days of the Big East and its Brooklyn roots
- 06:01 - 12:00: The rise of Chris Mullin and his decision to stay in New York for St. John’s
- 12:01 - 18:00: PJ Carlesimo on the impact of Chris Mullin and the Big East’s explosion
- 18:01 - 26:00: The legend of Pearl Washington and his impact on Syracuse
- 26:01 - 30:00: Mark Jackson’s journey from Bishop Loughlin to St. John’s and the NBA
- 30:01 - 34:00: The unique style and talent of Brooklyn point guards
- 34:01 - 38:00: The lasting legacy of the Big East and Brooklyn’s influence
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
When I was a kid, I used to watch I
used to have college basketball on Saturday afternoons, and it
was always teams from other parts of the country.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know, you'd watch UCLA play Notre Dame or.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You know whoever, and you really didn't have big time
basketball on the East Coast, or at least not that big.
I think when the Big East was established, it kind
of elevated some of the local programs, which were very good,
the Saint John's, the Seaton Halls, to a different level,
to a national level, and for a while basically became
(00:35):
the premier league in the country. A lot of Brooklyn
guys had a lot to do with that, obviously, you know,
Chris Mullen, Pearl Washington, Mark Jackson, guys like that really
were some of the best players in that league.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
At that time.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It was must CTV, you know, Saint John's Georgetown, those
games were epic and I can remember my cousin getting
me tickets to the Garden, Patrick Ewing against Chris Mullen,
you know, Georgetown playing in a box and one on kres.
You know, I was at the Big East Tournament championship
when when Walter Barry Pearl Shot won one of two
seconds to go and Ron Rowan hit the shot to
(01:10):
win the game. So those are memories, you know, the
Big East and Dave Gavin at a vision and what
he created and with all those people created was just
something spot Shaw.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
That's Glenn Breker. He was the head coach at Brooklyn
Saint Francis College for the last thirteen years. Before that,
he spent twenty years as an assistant coach at Saint
John's and Saint Francis. Back in nineteen eighty two, he
was a senior at Brooklyn's Bishop Ford High School watching
the new league take over college. Who's led by the
(01:42):
guys he knew from Brooklyn High school basketball. Chris Mullin
was at Saint John's and pretty soon after that, Pearl
Washington arrived in Syracuse. The Big East was the best
show in college basketball, and those two Brooklyn ballers were
right there as the big get stars. The new league
had I'm Michi Dalko from the flapp of Zombies, and
(02:05):
that's what we're talking about this week on Basketball's Borough.
In nineteen seventy nine, seven schools came together for the
(02:25):
first season of Big East Basketball. It was the idea
of Providence Colleges coach and athletic director Dave Gavitt, who
became the new league's commissioner. College hoops was dominated by
historical powerhouses and giant state schools UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, but
(02:46):
by his fifth season, this collection of Northeast schools had
his first national champion and a year later the Big
East and three teams to the Final four.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The league just exploded ESPN.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
It just art the same time the Big East started
esp Everybody thought ESPN was crazy, how you gonna have
the TV for twenty four hours on sports? And they
needed programming. The Big East needed exposure people. Nowadays, you
can't look back. You can't explain to people because every
single game everywhere is on something. Right now, everything is dreaming,
every game is national. You can get anything. In those days,
(03:21):
there weren't a lot of games on TV. The whole
country would watch Big Monday. It wasn't like the Triple
Header that it is now. It was like they got
the Big East shoved down in their throw. Whether they
liked it or not. Because Gavitt was smart, ESPN picked
a good thing, did a great job with production, and
it was just the league was cooking. When you talk
to most people ari Era about the Big East, they're
(03:42):
gonna name three guys. They're gonna name Molly and Patrick
and Pearl. All the schools had other great players, but
I don't think any as good as those three.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That's PJ.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Calissimo, who jumped on board the Big East in nineteen
eighty two, where he became the head coach at Seaton
Whole Cross the River. Chris Mullen had just finished his
freshman season at Saint John's. It was a familiar story,
a New York City kid staying home to play for
Luke Connesseca in Queens. But when more players did something similar,
(04:14):
Northeast players staying in the Northeast to play in the
New League, it sent the Big East story.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
All of a sudden, A lot of players stayed home
or stayed close to home. Patrick Ewing the number one
player in the country. Patrick chose Georgetown Ed Pickney, who
was a local product in the Bronx As like Stevenson
High School, he chooses going over Pearl Washington. A year later,
stays and goes to Syracuse. Mark Jackson stays home and
comes to Saint John's and joins us so all of
(04:42):
a sudden, this Big East is keeping players on the
East Coats as opposed to going out west or to
the ac City, and it's having a huge impact. And
then the relationship with ESPN, and then the Big East
just exploded all of a sudden. Now you know, the
West Coast kids are watching Big Monday and as far
Clark in the West Coast, and they're running home from
school to watch these games. All of a sudden, Syracuston,
(05:04):
Saint Gihns, Georgetown, Billanovo, all of a sudden, these household
names across the country. So it was kind of a
unique situation for that Big East and it just exploded,
had a huge impact on the popularity of East Coast basketball. Yeah,
so it was pretty cool to be part of that,
you know, just to be into the cutting edge of
in a college basketball explosion.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
And Mullen, who was part of the same high school
recruiting class as Patrick Ewing, was one of the biggest
reasons it all happened. It started as a classic New
York basketball story. The pipeline from the city's high school
leagues sent waves of talent to Saint John's before and
after Mullin from Tony Jackson, Lee roy Ellis, and Mel
(05:45):
Davis to Mark Jackson, Malik Silly, and Ron Otess. There's
that famous line from coach Connesseca that his recruiting budget
was a roller subway tokens. That was one hundred percent
true when it came to the best play at he ever.
Coach Chris Mullen.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
The reason I went to Saint John's University was there's
only one reason I went down. I was coach countersecer.
I met coach when I was eleven years old. I
used to go to his basketball camp. I admired him
and respected him. I knew him more personally than I
did as a coach, really, because he would tell us
at new lectures and give us some credible stories about
the history of basketball, and we would sit there and listen.
(06:25):
I'd hear stories about Rick Barry and Joe Latchick and
Pat maguire and he was just like a really nice person.
So I had that relationship with coach, and then when
it came time to choose a school, I went out
some nice visits I went to do when coach k
was there starting his career Virginia. I went down to
Virginia and Ralph Sampson was there, and Terry Holland was
(06:46):
beautiful man. They got a Villanova in Louisville. But every
time I came home, I would always come home and say,
I got everything right here. I got everything I need.
In New York City. I can stay home. Badley can
watch me playing. I can play for coach counter secord.
So that's why I chose Saint Johnson.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
They called Brooklyn the borough of Churches and the Paris
Uio programs of where generations of ball players got this start.
