February 2, 2026 • 12 mins
5-time NBA champion and Miami University basketball icon Ron Harper came back to Oxford this weekend, and he joined Mo on ESPN1530.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life. Kelseyshev dot Com, au Hadeo Suarez
and the Reds are said to reunite according to a
number of reports. One year deal, mutual option for twenty
(00:26):
twenty seven. I'll make fifteen million bucks this year. Miami
RedHawks up to twenty thirty in the latest AP Top
twenty five Men's college basketball poll. The Mark Pope Radio
Show follows us in twenty minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty.
The Wildcats got enough votes for thirtieth. The NKU Coaches
Show is going to be tonight at seven pm on
ESPN fifteen thirty as well. Speaking of the RedHawks, they
(00:50):
beat Northern Illinois on Saturday at sold out Mallett Hall.
You might look at the score and go, wow, the
RedHawks blow them out one by twenty four. They were
trailing with fifteen minutes to go, and then it was
like they flipped a switch and they went on this
like instantaneous thirty eight to nine run that was something
(01:11):
to behold in attendance for it the greatest Miami University
basketball player of all time who got an honorary degree
during ceremonies at Malett Hall, and this was really cool.
I'll pull back the curtain here briefly. Ron Harper obviously
had a legendary career at Miami went on to an
NBA career where he played parts of fifteen seasons and
(01:32):
won five championship rings. And so I had reached out
and said, like, hey, can we get Ron Harper on?
And I didn't have the ability to go to the
game in Oxford on Saturday, and the folks at Miami
figured out a way for us to talk to Ron.
So the interview you're about to listen to I recorded
it early Saturday afternoon, right before Ron went to the
(01:55):
Miami game, and I started by asking him and getting
him to talk about not just being honored by his
alma mater, but coming back to Oxford and being a
part of a ceremony. During what has been an unbelievable
season for the Red Hawks.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Miami basketball is back with deserves to be back. Travis
Steel and his staff is doing a wonderful job with
the players that they have and the players are giving
him everything, and he allowed him to play really good basketball.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I know from following you on Twitter you tweet about
the Red Hawks a lot. How closely have you had
a chance to follow the program?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I tend to watch the boys and the girls team play.
I'm you know, I'm always. I always got my you know, iPad,
got my ESPN Plus, so I try to watch as
little much as possible as long as my kids don't
have a ball game. And then my kids do have
(02:57):
a ball game. I got the iPad, TV, the cel phone,
I got everything on. I'm trying to watch all the games.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Have you you mentioned Travis Steel, who obviously is doing
an awesome job in Oxford.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Have you had a chance to get to know him
at all?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Uh? No, I know a little bit about his career.
I know he coached that behavior before he came here,
and he was doing a great job over there, and
we were very fortunate enough to him here.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
When you think back to your career right at Miami,
which is obviously legendary, you know, you guys were in
the tournament three years you lost. I remember when you
lost to Maryland and Len Bias as a kid I
remember two overtime losses. When you think of your career
as a Miami Redskin back in the day, what things
come to mind.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Uh, I'm always gonna be a risk in h I
was very I was very fortunate to come to a
great place who have a lot of great player like
Ray the Air Emboryes, all the guys who played here
before me, And it was an honor to put on
that ers to represent a small mid major and I'm
(04:13):
pretty sure the I as far as some kids to
be a part of this, and I'm very happy to
be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Obviously, coming from Dayton to Miami, right, That's that had
long been a pipeline to Miami University. When you came
to Oxford, the head coach was Daryl Hedrick. What do
you remember about your recruitment to Miami.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Uh, Daryl Hendrick, Jerry Pearson. They was at my high
school more than me. Every time I walk down the hallway,
they was there. I'm like, what are y'all back for?
