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Good Times, Bad Times

Penny Hardaway (Photo: Wes Hale)

I’m appreciative of the people who have stood by us through these hard times. You can pinpoint a lot of things, but the one thing I do know: God doesn’t make mistakes. All of the negativity through this entire thing … these are still kids. They can have a bad day, a bad game, a bad week. That doesn’t mean there’s a disconnect between coach and players because you’re losing. Everything gets heightened here in Memphis. I was chosen to do this, not by the University of Memphis but by God, honestly. I took this job when it was at its lowest moment. I only want to do well for the city. I’m going to be hardest on myself. It guts me, because I want our city to be known for something other than what it’s known for. These are some tough times. Everybody has an opinion. But I know God has a plan, and there’s a plan for this team. I’m happy that I’m coaching this team. — University of Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway, after the Tigers ended a four-game losing streak with a win over Wichita State

On February 3rd at FedExForum, the Memphis Tigers found themselves down 14 points with less than 10 minutes to play against the supposedly inferior Wichita State Shockers. A loss would give a proud program not only its first five-game losing streak in six seasons under coach Penny Hardaway, but the program’s first five-game losing streak in 24 years.

Point guard Jahvon Quinerly — a senior transfer from Alabama — came to the rescue with a three-pointer to give Memphis its first lead of the game with 44 seconds on the clock. (It was the only field goal Quinerly made on an otherwise forgettable afternoon.) After the Shockers evened the score with a free throw, David Jones — a senior transfer from St. John’s — buried a short jumper from the left wing to snatch a Tiger win, as they say, from the jaws of ugly defeat. Losing streak over. A season that found the Tigers ranked 10th in the country merely three weeks earlier had been somewhat saved. At least until the next tip-off. The season has seen dreadfully ugly losses (at SMU) and the kinds of wins that seem to lift an entire region (the “get-back” over FAU in late February).

Like any decent Hollywood production, a college basketball season has a setup (nonconference play), a confrontation (league competition), and a resolution (postseason). This winter’s Tiger flick has, at times, made the popcorn tasty and, at others, forced fans to hurl the bucket in disgust. All with a resolution yet to come.

Point guard Jahvon Quinerly leads the Tigers in assists. (Photo: Wes Hale)

THE SETUP

In over a century of Tiger basketball, never had Memphis run a nonconference gauntlet like the one Hardaway scheduled for last fall. Seven teams from power conferences (ACC, SEC, and Big 10) plus a showdown with Villanova (national champions in 2016 and 2018) in the championship of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Making the challenge even greater, four of these teams took the floor against Memphis ranked among the country’s top 25. (For perspective, nonconference foes in 2017-18 — Tubby Smith’s final season as coach — included Northern Kentucky, Mercer, Samford, Bryant, and Albany.)

The Tigers beat 20th-ranked Arkansas in the Bahamas. They beat 21st-ranked Texas A & M. They beat 13th-ranked Clemson. They beat 22nd-ranked Virginia. They handled Michigan, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. Before the year turned, Hardaway and his team seemed to have grabbed a national microphone and collectively screamed, Look at us!

“I love winning close games,” said Hardaway after a two-point victory against Vanderbilt at FedExForum, the fifth in what would become a 10-game winning streak. “They make you tougher.” And the Tigers were masters of the nail-biter early this season: four points better than Michigan, five better than Arkansas, two better than Clemson, overtime escapes against VCU and UTSA. Quinerly drilled game-winning three-pointers near the buzzer in consecutive wins over Tulsa and SMU. Jones earned some national spotlight with 36 points against Arkansas, a performance that launched him onto the short list for the Julius Erving Award, given to the top small forward in the country.

“We never said it was going to be easy,” stressed Hardaway after the SMU win on January 7th. “The rest of the nation thinks it’s going to be easy in this conference. I have so much respect [for the American Athletic Conference]. These kids are capable. They read the clippings about us and [league favorite] FAU. It’s more than a two-bid league. Adversity is okay; you can learn from it.”