That's how it was for Chris Mullen at Saint Thomas Aquanas.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I grew up on Troy Avenue, right up flat Pish Avenue,
Flopish in Flatlands, tight knit community, a lot of big families,
very sports oriented, all sports.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Growing up.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
We were on the swim team, We played baseball, played basketball,
roller hockey, stickball, stup ball. Everything we did was around
sports growing up. I was fortunate I had incredible coaches
at a young age, so really just got the incredible
schooling of the fundamentals skill development in all sports. Really,
where I was taught the game not only made me
(07:45):
a better player, it made me enjoy the game. I
was introduced to the game by Jack Elisa Lupa Koloman
might see my own coaches four fifteen, sixth grade, and
it really was about improving each and every day. There
was no real ending ball. It was always about skill development,
and then as I got better, the emphasis was on
how I could make my teammates better. There was no
(08:07):
real endpoint. I thought that was really important for the
longevity even to this day. Joining the game of basketball,
it's that ultimate goal of making money or becoming a star.
Was really enjoying the journey of getting better.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
When Mullin was at Saint Thomas, Toronto, Raptors broadcast that
Jack Armstrong was in the same grade playing cyo ball
for the neighboring parish at Saint Brendan's.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Chris is a self made man.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
He was a gym rat, and that's the highest compliment
I could pay anyone. He's a gym rat. He wanted
it really bad and he worked at it. So when
you see a guy like that, you just respect and
admire what he does. And every time I see him,
we still laugh because I would go out him. You know,
we play it as kids in the cyo and Saint
Brendan's gym. The ceilings are low, so anytime he shook
(08:58):
the ball from the corner and hit the ceiling, because
he hit the high art. You'll laugh about it. But
he was incredibly not only gifted and talented, but mature smart.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
You knew it.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
You know, like there's certain guys you play against a
bodyard or in my coaching career, or I watch it
now the NBA and go that guy has it. Or
you see a musician, you see an actress, whatever it
may be, and you go, ow special, that's him.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Mullin grew up in the Brooklyn of heaven As a playground,
not too far from Forced to Park World be Freeze
Konnassi High School championship team was one neighborhood away. In
nineteen seventy seven, the same year that Bernard King turned
pro after a historic career at Tennessee and Albert King
graduated from Fort Hamilton High School. Chris Mullen started his
(09:50):
high school career in Manhattan. He went to Power Memorial
on the West Side, the school that Kareem Abdul Jabbar
made famous when he was known as lou Al Sinder
with Powers freshmen and junior varsity teams, Mullen won city championships.
Halfway through his junior year, Mullen headed back to Brooklyn
(10:10):
to attend Zaverian High School. It meant he would have
to put high school basketball on hold. As a transfer,
he had to sit out for a year. But around
the city everybody knew about Mullin's game. Future. NBA point
guard Rod Strickland was three years younger than Mullen. Growing
up in the Bronx.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Chris Wallins was there.
Speaker 7 (10:31):
He was a great greater than j I never fordid
him cover to Nicheen gym Lebrons, probably one of the few.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
White guys or white and shit there walking the building.
Speaker 7 (10:42):
And I never did him walking the bill there like
white yeahs. And he just lit it up, you know,
Aden Jail couldn't just warn dribble pull ups.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Full time NBA champion John Sally was a year behind
Mullen and start at Kanassi, where he went up against
Saverian in a preseason scrimmage.
Speaker 8 (11:00):
And in the exhibition Chris had thirty nine before the fourth.
The way he would go about it, I mean, he's
not even talked about like he should be. This is
a guy who was on dream Team one and that
people don't remember or talk about it. He was by
that time in high school one of the greatest players
I ever seen. Chris can score from any part of
(11:22):
the court. It wasn't a way he couldn't score. His
step back is the way his like. We watched Kyrie,
our favorite point guard now handle the ball and Chris
Mullen was six ' five sixty six handling the ball
with his sandy hair, and you look up and they
were like, oh, he got thirty five? What at thirty
(11:44):
five on you? And was smooth, didn't talk, smack, the
hard player, Irish Catholic kid.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
In the New York State Federation Championships, they beat another
Brooklyn team in the semi finals, the PSAL champions from
Alexander Hamilton by Ray Haskins that had two future pros
and Jerry Ice Reynolds and Carrie Scurry. Mullen had thirty
seven points and nineteen rebounds in that game and then
(12:11):
twenty nine against Mount Vernon to clinch the title.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I'm sure we were underdogs. I know for a show.
I took one outfit for that weekend. I didn't think
we were going to get past the first game. But
we upset both cidentally won to state title. So it
was cool memory to have with not only my grade
school coaches jack Elisi Lupicole, but also a lot of
my childhood friends that we want to stay titled together.
It was very unique because I had set out that
(12:34):
year full year, so I wasn't playing really competitive basketball.
I started playing back up at Saint Thomas just to
keep playing competitively, and then right after the new year
started playing it. But you know, Savaria was a unique
situation that I had played with a lot of those
guys in grade school, so I was reconnecting with my
COYO teammates and my best friends from my neighborhood Michael
Riley Roger McGready, two guys who played Michael played at
(12:57):
George Washington University and Roger played at Boston College, and
then a few other guys that I played grade school with.
So it was really cool time. We had good chemistry
and cemetery and all those things.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Were in place, and Mullen found the perfect place at
Saint John's with perfect time and two in his sophomore year,
the Big East took things to the next level by
bringing his conference tournament to New York City. The Brooklyn
Kid led Saint John's to a title and was named
MVP at MSG. Mullen was named Big East Player of
(13:30):
the Year three times and National Player of the Year
as a senior. That was the season he led Saint
John's to the number one ranking and a trip to
the Final Four. The kid from Saint Thomas Aquanas Parish
won Olympic gold medals in nineteen eighty four and nineteen
ninety two, went to five NBA All Star Games, was
(13:51):
named All NBA four times, and was inducted into the
Hall of Fame in twenty eleven.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
PJ.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Calisimo not only coach against Mullen in the Big East
and the NBA, he was an assistant coach when Mullen
played for the Dream Team at the nineteen ninety two Olympics.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
He was really, to me, the epitome of a New
York City high school basketball player and in this case,
Brooklyn basketball player. He knew how to play. He'd run
a grade leaper. I mean, he had good size. Mully
was six five or sixty six, but he had that
lefty jump shot, he had the little head fake. He
just he knew he could score at will He was
(14:30):
an underrated pass. He was a much better bassat than
people realized he was. But he just knew how to
play basketball. He was well well coached, and you could
watch Mully play when he was like a freshman or
sophomore in high school and you just go, wow, he
just knows how to play basketball.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Was never selfishould defer to his teammates.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
But if it was fourth quarter and he needed a
big bucket, Mully knew to take the shot he was
gonna make.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
The later in the game.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
It was the bigger the shot, the more likely it
was Mully was going to make the shot. He had
a phenomenal relationship with Luke Carnes Sacer that I think
was so important. I mean, those two Louis brought out
the best in Molly, and I'm sure Louis would say
Molly was the best that he ever coached, and he
took Saint John's to a level that as great as
the tradition is at that school, Molly take him to
(15:15):
the Final four in the Big East and being Player
of the Year.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
It would be hard.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
I think it'd be impossible for Saint John's to say
that we're better four years than when Chris Bullin was there,
he was just spectacular.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Mullen and Saint John's were perfect combination and an example
of how everything came together for the Big East. The
players had come up playing against each other in New York, Boston, Philly,
d c. The Big East became the place to go
and the schools chased the same prospects. Players like Mullen
(15:46):
and Patrick Ewing spent four seasons in college and that
was the norm. Familiarity, bills, the rivalries.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
There were so many great players, you know, and the
four years that I was in school, they had picked me.