I just saw y'all like two days ago. We just
want to be sure you coming here. I'm like, Jesus,
you don't have to keep coming. The most important thing
(04:50):
that they ever did was the correct thing? Was there
was a big part of my mother. She she loved
herl and Jerry Neam and Joe Harry and uh, it
was in her heart that I've come to my Emmy
of Ohio. And it was an awesome place because it
(05:10):
gave her a chance to come see every home game. Man. Uh,
And I'm a I'm a big fan of that, see
him seeing my other them at the basketball games.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Have you ever thought you did quite well for yourself
as a pro in life after basketball? But in this
day and age of n I L and revenue sharing,
have you ever thought about what Ron Harper is a
college basketball player? What kind of coin you could have
brought in? Man?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
You know what, I have a young kid. I got
my oldest son. He made probably one point two or
three in his freshman year. So if people have made
one point three, I think I would have been worth eight.
I know, I think you're.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Selling yourself short now, you know what though, you know what, though,
you know it kind of ruin the college experience for
these kids because it don't it don't teach you how
to survive, how to work hard, how to stay humble.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know, we played for the love of the ball game.
We don't play for the cast, don't. I don't think
I ever worry about the casts I made in the NBA.
I don't think I made. I made the cash, but
I don't think I ever worry about the cast aspect.
I played for the love of the ball game and
to have an opportunity to play on some great basketball
(06:31):
teams that really care about trying to be the best
basketball team, and that's all we try to do.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, I think you know, look that the players today
have options, and good for them, but I wonder, you know,
somebody like yourself, all the records you said, still Miami's
you know, all time leading scorer, iconic four year career,
a beloved member of the Miami University community. And I
just I wonder how many Ron Harper's that are going
(06:59):
to be moving forward just because players and they have
the freedom to move in Good for them, but not
gonna have guys sticking with one program the way you did.
And I think college basketball itself has lost something because
of that.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Every sport has the cause when you grow with one,
when you grow with one program and you get a
chance to be a part of the environment, tend to
be a part of the community. It means more than
the cast that you can make. I had an opportunity
play at os Ohio, a small town, work with the
(07:31):
kids at the high school and elementary kids, and just
to be a part of the community. They don't have
that these days.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
You mentioned watching your sons, which has to be awesome.
They're gonna be in the Rising Stars event on opposite teams,
but they're gonna both be a part of the same event.
Can you even imagine what it's going to be like
to watch to watch Dylan and Ron Junior playing that.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's gonna be all skilling to him to guard him
him the guard hill. So it reminded me of back
in the driveway when I did to tell Ron Junr
when he'll get fourteen, he gonna be hard. Y'all can't
gonna do the thing y'all did him when he was
a small kid. So it's gonna be a little revenge game.
I think, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Gonna be fun to watch. It's gonna be fun to watch.
I can't imagine how.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It's gonna be awesome. Man, it's gonna be fun to see.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
One more question, because I do follow you on social media.
I want your cigars, but I click on the Lincoln
says they're out of stock. How do I get some
underrated Ron Harper by Luciano cigars?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know what? You know what you gotta kick at
the right time. I can tell you that's cigar. You
know what? You know? I actually got involved two years
ago with him and Lucy. Anold is a great guy.
He's a ciguard guy. He roses all and he knows everything.
And uh, we just talked about doing a cigar. You know,
(08:58):
in the first day, he tell me, I don't want
to do a select me cigar. I'm not a subve
I smoked cigars. So we talked about it, and you know,
I said, I said, I'm gonna give you a perfect
hey for this cigar. You're like, if you gave me
a great name, you canna be a part of I said,
we're gonna call it under rated. I'm from Day, Ohio
(09:19):
with the Miami of Ohio, my all school. It's supposed
to be in the NBA. Had had a pretty good
NBA career, never made the off Star team, never made
it all defense of team. But I'm still here and
everybody know me. So that's how we came up with
that name.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yeah, well you gotta you gotta Rea.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
First of all, I had more than an okay NBA career,
but you you need to restock the cigars so so
I can get one.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Because I'm a huge cigar guy.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So it piqued my interest when I saw it on
your social media and then I clicked on it. It's
like out of stock, unavailable. So I wanted to talk
to you for a thousand different reasons. One of them
was I need you to reload so I can try
these cigars.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Hey, so this's what I want to do. Go to
my go to my page and be heal me for
your address. I'll make sure you've done this though.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Ron Harper's gonna send me cigars, dude. Heck yeah. I
can't thank you enough for doing this.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Awesome that you get your honorary degree and in the
middle of a great season for the RedHawks makes it
even cooler. I can't thank you enough for doing this.