On January 15th, a day after the Tigers eviscerated Wichita State in Kansas for their tenth straight win, the Associated Press released its weekly poll and there was Memphis at number 10 in the entire country, the program’s highest ranking so late in a season since 2009, when one John Calipari stomped the sidelines. The nine programs above Memphis? If you pay attention to college hoops, they’re familiar: UConn, Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina, Houston, Tennessee, Duke, Kentucky, and Baylor. (Six of these programs have won at least one national title since 2012.) If the Memphis program was indeed screaming into that proverbial national microphone, the right folks were listening.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin has provided an energy boost at both ends of the floor. (Photo: Wes Hale)

THE CONFRONTATION(S)

Then came the freeze. The Tigers took the floor against USF on January 18th in a virtually empty FedExForum. That week’s winter storm had left Memphis streets so icy that the U of M actually released a statement advising fans to stay home (in which case ticket-holders could exchange for a later game). The Tigers raced out to a 20-point lead … before the team from South Florida made things that much colder, earning a 74-73 upset with a late-game comeback.

Three days later in New Orleans, another supposedly undermanned squad knocked off Memphis when Tulane won, 81-79. A week later in Birmingham, old rival UAB beat the Tigers, and rather easily (97-88). But the three losses that knocked the Tigers out of the Top 25 were merely prelude to January 28th, when the Rice Owls — 7-13 at tip-off, and 1-6 in the AAC — beat Memphis on its home floor.

For 17 games, the Tigers had played with a swagger, if not quite the flash, that reflected their coach’s All-NBA playing days with the Orlando Magic. They won 15 of those games. Then suddenly, shortly after the year turned, shoulders seemed to collectively slump, and Hardaway alluded to discontent between players. When asked about his team’s precipitous drop in confidence after the Rice loss, Hardaway had this to say: “That’s player-led. I’m trying my best, going to games, going to practice, talking about the pride we need to have, to have more fun playing defense, to communicate. It just seems like there’s a huge disconnect with this group right now. I can’t put my finger on it. You can tell in our play. When the game starts, the energy isn’t there.”

Following their second win over Wichita State (and the end to that four-game losing streak), Quinerly shared some perspective on what he hoped was a team-culture shift. “We didn’t have any player meetings,” he noted, “but you could tell the communication and the focus was different at our practices and film sessions. You could feel the tension in the air. Guys were super locked-in. It showed. We guarded the ball better [against the Shockers].”

Victories over Temple and Tulane followed, but then came a mid-February trip to the Lone Star State and double-digit losses to both North Texas and SMU (the latter a 106-79 mockery of the Tigers’ win over the Mustangs at FedExForum in early January). On February 24th, the university announced an inquiry involving fifth-year senior Malcolm Dandridge, sidelining an important member of the Tiger rotation entering the most important stage of the season. Memphis partially avenged its 2023 NCAA tournament loss to FAU the very next day. Ups and downs. Downs and ups.

How and why did a team mentioned as a Final Four contender in mid-January fall so precipitously, and so fast? You might start with a pair of hideous defensive measures. Through the end of the regular season, Memphis ranks 348th in three-pointers allowed: 9.1 per game. (This is according to College Basketball Reference, which tracks 362 teams in Division I.) And the Tigers rank 359th in offensive-rebounds allowed: 12.8 per game. These are effort stats. Bottom line: The Tigers haven’t guarded the perimeter and they haven’t hit the glass. In other words, they do a lot of standing and watching on defense. It’s murder on a team’s Final Four chances.

And there’s luck. Had Quinerly not hit those buzzer-beaters against Tulsa and SMU, there may not have been a 10-game winning streak or Top-10 ranking. Right player, right time, right moment … until the same player often looked like the wrong player, in the wrong time and moment. If you’re looking for a mercurial personification of a mercurial team, sadly, it’s Jahvon Quinerly.