George Shall with the three final fours, I mean, build
Ober won a national championship, and there were teams like
us who got to the final four. Syracuse was always
one of the top teams in the country. Boston College
was a game away from getting to the final four.
(16:14):
I picked in nineteen eighty five as well. So it
was just tremendous individual talent, great great coaches. All different
styles of basketball too, which was cool. You know that
nowadays it seems like, you know, there's a lot of
cookie cutacters, you know, when shot threes, that shoot layups
and very similar styles. All those teams have very different styles.
We all took on the personalities of our coaches. Think
(16:36):
about the legendary coaches with John Thompson and Luke carbon
Sec at Jim Bay High, Rowley Masamino, some of the
greatest alex coaches of all time. Battling each other in
the same conference was just just look them back, so
much fun and just some of those legends of the
game and getting to play against them, getting to know
them some incredible memories.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Another one of those legends was right out of Brooklyn too,
a kid for Brownsville named Dwayne Washington who brought a
whole new show to the Big East in nineteen eighty
three when he was a senior at Boys and Girls.
He averaged thirty five a game and was a National
Player of the Year. But by that time, everybody just
knew him as a Pearl. Ray Haskins coach Brooklyn's Alexander
(17:19):
Hamilton to a city championship while Pearl Washington was a
sophomore at Boys and Girls.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
We gave him the name Pearl. The people gave him
the name Pearl because what earlnd Road was doing, he
was killing everybody their games, similar or anything, but It's
just that they were killers.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
Earl Monroe.
Speaker 9 (17:36):
I mean it was a killer. Like the people give
you nicknames, and that name right did fit him. It
was Dwayne would look a little fatty, But the name
Pearl stuck with him. The people gave him that name.
People in brownsil gave him that name Pearl because that's how,
you know, amazing he was. He was good at a
young age. Thirteen, he was dominant, dominant player at thirteen.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Here's Chris Moe.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And Pearl Washington, one of the true legends of New
York City basketball. By the time he was in seventh
and eighth grade, I had heard all about this guy,
and then when I finally saw him, he was so
mature physically, he had incredible ball handling skills, could finish
around the basket, it was pretty strong.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
So like in ninth.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Grade, he looked like an NBA player already. He just
was just so so far ahead of his time and
that legend. By the time he went to Syracra, he
was already a legend in the parks all through Brooklyn.
Everyone knew about Pearl. He was already playing with and
against NBA players, an old man. He was so far
ahead of everybody else. The first time I played with
(18:41):
Pearl was in the Boston Shootout and he was a
softball in high school. I think I was a senior
and Patrick was in that tournament and he was one
of the best players there and he still had two
years of high school to go. Incredible charisma, you know,
he just had that when he showed up to it,
to a park, or to a gym, or to a
high school, it was just the buzz. He just he
(19:02):
just created excitement and he always did something that made
the crowd go crazy. Yeah, he had a huge impact
on Brooklyn basketball, New York City basketball obviously, the Big
East and just the really, really fun loving guy.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Rod Strickland won the PSAL championship at Truman High School
in the Bronx a year after Pearl graduated from Boys
and Girls.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Pearl was a legend. I would remember saying Pearl.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
I want to say he was sixteen playing in metric
gym with the older guys and dominating. The legend of
Pearl was ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
The whole city. I'll never forget.
Speaker 7 (19:37):
He played in the all I think his King's Tower
was t in Mahattan, and the whole crowd was there
winging to Cale and Pearl wasn't there, so the crowd
was leading the crowd.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
As everybody's leading the park.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
He comes with his motorcycle.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Can hear reving it up?
Speaker 7 (19:52):
And he comes in.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Everybody's running back for that. She pushing Peburg get the.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Front park was an incredible I saw him do so
many things, Shubar embarrassed, suing the people, and he always
had a smile on his face.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Everything he does cool and easy. Whoever, nothing was hard
for all.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
When he passed, I haven't been going with you two
to Colin look at his studio and all the time
I was like, that's mean. Like I saw him like
be able and yeah, or he was getting in live.
I didn't know him throwing the ball out or in
fans pretty him and the noon the defenders, I'm making
the Lady Arnims in and out pro was just he
(20:29):
was a super super inspiration for me.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
In Brooklyn, Knossi's John Sally was a year ahead of Pearl,
but the pair was inseparable. They played pickup games all
over Brooklyn and travel ball together with the Gauchos. After
Sally went to Georgia Tech. They even shared draft night
together and went two spots apart.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Pearl and I would go at play everywhere.
Speaker 8 (20:52):
Also, like I would take my mother's car because I
was one of the kids that knew how to drive,
which was amazing. And we would just be play was
watching games and everybody would be like, that's Pearl, that's Pearl.
Him going to Boys Hide means we can go anywhere
in Brooklyn, and we went everywhere. He was so soft
spoken that he was this blue black and when he
(21:14):
walked in, it was like black.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Jesus fucked in.
Speaker 8 (21:16):
You know, everybody, guys looking down when we're on the
layup line seeing him come down with that wide body.
He had a big old button hips and the way
he would dribble and take it to the basket and
lay people was amazing. He could take over the game,
like you would give him the ball and hopefully have
your hands ready. He's not coming to you because he's
(21:38):
gonna take whoever to the basket.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Used his body.
Speaker 8 (21:41):
They would talk about he didn't have a you know,
his short game or his jump shot. He really didn't
have to. If he could break any guard down and
lean on him. Guys wasn't even trying to block a
shot because he would look like he was one place
and being another. He was definitely I would say I
play with Isaiah Thomas, who the best point gud I've
ever played with, but Pearl was number two.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
It didn't take long for Pearl Washington to print his
legend on Syracuse, New York either. On January twenty first,
nineteen eighty four, in his fifteenth college game, Pearl sent
thirty thousand Carrier Dome fans into a frenzy with the
running half court buzzer beater to beat Boston College in
the Big East Championship game. That year, Syracuse took on Georgetown,
(22:26):
ranked second in the country and on the path to
win in the National Championship. The Orange lost in overtime,
but Washington put on a show that's remembered to this day,
finishing with twenty seven points. Jack Armstrong got his coaching
start at his alma mater, Brooklyn's Nazareth High School, while
the Pearl was at Boys and Girls, and he was
(22:48):
in the stands for that game.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I remember being.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
At the Big East Championship, if I'm not mistaken, Syracuse
against Georgetown, and he's single hand league yept Syracuse in
the game. I don't I bet hecal numbers. I just
haveing it by art my gun, sitting up in up
in the nosebleeds in the garden with my buddies, going this.
Speaker 7 (23:07):
Dude can bowl, and he could bowl.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Just incredibly dominant, physically dominant high school player and obviously
college players well, incredible handle, offbeat, timing, great change of pace,
ability to finish at the rim. Kind of un orthodox,
urky jerky type of game, but just incredibly gifted, crafty, savvy,
(23:32):
just tremendously fun.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Guys like Pearl and John Sally were on the big
stage now. They even ended up playing each other in
the second round of the nineteen eighty five NCAA tournament
Georgia Tech against Syracuse with Washington did to Georgetown at
the end of his freshman year. That's the Pearl that
John Sally knew.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
Him going to Syracuse and putting on a clinic against
Georgetown at the Garden. That was my favorite game to watch.