Thanks for carving at some time, enjoy the day, Ron, Thanks.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
So much very much. You got it.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Ron Harper, five time NBA champion, all time leading scorer
at Miami University and a guy is gonna send me
some of his own cigars.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Like that's that's a win, right there.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
That's that's why on a Saturday you do an interview
to talk to Ron Harper.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And get some some free cigars out of it.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I don't know that I'm gonna slide into his DMS
number one. I'm not a big DM guy number two.
Does Ron Harper really want me to slide into his DMS?
I don't know, but I really want some of those cigars.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
All right, I'll do it.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I'll slide in Tomorrow in the show, Paul Danner Junior
is gonna join us, our buddy Stewart W. Penrose from
the Manila Law Group, and a whole bunch of sports
legal issues and my conversation with a gene sterotor that's
gonna run in the five o'clock hour. We might have
one more pseudo big name guest as well. Anything you
(11:22):
might have miss go find on the iHeartRadio app. Podcasts
of this show are a service of long Nex Sports Grill.
Go for a beer at Long Next right now, have
an awesome night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to Tarn
Bland for producing. We will talk to you tomorrow at
three oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Trust the experts that you see health for innovative and
personalized heart care.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
They never miss Abeat your Heart shouldn't either. Schedule online
at UCHealth dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Westbound Ronald Reagan Highway, there is an accident on the
off ramp to southbound seventy five.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Right shoulder blocked down the.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Ramp westbound two to seventy five approaching Taylor Mill Road.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
An accident on the right shoulder in Montgomery Road. Accident
between Ivana and Williams Avenue. I'm at ezelic with trap
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life. Kelseyshev dot Com, au Hadeo Suarez
and the Reds are said to reunite according to a
number of reports. One year deal, mutual option for twenty
(00:26):
twenty seven. I'll make fifteen million bucks this year. Miami
RedHawks up to twenty thirty in the latest AP Top
twenty five Men's college basketball poll. The Mark Pope Radio
Show follows us in twenty minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty.
The Wildcats got enough votes for thirtieth. The NKU Coaches
Show is going to be tonight at seven pm on
ESPN fifteen thirty as well. Speaking of the RedHawks, they
(00:50):
beat Northern Illinois on Saturday at sold out Mallett Hall.
You might look at the score and go, wow, the
RedHawks blow them out one by twenty four. They were
trailing with fifteen minutes to go, and then it was
like they flipped a switch and they went on this
like instantaneous thirty eight to nine run that was something
(01:11):
to behold in attendance for it the greatest Miami University
basketball player of all time who got an honorary degree
during ceremonies at Malett Hall, and this was really cool.
I'll pull back the curtain here briefly. Ron Harper obviously
had a legendary career at Miami went on to an
NBA career where he played parts of fifteen seasons and
(01:32):
won five championship rings. And so I had reached out
and said, like, hey, can we get Ron Harper on?
And I didn't have the ability to go to the
game in Oxford on Saturday, and the folks at Miami
figured out a way for us to talk to Ron.
So the interview you're about to listen to I recorded
it early Saturday afternoon, right before Ron went to the
(01:55):
Miami game, and I started by asking him and getting
him to talk about not just being honored by his
alma mater, but coming back to Oxford and being a
part of a ceremony. During what has been an unbelievable
season for the Red Hawks.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Miami basketball is back with deserves to be back. Travis
Steel and his staff is doing a wonderful job with
the players that they have and the players are giving
him everything, and he allowed him to play really good basketball.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I know from following you on Twitter you tweet about
the Red Hawks a lot. How closely have you had
a chance to follow the program?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I tend to watch the boys and the girls team play.
