Thinking about it now, there are probably just too many factors and hurdles ahead for most 15-year-old athletes for even intelligent adults around them to really predict the level of success that they will attain. But not with Wayman Tisdale. He was special. But we took it right at him. Mark Cline guarded him and Mike Reed got him in foul trouble. He scored 20 and had a couple of monster dunks, but the Kanawha Valley All-Stars prevailed with Mark knocking down 26. I added 18 or 19, depending on which newspaper you look at (that's amazing to me, both papers have the same shot attempts from the floor, then have different numbers from the line). Mike was 9-for-12, or 8-for-13 from the line, again depending on which paper you look at, for 11 or 10 points. Alex Nagy also chipped in 11 in addition to his excellent floor leadership.
Again, you have the Daily Mail and Gazette versions from which to choose (Click to enlarge). And then below, a special tribute to Wayman Tisdale, who past away this year after battling cancer.
Tisdale is #23. Oklahoma was the No. 6 seed, but oddly, their roster nor picture appear in the program. We were the No. 2 seed, behind Carson, Calif.
IN 1980, at the Opening Ceremonies of the AAU National Tournament at the Superdome in New Orleans, I spoke briefly with Wayman Tisdale. He initiated the conversion asking me, "Are you Spaulding?" The mis-pronunciation of my last name growing up was a curse. But when he said it I just smiled and said "yeah." We talked a bit. LSU Coach Dale Brown was the speaker at the ceremonies. I remember a quote he passed on to us that night... "I complained I had no shoes until I saw the boy with no feet." That stuck with me. I remember writing it down then putting it in my Bible. Another memory from that tournament, Karl Malone and Joe Dumars on the same Louisiana team (more later).
When Wayman Tisdale passed, I knew Mark Cline would have some special insights. Mark for the past three years has been an assistant head coach under Jeff Capel at Oklahoma. And of course, that's where Wayman went to school before his NBA career. Here's what Mark wrote:
"I got to know Wayman my last three years here at Oklahoma. He always was such an inspiration when we would see him, always had a smile on his face and was always happy to come back and be at our games. Wayman was a huge part of what “Oklahoma Basketball” represented. He was a magnet when he came back to the fans, media and coaches alike. Wayman made you feel special by just talking with him and that same feeling was felt by all former players that played at Oklahoma and were ever a part of this special program. Oklahoma fans loved Wayman. He always had time for the fans and the kids no matter what was going on in his life at the time. He made you feel you were the only one there when he was talking to you. We talked about the old days and Oklahoma’s loss to us in the National Semifinals in ’79 and you could always see a little smile on his face knowing that we had won the game. The biggest thing that I could say about Wayman is that he always treated the people with such respect no matter what walk of life they came from. He was just special – I could keep going on but Wayman was one in a million!!"
-- Mark Cline
Here's a tribute by country music star Toby Keith: http://globalgrind.com/channel/music/content/1112052/A-Tribute-To-Wayman-Tisdale-By-Toby-Keith/
And finally, Sports Illustrated's tribute:
Rest In Peace, Wayman Tisdale.
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