I was so chairing for Pearl to do his thing.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Big East was so big.
Speaker 8 (24:07):
Pearl was just giving them the business, just like he
was when we played Galacho's any park we were in.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That's what the Pearl brought to Syracuse, and that's why
they loved them. The blood sport battles with Georgetown in
the Big East Tournament became an annual ritual three times
in Pearls three years at the Q's. When the Orange
ben finally beat the Hoyers in the nineteen eighty six
semi finals, they lost to seventy to sixty nine thriller
(24:35):
the Saint John's in the championship game. Even though Syracuse
didn't win the tournament, the Pearl was the MVP those
rivalries every March. Syracuse Saint John's, Georgetown. They made the
Big East what it was as much as the final
four did, maybe more. Upstate Pearl changed the direction of
(24:56):
the entire program. The Orangemen had moved out Manly field
House and into the Cavernous Carrier Dome in nineteen eighty
and average sixteen thousand fans that first year. The year
before Pearl Washington arrived, the attendance was up to twenty thousand.
By the final season in nineteen eighty six, Syracuse had
the most fans in college basketball, with an average attendance
(25:19):
of twenty six thousand. They ended up leading the country
for the next ten years. Here's PJ. Carlissimo.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
He really was one of the kind the other guys
as great as they as they were, they just did
things better than anybody else had ever done it. Pearl
did things that no one else had ever done. People
weren't doing that in big time basketball games in front
of all the people. He was playing in front of
an U national TV, and he helped. One of the
more amazing things in the list is so long what
(25:47):
Jim Beheim's accomplished at Syracuse. But filling that building was
to make when they went from manly to that belly,
everybody thought they were out of their mind. The place
could make it up thirty thousand basketball game and you
kidding me, an adult stadium.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
And he filled it.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And one of the main reasons he filled it was
Dwayne Washington in the kind of tradition that he established
there at Syracuse.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
When the Pearl left Brooklyn for Syracuse, he was part
of a legendary NYC point guard class with Archbishop Malloy's
Kenny Smith and Bishop Lochland's Mark Jackson.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
PJ.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Callissimo spent twenty years recruiting Brooklyn as a coach at
Fordham Wagner and Seaton Hall. Brooklyn point guards were good.
To PJ. He had Lachlan's Henry Dillard on his breakout
n team at Wagner and Westinghouse's Gerald Green running the
point for seedon Hall's nineteen eighty nine final fourteen.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
The term Brooklyn point guard is about as high a
compliment as you can give, particularly a young high school
player or a guy coming into college.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Say how good is you?
Speaker 5 (26:47):
He's a Brooklyn point guard and he coach wants to
have a Brooklyn point guard.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Like Mark Jackson.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
We recruited him and no one really knew how good
he was. Louis walked into the mind, Senior King joined
him and in Brooklyn at Christmas time on the green
Linonian floor, and I really think he was watching John
Sally and he watched Mark obviously for about five minutes,
and it was like, why are we recruiting this guy?
Speaker 4 (27:09):
And there was the end of us recruiting Mark Jackson.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
So PJ and Seaton Hall didn't get Mark Jackson what
Saint John's did. Here's Chris Mullen on his nineteen eighty
five final four point guard and also his NBA teammateer Indiana.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
One of my best friends. We go way back. So
when I would transferred to Saveria, Mark was a sophomore
at the Bishop b Lockman play varsity, another player like Pearl,
just to mature and skilled and poised and confident beyond
his year. He's a sophomore and was already controlling the game,
(27:45):
playing point guard at great size, great division. And he
had flair too. These guys, all of a sudden, had
incredible talent, but they're also showing me. I remember Mark
and Pearl and Kitty Smith. All of a sudden, these
guys were like, they had flair, and they had a
style to them. All different too, very different styles, but
they had their own individual style. Of those guys. You know,
(28:06):
it's funny coming out of high school between Pearl, Kenny,
and Mark. At that time, Mark was probably ready third
of those three, but yet had the longest, most successful
career of all of them. He didn't in fact, his passion,
his incredinal work ethic, and he was a coach on
the floor. Like I said, even as a young kid,
just had that poise and total control of the game.
(28:28):
And we get to see how, you know, how he
has his esping broadcast that that was Mark as a
fourteen year old amazing. But then when Mark came in
Saint John's, we worked out a lot together. Coach Carnesseca,
in separate meetings, grabbed me in his office and said,
you know, I want you to play one on want
with Mark. So when he first got there and he
needs to work in his jump shots, I want you
to lay off him. When you play one on one,
(28:50):
lay off and make him shoot. Coach he already met
with Mark, tell him I want you to play one
on one with Chris. I want you to get up
on him. He needs to learn. You know, they're going
to take this jump shot away. So you know, we
worked out all summer and that's jack what we did
when I played Marker would play off film to make
me shoot the jump shot. He would get up on
me to make me play off the dribble. To re
(29:10):
formed a really good relationship and help each other, maybe
each other better the Bronxes.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Rod Strickland ended up playing with Jackson in the NBA
for a year and a half after the Knicks took
them in the first round and back to back years.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Mark was different always here.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
Marco could dude like seven eyes by markers with jade
him was stocked there and he canna have eight points
and eight assists in control of day the super super IQ.
Unbelievable self confidence, and he also had a way of
bringing that self call flist to others, making others feel
like it was better than they may have. Big so
(29:48):
they had marcous Freshot.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Jackson was the NBA's Rookie Ye of the Year in
nineteen eighty eight, played seventeen seasons and his sixth in
NBA history and assists. Brooklyn native Larry Round coach Jackson
with the Clippers and Paces.
Speaker 10 (30:03):
Probably is cerebloy guards you'll ever have. Not the greatest athlete.
You had issues defensively, but we're smart enough to figure
out how to guard people, but offensively as unselfish as
any guard you'll want. A coach made players around them better,
great teammate, just a really, really really good player.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
The Big East kept on riding history after MANK Jackson
and Chris Mullen were part of that nineteen eighty five
Final four takeover. Another Brooklyn kid out of Javerian Carlton's
screen was part of Providences nineteen eighty seven Final fourteen.
The year Syracuse made it too when PJ. Corlissimo coach
Brooklyn's Gerald Green and Seaton Hall to the National Championship
(30:49):
game in nineteen eighty nine. That made it six different
Big East schools in the final four in the conference
first decade. It was a college basketball revolution with a
lot of Brooklyn behind it. Here's Jack Armstrong.
Speaker 6 (31:03):
There's no doubt that the essence of Brooklyn, the essence
of New York City basketball in a lot of ways,
contributed to the great success of the Big East. I
think the great thing about the Big East was that, Hey,
even if you didn't go play at Georgetown, they go
play at Seton Hall, Go play prominence, go play at
Saint John's. Stay in the league no matter what, even
(31:26):
if you're gonna kick my ass, be in our league,
because it makes our league battle.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Glenn Breika, who started off our story today, wraps it up.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It was kind of like an underdog league that became
the power and went from a bunch of underdogs to
really running things in the country for a while. You know,
you had that year with three three Big East teams
in the final four, which Saint John's, Villanova, and Georgetown.