I'm you know, I'm always. I always got my you know, iPad,
got my ESPN Plus, so I try to watch as
little much as possible as long as my kids don't
have a ball game. And then my kids do have
(02:57):
a ball game. I got the iPad, TV, the cel phone,
I got everything on. I'm trying to watch all the games.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Have you you mentioned Travis Steel, who obviously is doing
an awesome job in Oxford.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Have you had a chance to get to know him
at all?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Uh? No, I know a little bit about his career.
I know he coached that behavior before he came here,
and he was doing a great job over there, and
we were very fortunate enough to him here.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
When you think back to your career right at Miami,
which is obviously legendary, you know, you guys were in
the tournament three years you lost. I remember when you
lost to Maryland and Len Bias as a kid I
remember two overtime losses. When you think of your career
as a Miami Redskin back in the day, what things
come to mind.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Uh, I'm always gonna be a risk in h I
was very I was very fortunate to come to a
great place who have a lot of great player like
Ray the Air Emboryes, all the guys who played here
before me, And it was an honor to put on
that ers to represent a small mid major and I'm
(04:13):
pretty sure the I as far as some kids to
be a part of this, and I'm very happy to
be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Obviously, coming from Dayton to Miami, right, That's that had
long been a pipeline to Miami University. When you came
to Oxford, the head coach was Daryl Hedrick. What do
you remember about your recruitment to Miami.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Uh, Daryl Hendrick, Jerry Pearson. They was at my high
school more than me. Every time I walk down the hallway,
they was there. I'm like, what are y'all back for?
I just saw y'all like two days ago. We just
want to be sure you coming here. I'm like, Jesus,
you don't have to keep coming. The most important thing
(04:50):
that they ever did was the correct thing? Was there
was a big part of my mother. She she loved
herl and Jerry Neam and Joe Harry and uh, it
was in her heart that I've come to my Emmy
of Ohio. And it was an awesome place because it
(05:10):
gave her a chance to come see every home game. Man. Uh,
And I'm a I'm a big fan of that, see
him seeing my other them at the basketball games.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Have you ever thought you did quite well for yourself
as a pro in life after basketball? But in this
day and age of n I L and revenue sharing,
have you ever thought about what Ron Harper is a
college basketball player? What kind of coin you could have
brought in? Man?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
You know what, I have a young kid. I got
my oldest son. He made probably one point two or
three in his freshman year. So if people have made
one point three, I think I would have been worth eight.
I know, I think you're.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Selling yourself short now, you know what though, you know what, though,
you know it kind of ruin the college experience for
these kids because it don't it don't teach you how
to survive, how to work hard, how to stay humble.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know, we played for the love of the ball game.
We don't play for the cast, don't. I don't think
I ever worry about the casts I made in the NBA.
I don't think I made. I made the cash, but
I don't think I ever worry about the cast aspect.
I played for the love of the ball game and
to have an opportunity to play on some great basketball
(06:31):
teams that really care about trying to be the best
basketball team, and that's all we try to do.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, I think you know, look that the players today
have options, and good for them, but I wonder, you know,
somebody like yourself, all the records you said, still Miami's
you know, all time leading scorer, iconic four year career,
a beloved member of the Miami University community. And I
just I wonder how many Ron Harper's that are going
(06:59):
to be moving forward just because players and they have
the freedom to move in Good for them, but not
gonna have guys sticking with one program the way you did.
And I think college basketball itself has lost something because
of that.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Every sport has the cause when you grow with one,
when you grow with one program and you get a
chance to be a part of the environment, tend to
be a part of the community. It means more than
the cast that you can make. I had an opportunity
play at os Ohio, a small town, work with the
(07:31):
kids at the high school and elementary kids, and just
to be a part of the community. They don't have
that these days.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
You mentioned watching your sons, which has to be awesome.