Not to be discounted in the Tigers’ plight is the loss of Caleb Mills, yet another senior transfer (from Florida State and, before that, Houston) who suffered a catastrophic left-knee injury at Tulsa on January 4th. The team’s best perimeter defender and cultural “glue guy,” Mills embraced a role off the bench and contributed mightily in the Tigers’ four upsets of ranked teams. “I didn’t know Caleb’s magnitude until he went down,” said Hardaway in early February. The Tigers were 12-2 with Mills on the floor and have gone 10-7 without him.

If the loss of Mills exposed a susceptible Tiger rotation, the addition of Nae’Qwan Tomlin — a 6’10” midseason transfer from Kansas State — may have rescued that rotation’s integrity. (Mills and Tomlin only played three games together.) Tomlin’s ability to impose himself on both ends of the floor while providing visible, emotional energy has called to mind the play of former Tiger DeAndre Williams, the all-conference forward who completed his eligibility with the 2022-23 season. He earned Player of the Week honors from the AAC for his impact in wins over Charlotte and FAU in late February. Furthermore, Tomlin has a strong March track record, having helped the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA tournament. “He’s a big part of what we’re doing, moving forward,” emphasizes Hardaway. “We need his scoring ability, his rebounding ability, and his shot-blocking.”

However the Tigers’ postseason unfolds, Jones will leave a historic mark on the program. He’s the second consecutive Tiger (after Kendric Davis) to lead the AAC in scoring and earned first-team All-AAC recognition. He’s the only player in the country to average 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists and with 26 more points will become only the seventh Memphis player to score 700 in a single season. Jones is among five finalists for the Julius Erving Award, given to the nation’s top small forward.

THE RESOLUTION?

How does this four-month movie — to this point, a tragidrama — conclude before the credits roll? The happiest scenario has the Tigers banding together around their star trio (Jones, Quinerly, and Tomlin) and winning four games in four days at the AAC tournament this week in Fort Worth for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Once in the field, a rocky regular season would be forgotten in exchange for hopes of a glass slipper that leads to the Sweet 16 (at least). Hardaway teams have done this before, both last year when the Tigers knocked off top-ranked Houston to win the AAC crown and in 2021 when Memphis won a scaled-down NIT in North Texas.

A more likely scenario is a win or two this weekend and a return to the NIT, college basketball’s sock hop for those without prom tickets. Not the kind of consolation anyone near the Memphis basketball program will embrace. “God has a plan for this team,” said Hardaway after the Tigers erased a 22-point deficit and beat UAB by 19 on March 3rd. “For all we’ve gone through, I never gave up. … We have a better resume than all these teams: first four out, next four out. I don’t understand why our name isn’t up there. We’ve won enough big games for us to be in the conversation. We have some great wins.”

Remain in your seats, Tiger fans. However this season ends, it’s become clear we don’t want to miss it.

David Jones (Photo: Wes Hale)

The 700 Club

David Jones hopes to become only the seventh Tiger to score 700 points in a single season.

* Larry Finch — 721 (1972-73)

* Penny Hardaway — 729 (1992-93)

* Dajuan Wagner — 762 (2001-02)

* Chris Douglas-Roberts — 724 (2007-08)

* Jeremiah Martin — 708 (2018-19)

* Kendric Davis — 744 (2022-23)

* David Jones — 674 thru March 10th 

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Sports Tiger Blue

Coach Hardaway’s Time

Penny Hardaway (photo by Wes Hale)

When does a college basketball coach earn the word era? I mean truly earn it? Tubby Smith may have won a national title at Kentucky, but his two seasons with Memphis don’t constitute an era. What about the seven years Josh Pastner coached the Tigers? Era or no era? (It was not an era.)