I mean, it was just a great time to play
college basketball, to be a college basketball fan, to be
(31:57):
from the East Coast and the New York area.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
It was special. It was special.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Coming up next week on Basketball's Borough. Two schools, one league,
one mile apart, with a hundred years of history. It's
a Brooklyn College hoops rivalry with Saint Francis and Long
Island University
When I was a kid, I used to watch I
used to have college basketball on Saturday afternoons, and it
was always teams from other parts of the country.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know, you'd watch UCLA play Notre Dame or.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You know whoever, and you really didn't have big time
basketball on the East Coast, or at least not that big.
I think when the Big East was established, it kind
of elevated some of the local programs, which were very good,
the Saint John's, the Seaton Halls, to a different level,
to a national level, and for a while basically became
(00:35):
the premier league in the country. A lot of Brooklyn
guys had a lot to do with that, obviously, you know,
Chris Mullen, Pearl Washington, Mark Jackson, guys like that really
were some of the best players in that league.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
At that time.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It was must CTV, you know, Saint John's Georgetown, those
games were epic and I can remember my cousin getting
me tickets to the Garden, Patrick Ewing against Chris Mullen,
you know, Georgetown playing in a box and one on kres.
You know, I was at the Big East Tournament championship
when when Walter Barry Pearl Shot won one of two
seconds to go and Ron Rowan hit the shot to
(01:10):
win the game. So those are memories, you know, the
Big East and Dave Gavin at a vision and what
he created and with all those people created was just
something spot Shaw.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
That's Glenn Breker. He was the head coach at Brooklyn
Saint Francis College for the last thirteen years. Before that,
he spent twenty years as an assistant coach at Saint
John's and Saint Francis. Back in nineteen eighty two, he
was a senior at Brooklyn's Bishop Ford High School watching
the new league take over college. Who's led by the
(01:42):
guys he knew from Brooklyn High school basketball. Chris Mullin
was at Saint John's and pretty soon after that, Pearl
Washington arrived in Syracuse. The Big East was the best
show in college basketball, and those two Brooklyn ballers were
right there as the big get stars. The new league
had I'm Michi Dalko from the flapp of Zombies, and
(02:05):
that's what we're talking about this week on Basketball's Borough.
In nineteen seventy nine, seven schools came together for the
(02:25):
first season of Big East Basketball. It was the idea
of Providence Colleges coach and athletic director Dave Gavitt, who
became the new league's commissioner. College hoops was dominated by
historical powerhouses and giant state schools UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, but
(02:46):
by his fifth season, this collection of Northeast schools had
his first national champion and a year later the Big
East and three teams to the Final four.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The league just exploded ESPN.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
It just art the same time the Big East started
esp Everybody thought ESPN was crazy, how you gonna have
the TV for twenty four hours on sports? And they
needed programming. The Big East needed exposure people. Nowadays, you
can't look back. You can't explain to people because every
single game everywhere is on something. Right now, everything is dreaming,
every game is national. You can get anything. In those days,
(03:21):
there weren't a lot of games on TV. The whole
country would watch Big Monday. It wasn't like the Triple
Header that it is now. It was like they got
the Big East shoved down in their throw. Whether they
liked it or not. Because Gavitt was smart, ESPN picked
a good thing, did a great job with production, and
it was just the league was cooking. When you talk
to most people ari Era about the Big East, they're
(03:42):
gonna name three guys. They're gonna name Molly and Patrick
and Pearl. All the schools had other great players, but
I don't think any as good as those three.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That's PJ.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Calissimo, who jumped on board the Big East in nineteen
eighty two, where he became the head coach at Seaton
Whole Cross the River. Chris Mullen had just finished his
freshman season at Saint John's. It was a familiar story,
a New York City kid staying home to play for
Luke Connesseca in Queens. But when more players did something similar,
(04:14):
Northeast players staying in the Northeast to play in the
New League, it sent the Big East story.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
All of a sudden, A lot of players stayed home
or stayed close to home. Patrick Ewing the number one
player in the country. Patrick chose Georgetown Ed Pickney, who
was a local product in the Bronx As like Stevenson
High School, he chooses going over Pearl Washington. A year later,
stays and goes to Syracuse. Mark Jackson stays home and
comes to Saint John's and joins us so all of
(04:42):
a sudden, this Big East is keeping players on the
East Coats as opposed to going out west or to
the ac City, and it's having a huge impact. And
then the relationship with ESPN, and then the Big East
just exploded all of a sudden. Now you know, the
West Coast kids are watching Big Monday and as far
Clark in the West Coast, and they're running home from
school to watch these games. All of a sudden, Syracuston,
(05:04):
Saint Gihns, Georgetown, Billanovo, all of a sudden, these household
names across the country. So it was kind of a
unique situation for that Big East and it just exploded,
had a huge impact on the popularity of East Coast basketball. Yeah,
so it was pretty cool to be part of that,
you know, just to be into the cutting edge of
in a college basketball explosion.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
And Mullen, who was part of the same high school
recruiting class as Patrick Ewing, was one of the biggest
reasons it all happened. It started as a classic New
York basketball story. The pipeline from the city's high school
leagues sent waves of talent to Saint John's before and
after Mullin from Tony Jackson, Lee roy Ellis, and Mel
(05:45):
Davis to Mark Jackson, Malik Silly, and Ron Otess. There's
that famous line from coach Connesseca that his recruiting budget
was a roller subway tokens. That was one hundred percent
true when it came to the best play at he ever.
Coach Chris Mullen.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
The reason I went to Saint John's University was there's
only one reason I went down. I was coach countersecer.
I met coach when I was eleven years old. I
used to go to his basketball camp. I admired him
and respected him. I knew him more personally than I
did as a coach, really, because he would tell us
at new lectures and give us some credible stories about
the history of basketball, and we would sit there and listen.
(06:25):
I'd hear stories about Rick Barry and Joe Latchick and
Pat maguire and he was just like a really nice person.
So I had that relationship with coach, and then when
it came time to choose a school, I went out
some nice visits I went to do when coach k
was there starting his career Virginia. I went down to
Virginia and Ralph Sampson was there, and Terry Holland was
(06:46):
beautiful man. They got a Villanova in Louisville. But every
time I came home, I would always come home and say,
I got everything right here. I got everything I need.
In New York City. I can stay home. Badley can
watch me playing. I can play for coach counter secord.
So that's why I chose Saint Johnson.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
They called Brooklyn the borough of Churches and the Paris
Uio programs of where generations of ball players got this start.
That's how it was for Chris Mullen at Saint Thomas Aquanas.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I grew up on Troy Avenue, right up flat Pish Avenue,
Flopish in Flatlands, tight knit community, a lot of big families,
very sports oriented, all sports.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Growing up.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
We were on the swim team, We played baseball, played basketball,
roller hockey, stickball, stup ball. Everything we did was around
sports growing up. I was fortunate I had incredible coaches
at a young age, so really just got the incredible
schooling of the fundamentals skill development in all sports. Really,
where I was taught the game not only made me
(07:45):
a better player, it made me enjoy the game. I
was introduced to the game by Jack Elisa Lupa Koloman
might see my own coaches four fifteen, sixth grade, and
it really was about improving each and every day. There
was no real ending ball. It was always about skill development,
and then as I got better, the emphasis was on
how I could make my teammates better. There was no
(08:07):
real endpoint. I thought that was really important for the
longevity even to this day. Joining the game of basketball,
it's that ultimate goal of making money or becoming a star.