They're gonna be in the Rising Stars event on opposite teams,
but they're gonna both be a part of the same event.
Can you even imagine what it's going to be like
to watch to watch Dylan and Ron Junior playing that.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's gonna be all skilling to him to guard him
him the guard hill. So it reminded me of back
in the driveway when I did to tell Ron Junr
when he'll get fourteen, he gonna be hard. Y'all can't
gonna do the thing y'all did him when he was
a small kid. So it's gonna be a little revenge game.
I think, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Gonna be fun to watch. It's gonna be fun to watch.
I can't imagine how.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It's gonna be awesome. Man, it's gonna be fun to see.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
One more question, because I do follow you on social media.
I want your cigars, but I click on the Lincoln
says they're out of stock. How do I get some
underrated Ron Harper by Luciano cigars?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know what? You know what you gotta kick at
the right time. I can tell you that's cigar. You
know what? You know? I actually got involved two years
ago with him and Lucy. Anold is a great guy.
He's a ciguard guy. He roses all and he knows everything.
And uh, we just talked about doing a cigar. You know,
(08:58):
in the first day, he tell me, I don't want
to do a select me cigar. I'm not a subve
I smoked cigars. So we talked about it, and you know,
I said, I said, I'm gonna give you a perfect
hey for this cigar. You're like, if you gave me
a great name, you canna be a part of I said,
we're gonna call it under rated. I'm from Day, Ohio
(09:19):
with the Miami of Ohio, my all school. It's supposed
to be in the NBA. Had had a pretty good
NBA career, never made the off Star team, never made
it all defense of team. But I'm still here and
everybody know me. So that's how we came up with
that name.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yeah, well you gotta you gotta Rea.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
First of all, I had more than an okay NBA career,
but you you need to restock the cigars so so
I can get one.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Because I'm a huge cigar guy.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So it piqued my interest when I saw it on
your social media and then I clicked on it. It's
like out of stock, unavailable. So I wanted to talk
to you for a thousand different reasons. One of them
was I need you to reload so I can try
these cigars.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Hey, so this's what I want to do. Go to
my go to my page and be heal me for
your address. I'll make sure you've done this though.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Ron Harper's gonna send me cigars, dude. Heck yeah. I
can't thank you enough for doing this.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Awesome that you get your honorary degree and in the
middle of a great season for the RedHawks makes it
even cooler. I can't thank you enough for doing this.
Thanks for carving at some time, enjoy the day, Ron, Thanks.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
So much very much. You got it.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Ron Harper, five time NBA champion, all time leading scorer
at Miami University and a guy is gonna send me
some of his own cigars.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Like that's that's a win, right there.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
That's that's why on a Saturday you do an interview
to talk to Ron Harper.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And get some some free cigars out of it.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I don't know that I'm gonna slide into his DMS
number one. I'm not a big DM guy number two.
Does Ron Harper really want me to slide into his DMS?
I don't know, but I really want some of those cigars.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
All right, I'll do it.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I'll slide in Tomorrow in the show, Paul Danner Junior
is gonna join us, our buddy Stewart W. Penrose from
the Manila Law Group, and a whole bunch of sports
legal issues and my conversation with a gene sterotor that's
gonna run in the five o'clock hour. We might have
one more pseudo big name guest as well. Anything you
(11:22):
might have miss go find on the iHeartRadio app. Podcasts
of this show are a service of long Nex Sports Grill.
Go for a beer at Long Next right now, have
an awesome night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to Tarn
Bland for producing. We will talk to you tomorrow at
three oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Trust the experts that you see health for innovative and
personalized heart care.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
They never miss Abeat your Heart shouldn't either. Schedule online
at UCHealth dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Westbound Ronald Reagan Highway, there is an accident on the
off ramp to southbound seventy five.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Right shoulder blocked down the.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Ramp westbound two to seventy five approaching Taylor Mill Road.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
An accident on the right shoulder in Montgomery Road. Accident
between Ivana and Williams Avenue. I'm at ezelic with trap
Mo Egger News
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