Was really enjoying the journey of getting better.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
When Mullin was at Saint Thomas, Toronto, Raptors broadcast that
Jack Armstrong was in the same grade playing cyo ball
for the neighboring parish at Saint Brendan's.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Chris is a self made man.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
He was a gym rat, and that's the highest compliment
I could pay anyone. He's a gym rat. He wanted
it really bad and he worked at it. So when
you see a guy like that, you just respect and
admire what he does. And every time I see him,
we still laugh because I would go out him. You know,
we play it as kids in the cyo and Saint
Brendan's gym. The ceilings are low, so anytime he shook
(08:58):
the ball from the corner and hit the ceiling, because
he hit the high art. You'll laugh about it. But
he was incredibly not only gifted and talented, but mature smart.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
You knew it.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
You know, like there's certain guys you play against a
bodyard or in my coaching career, or I watch it
now the NBA and go that guy has it. Or
you see a musician, you see an actress, whatever it
may be, and you go, ow special, that's him.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Mullin grew up in the Brooklyn of heaven As a playground,
not too far from Forced to Park World be Freeze
Konnassi High School championship team was one neighborhood away. In
nineteen seventy seven, the same year that Bernard King turned
pro after a historic career at Tennessee and Albert King
graduated from Fort Hamilton High School. Chris Mullen started his
(09:50):
high school career in Manhattan. He went to Power Memorial
on the West Side, the school that Kareem Abdul Jabbar
made famous when he was known as lou Al Sinder
with Powers freshmen and junior varsity teams, Mullen won city championships.
Halfway through his junior year, Mullen headed back to Brooklyn
(10:10):
to attend Zaverian High School. It meant he would have
to put high school basketball on hold. As a transfer,
he had to sit out for a year. But around
the city everybody knew about Mullin's game. Future. NBA point
guard Rod Strickland was three years younger than Mullen. Growing
up in the Bronx.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Chris Wallins was there.
Speaker 7 (10:31):
He was a great greater than j I never fordid
him cover to Nicheen gym Lebrons, probably one of the few.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
White guys or white and shit there walking the building.
Speaker 7 (10:42):
And I never did him walking the bill there like
white yeahs. And he just lit it up, you know,
Aden Jail couldn't just warn dribble pull ups.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Full time NBA champion John Sally was a year behind
Mullen and start at Kanassi, where he went up against
Saverian in a preseason scrimmage.
Speaker 8 (11:00):
And in the exhibition Chris had thirty nine before the fourth.
The way he would go about it, I mean, he's
not even talked about like he should be. This is
a guy who was on dream Team one and that
people don't remember or talk about it. He was by
that time in high school one of the greatest players
I ever seen. Chris can score from any part of
(11:22):
the court. It wasn't a way he couldn't score. His
step back is the way his like. We watched Kyrie,
our favorite point guard now handle the ball and Chris
Mullen was six ' five sixty six handling the ball
with his sandy hair, and you look up and they
were like, oh, he got thirty five? What at thirty
(11:44):
five on you? And was smooth, didn't talk, smack, the
hard player, Irish Catholic kid.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
In the New York State Federation Championships, they beat another
Brooklyn team in the semi finals, the PSAL champions from
Alexander Hamilton by Ray Haskins that had two future pros
and Jerry Ice Reynolds and Carrie Scurry. Mullen had thirty
seven points and nineteen rebounds in that game and then
(12:11):
twenty nine against Mount Vernon to clinch the title.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I'm sure we were underdogs. I know for a show.
I took one outfit for that weekend. I didn't think
we were going to get past the first game. But
we upset both cidentally won to state title. So it
was cool memory to have with not only my grade
school coaches jack Elisi Lupicole, but also a lot of
my childhood friends that we want to stay titled together.
It was very unique because I had set out that
(12:34):
year full year, so I wasn't playing really competitive basketball.
I started playing back up at Saint Thomas just to
keep playing competitively, and then right after the new year
started playing it. But you know, Savaria was a unique
situation that I had played with a lot of those
guys in grade school, so I was reconnecting with my
COYO teammates and my best friends from my neighborhood Michael
Riley Roger McGready, two guys who played Michael played at
(12:57):
George Washington University and Roger played at Boston College, and
then a few other guys that I played grade school with.
So it was really cool time. We had good chemistry
and cemetery and all those things.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Were in place, and Mullen found the perfect place at
Saint John's with perfect time and two in his sophomore year,
the Big East took things to the next level by
bringing his conference tournament to New York City. The Brooklyn
Kid led Saint John's to a title and was named
MVP at MSG. Mullen was named Big East Player of
(13:30):
the Year three times and National Player of the Year
as a senior. That was the season he led Saint
John's to the number one ranking and a trip to
the Final Four. The kid from Saint Thomas Aquanas Parish
won Olympic gold medals in nineteen eighty four and nineteen
ninety two, went to five NBA All Star Games, was
(13:51):
named All NBA four times, and was inducted into the
Hall of Fame in twenty eleven.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
PJ.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Calisimo not only coach against Mullen in the Big East
and the NBA, he was an assistant coach when Mullen
played for the Dream Team at the nineteen ninety two Olympics.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
He was really, to me, the epitome of a New
York City high school basketball player and in this case,
Brooklyn basketball player. He knew how to play. He'd run
a grade leaper. I mean, he had good size. Mully
was six five or sixty six, but he had that
lefty jump shot, he had the little head fake. He
just he knew he could score at will He was
(14:30):
an underrated pass. He was a much better bassat than
people realized he was. But he just knew how to
play basketball. He was well well coached, and you could
watch Mully play when he was like a freshman or
sophomore in high school and you just go, wow, he
just knows how to play basketball.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Was never selfishould defer to his teammates.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
But if it was fourth quarter and he needed a
big bucket, Mully knew to take the shot he was
gonna make.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
The later in the game.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
It was the bigger the shot, the more likely it
was Mully was going to make the shot. He had
a phenomenal relationship with Luke Carnes Sacer that I think
was so important. I mean, those two Louis brought out
the best in Molly, and I'm sure Louis would say
Molly was the best that he ever coached, and he
took Saint John's to a level that as great as
the tradition is at that school, Molly take him to
(15:15):
the Final four in the Big East and being Player
of the Year.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
It would be hard.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
I think it'd be impossible for Saint John's to say
that we're better four years than when Chris Bullin was there,
he was just spectacular.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Mullen and Saint John's were perfect combination and an example
of how everything came together for the Big East. The
players had come up playing against each other in New York, Boston, Philly,
d c. The Big East became the place to go
and the schools chased the same prospects. Players like Mullen
(15:46):
and Patrick Ewing spent four seasons in college and that
was the norm. Familiarity, bills, the rivalries.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
There were so many great players, you know, and the
four years that I was in school, they had picked me.
George Shall with the three final fours, I mean, build
Ober won a national championship, and there were teams like
us who got to the final four. Syracuse was always
one of the top teams in the country. Boston College
was a game away from getting to the final four.
(16:14):
I picked in nineteen eighty five as well. So it
was just tremendous individual talent, great great coaches. All different
styles of basketball too, which was cool. You know that
nowadays it seems like, you know, there's a lot of
cookie cutacters, you know, when shot threes, that shoot layups
and very similar styles. All those teams have very different styles.
We all took on the personalities of our coaches. Think
(16:36):
about the legendary coaches with John Thompson and Luke carbon
Sec at Jim Bay High, Rowley Masamino, some of the
greatest alex coaches of all time. Battling each other in
the same conference was just just look them back, so
much fun and just some of those legends of the
game and getting to play against them, getting to know
them some incredible memories.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Another one of those legends was right out of Brooklyn too,
a kid for Brownsville named Dwayne Washington who brought a
whole new show to the Big East in nineteen eighty
three when he was a senior at Boys and Girls.
He averaged thirty five a game and was a National
Player of the Year. But by that time, everybody just
knew him as a Pearl. Ray Haskins coach Brooklyn's Alexander
(17:19):
Hamilton to a city championship while Pearl Washington was a
sophomore at Boys and Girls.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
We gave him the name Pearl. The people gave him
the name Pearl because what earlnd Road was doing, he
was killing everybody their games, similar or anything, but It's
just that they were killers.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
Earl Monroe.
Speaker 9 (17:36):
I mean it was a killer. Like the people give
you nicknames, and that name right did fit him. It
was Dwayne would look a little fatty, But the name
Pearl stuck with him. The people gave him that name.
People in brownsil gave him that name Pearl because that's how,
you know, amazing he was. He was good at a
young age. Thirteen, he was dominant, dominant player at thirteen.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Here's Chris Moe.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And Pearl Washington, one of the true legends of New
York City basketball. By the time he was in seventh
and eighth grade, I had heard all about this guy,
and then when I finally saw him, he was so
mature physically, he had incredible ball handling skills, could finish
around the basket, it was pretty strong.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
So like in ninth.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Grade, he looked like an NBA player already. He just
was just so so far ahead of his time and
that legend. By the time he went to Syracra, he
was already a legend in the parks all through Brooklyn.
Everyone knew about Pearl. He was already playing with and
against NBA players, an old man. He was so far
ahead of everybody else. The first time I played with
(18:41):
Pearl was in the Boston Shootout and he was a
softball in high school. I think I was a senior
and Patrick was in that tournament and he was one
of the best players there and he still had two
years of high school to go. Incredible charisma, you know,
he just had that when he showed up to it,
to a park, or to a gym, or to a
high school, it was just the buzz. He just he
(19:02):
just created excitement and he always did something that made
the crowd go crazy. Yeah, he had a huge impact
on Brooklyn basketball, New York City basketball obviously, the Big
East and just the really, really fun loving guy.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Rod Strickland won the PSAL championship at Truman High School
in the Bronx a year after Pearl graduated from Boys
and Girls.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Pearl was a legend. I would remember saying Pearl.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
I want to say he was sixteen playing in metric
gym with the older guys and dominating. The legend of
Pearl was ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
The whole city. I'll never forget.
Speaker 7 (19:37):
He played in the all I think his King's Tower
was t in Mahattan, and the whole crowd was there
winging to Cale and Pearl wasn't there, so the crowd
was leading the crowd.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
As everybody's leading the park.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
He comes with his motorcycle.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Can hear reving it up?
Speaker 7 (19:52):
And he comes in.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Everybody's running back for that. She pushing Peburg get the.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Front park was an incredible I saw him do so
many things, Shubar embarrassed, suing the people, and he always
had a smile on his face.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Everything he does cool and easy. Whoever, nothing was hard
for all.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
When he passed, I haven't been going with you two
to Colin look at his studio and all the time
I was like, that's mean. Like I saw him like
be able and yeah, or he was getting in live.
I didn't know him throwing the ball out or in
fans pretty him and the noon the defenders, I'm making
the Lady Arnims in and out pro was just he
(20:29):
was a super super inspiration for me.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
In Brooklyn, Knossi's John Sally was a year ahead of Pearl,
but the pair was inseparable. They played pickup games all
over Brooklyn and travel ball together with the Gauchos. After
Sally went to Georgia Tech. They even shared draft night
together and went two spots apart.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Pearl and I would go at play everywhere.
Speaker 8 (20:52):
Also, like I would take my mother's car because I
was one of the kids that knew how to drive,
which was amazing. And we would just be play was
watching games and everybody would be like, that's Pearl, that's Pearl.
Him going to Boys Hide means we can go anywhere
in Brooklyn, and we went everywhere. He was so soft
spoken that he was this blue black and when he
(21:14):
walked in, it was like black.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Jesus fucked in.
Speaker 8 (21:16):
You know, everybody, guys looking down when we're on the
layup line seeing him come down with that wide body.
He had a big old button hips and the way
he would dribble and take it to the basket and
lay people was amazing. He could take over the game,
like you would give him the ball and hopefully have
your hands ready. He's not coming to you because he's
(21:38):
gonna take whoever to the basket.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Used his body.
Speaker 8 (21:41):
They would talk about he didn't have a you know,
his short game or his jump shot. He really didn't
have to. If he could break any guard down and
lean on him. Guys wasn't even trying to block a
shot because he would look like he was one place
and being another. He was definitely I would say I
play with Isaiah Thomas, who the best point gud I've
ever played with, but Pearl was number two.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
It didn't take long for Pearl Washington to print his
legend on Syracuse, New York either. On January twenty first,
nineteen eighty four, in his fifteenth college game, Pearl sent
thirty thousand Carrier Dome fans into a frenzy with the
running half court buzzer beater to beat Boston College in
the Big East Championship game. That year, Syracuse took on Georgetown,
(22:26):
ranked second in the country and on the path to
win in the National Championship. The Orange lost in overtime,
but Washington put on a show that's remembered to this day,
finishing with twenty seven points. Jack Armstrong got his coaching
start at his alma mater, Brooklyn's Nazareth High School, while
the Pearl was at Boys and Girls, and he was
(22:48):
in the stands for that game.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I remember being.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
At the Big East Championship, if I'm not mistaken, Syracuse
against Georgetown, and he's single hand league yept Syracuse in
the game. I don't I bet hecal numbers. I just
haveing it by art my gun, sitting up in up
in the nosebleeds in the garden with my buddies, going this.
Speaker 7 (23:07):
Dude can bowl, and he could bowl.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Just incredibly dominant, physically dominant high school player and obviously
college players well, incredible handle, offbeat, timing, great change of pace,
ability to finish at the rim. Kind of un orthodox,
urky jerky type of game, but just incredibly gifted, crafty, savvy,
(23:32):
just tremendously fun.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Guys like Pearl and John Sally were on the big
stage now. They even ended up playing each other in
the second round of the nineteen eighty five NCAA tournament
Georgia Tech against Syracuse with Washington did to Georgetown at
the end of his freshman year. That's the Pearl that
John Sally knew.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
Him going to Syracuse and putting on a clinic against
Georgetown at the Garden. That was my favorite game to watch.
I was so chairing for Pearl to do his thing.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Big East was so big.
Speaker 8 (24:07):
Pearl was just giving them the business, just like he
was when we played Galacho's any park we were in.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That's what the Pearl brought to Syracuse, and that's why
they loved them. The blood sport battles with Georgetown in
the Big East Tournament became an annual ritual three times
in Pearls three years at the Q's. When the Orange
ben finally beat the Hoyers in the nineteen eighty six
semi finals, they lost to seventy to sixty nine thriller
(24:35):
the Saint John's in the championship game. Even though Syracuse
didn't win the tournament, the Pearl was the MVP those
rivalries every March. Syracuse Saint John's, Georgetown. They made the
Big East what it was as much as the final
four did, maybe more. Upstate Pearl changed the direction of
(24:56):
the entire program. The Orangemen had moved out Manly field
House and into the Cavernous Carrier Dome in nineteen eighty
and average sixteen thousand fans that first year. The year
before Pearl Washington arrived, the attendance was up to twenty thousand.
By the final season in nineteen eighty six, Syracuse had
the most fans in college basketball, with an average attendance
(25:19):
of twenty six thousand. They ended up leading the country
for the next ten years. Here's PJ. Carlissimo.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
He really was one of the kind the other guys
as great as they as they were, they just did
things better than anybody else had ever done it. Pearl
did things that no one else had ever done. People
weren't doing that in big time basketball games in front
of all the people. He was playing in front of
an U national TV, and he helped. One of the
more amazing things in the list is so long what
(25:47):
Jim Beheim's accomplished at Syracuse. But filling that building was
to make when they went from manly to that belly,
everybody thought they were out of their mind. The place
could make it up thirty thousand basketball game and you
kidding me, an adult stadium.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
And he filled it.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And one of the main reasons he filled it was
Dwayne Washington in the kind of tradition that he established
there at Syracuse.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
When the Pearl left Brooklyn for Syracuse, he was part
of a legendary NYC point guard class with Archbishop Malloy's
Kenny Smith and Bishop Lochland's Mark Jackson.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
PJ.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Callissimo spent twenty years recruiting Brooklyn as a coach at
Fordham Wagner and Seaton Hall. Brooklyn point guards were good.
To PJ. He had Lachlan's Henry Dillard on his breakout
n team at Wagner and Westinghouse's Gerald Green running the
point for seedon Hall's nineteen eighty nine final fourteen.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
The term Brooklyn point guard is about as high a
compliment as you can give, particularly a young high school
player or a guy coming into college.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Say how good is you?
Speaker 5 (26:47):
He's a Brooklyn point guard and he coach wants to
have a Brooklyn point guard.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Like Mark Jackson.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
We recruited him and no one really knew how good
he was. Louis walked into the mind, Senior King joined
him and in Brooklyn at Christmas time on the green
Linonian floor, and I really think he was watching John
Sally and he watched Mark obviously for about five minutes,
and it was like, why are we recruiting this guy?
Speaker 4 (27:09):
And there was the end of us recruiting Mark Jackson.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
So PJ and Seaton Hall didn't get Mark Jackson what
Saint John's did. Here's Chris Mullen on his nineteen eighty
five final four point guard and also his NBA teammateer Indiana.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
One of my best friends. We go way back. So
when I would transferred to Saveria, Mark was a sophomore
at the Bishop b Lockman play varsity, another player like Pearl,
just to mature and skilled and poised and confident beyond
his year. He's a sophomore and was already controlling the game,
(27:45):
playing point guard at great size, great division. And he
had flair too. These guys, all of a sudden, had
incredible talent, but they're also showing me. I remember Mark
and Pearl and Kitty Smith. All of a sudden, these
guys were like, they had flair, and they had a
style to them. All different too, very different styles, but
they had their own individual style. Of those guys. You know,
(28:06):
it's funny coming out of high school between Pearl, Kenny,
and Mark. At that time, Mark was probably ready third
of those three, but yet had the longest, most successful
career of all of them. He didn't in fact, his passion,
his incredinal work ethic, and he was a coach on
the floor. Like I said, even as a young kid,
just had that poise and total control of the game.
(28:28):
And we get to see how, you know, how he
has his esping broadcast that that was Mark as a
fourteen year old amazing. But then when Mark came in
Saint John's, we worked out a lot together. Coach Carnesseca,
in separate meetings, grabbed me in his office and said,
you know, I want you to play one on want
with Mark. So when he first got there and he
needs to work in his jump shots, I want you
to lay off him. When you play one on one,
(28:50):
lay off and make him shoot. Coach he already met
with Mark, tell him I want you to play one
on one with Chris. I want you to get up
on him. He needs to learn. You know, they're going
to take this jump shot away. So you know, we
worked out all summer and that's jack what we did
when I played Marker would play off film to make
me shoot the jump shot. He would get up on
me to make me play off the dribble. To re
(29:10):
formed a really good relationship and help each other, maybe
each other better the Bronxes.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Rod Strickland ended up playing with Jackson in the NBA
for a year and a half after the Knicks took
them in the first round and back to back years.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Mark was different always here.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
Marco could dude like seven eyes by markers with jade
him was stocked there and he canna have eight points
and eight assists in control of day the super super IQ.
Unbelievable self confidence, and he also had a way of
bringing that self call flist to others, making others feel
like it was better than they may have. Big so
(29:48):
they had marcous Freshot.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Jackson was the NBA's Rookie Ye of the Year in
nineteen eighty eight, played seventeen seasons and his sixth in
NBA history and assists. Brooklyn native Larry Round coach Jackson
with the Clippers and Paces.
Speaker 10 (30:03):
Probably is cerebloy guards you'll ever have. Not the greatest athlete.
You had issues defensively, but we're smart enough to figure
out how to guard people, but offensively as unselfish as
any guard you'll want. A coach made players around them better,
great teammate, just a really, really really good player.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
The Big East kept on riding history after MANK Jackson
and Chris Mullen were part of that nineteen eighty five
Final four takeover. Another Brooklyn kid out of Javerian Carlton's
screen was part of Providences nineteen eighty seven Final fourteen.
The year Syracuse made it too when PJ. Corlissimo coach
Brooklyn's Gerald Green and Seaton Hall to the National Championship
(30:49):
game in nineteen eighty nine. That made it six different
Big East schools in the final four in the conference
first decade. It was a college basketball revolution with a
lot of Brooklyn behind it. Here's Jack Armstrong.
Speaker 6 (31:03):
There's no doubt that the essence of Brooklyn, the essence
of New York City basketball in a lot of ways,
contributed to the great success of the Big East. I
think the great thing about the Big East was that, Hey,
even if you didn't go play at Georgetown, they go
play at Seton Hall, Go play prominence, go play at
Saint John's. Stay in the league no matter what, even
(31:26):
if you're gonna kick my ass, be in our league,
because it makes our league battle.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Glenn Breika, who started off our story today, wraps it up.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
It was kind of like an underdog league that became
the power and went from a bunch of underdogs to
really running things in the country for a while. You know,
you had that year with three three Big East teams
in the final four, which Saint John's, Villanova, and Georgetown.
I mean, it was just a great time to play
college basketball, to be a college basketball fan, to be
(31:57):
from the East Coast and the New York area.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
It was special. It was special.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Coming up next week on Basketball's Borough. Two schools, one league,
one mile apart, with a hundred years of history. It's
a Brooklyn College hoops rivalry with Saint Francis and Long
Island University
Host
Meechy Darko
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