For me, the Penny Hardaway Era of Tiger basketball arrived Saturday afternoon at FedExForum, when Memphis beat the 13th-ranked Clemson Tigers without playing its best basketball. The win came six days after beating another Top-25 team (Texas A&M) on the road and barely three weeks after beating another Top-25 team (Arkansas) in the Bahamas. Upon his arrival in 2018, Hardaway famously asked for “all the smoke,” boldly asserting the Tiger basketball brand before he’d coached his first game at the college level. Three seasons later, his Tigers won a bizarre, pandemic-restricted NIT in Texas. Then last March, his Tigers won the American Athletic Conference tournament by beating the top-ranked team in the country (Houston), a first for the Memphis program. But those moments were prelims. The Hardaway Era is finally upon us.

Consider, for a moment, the teams that visited Memphis in December 2017, Smith’s final season at the helm: Mercer, Samford, Bryant, Albany, Siena, Loyola, LSU. The Tigers won six of those seven games … but who cared? (They finished that month with a 34-point loss at Cincinnati.) It was a dreadfully low point in the proud history of Tiger basketball.

Cut to this season and the schedule Hardaway acknowledged as having drawn up “blindly,” not knowing the composition of his roster when the games were booked: five teams from the SEC before Christmas, two from the hallowed ACC, Michigan, and Villanova. This isn’t just boosting a non-conference schedule for those who rank teams and hand out NCAA tournament bids. This is imposing oneself on the sport. It’s bullying the very notion that Memphis is from a lesser league, a tier below the national-title contenders. As it turns out, Hardaway himself is bringing the smoke. Can his peers and rivals handle it? (Following Saturday’s game, Clemson coach Brad Brownell said, “Penny must be secure in his job to draw up the schedule he has.”)

Memphis handed Clemson its first loss in 10 games despite not playing stellar basketball. In the team’s first home game since November 17th, the visitors raced out to an 11-2 lead. Hardaway’s troops never found their shooting touch, missing 22 of 26 three-point attempts. (Hardaway insisted his team “did not take one bad shot against the zone.” They just missed them.) But Memphis played sound defense, forcing 15 turnovers, and got to the foul line, hitting 17 of 23 free throws. Star forward David Jones led all scorers with 22 points, but even he missed three free throws late to make the result tighter than it had to be. A huge win for Memphis, and not their best. Not yet.

A spot in the Top 25 is coming. “Out of anyone in the country, I feel like we really had to earn [a ranking],” said Hardaway after the victory. “I know what it’s gonna take for us: to keep learning, to keep winning. We haven’t even scratched the surface. There’s room to grow.” As of Sunday, Memphis had climbed to 34th in the NCAA NET ratings, higher than a few programs you’ve heard of: North Carolina, Gonzaga, Villanova. With another Top-25 foe (Virginia) visiting Tuesday, the Tigers will have another chance to impress AP voters and such. Vanderbilt — an eighth “Power 5” opponent — will be here Saturday.

A college player can establish an era in as few as two seasons. Penny Hardaway did so as an All-American guard for Memphis State (1991-93). It’s taken six seasons (three decades later), but the Coach Penny Hardaway Era in Memphis is here, and in full force. Winter is coming for the American Athletic Conference.

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Cover Feature News

One and Fun

Kendric Davis (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)

The University of Memphis basketball program has had its share of “one-and-done” sensations since the turn of the century. In his lone year as a Tiger (2001-02), Dajuan Wagner led Memphis to its first NIT title. In 2008, Derrick Rose famously (some would say infamously) took the Tigers to the cusp of a national championship. A year later, filling Rose’s void nicely, Tyreke Evans was the star of another 30-win team. In 2020, playing in the vapor trail of the James Wiseman controversy, Precious Achiuwa became the first Tiger to be named American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. And just last season, Jalen Duren was the centerpiece for a Tiger team that returned to the NCAA tournament after eight long years.

But Kendric Davis is a different breed of the one-and-done species. His most obvious distinction from the five players mentioned above: Davis is not a freshman, but a fifth-year senior. Memphis is the third college program he’s represented. He turns 24 in May (Davis is three months older than the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant) and is a father. When Davis all but surely wins this year’s AAC Player of the Year trophy, it will be his second, having earned the award in his final of three seasons at SMU last year. Having led the AAC in both scoring (21.5 points per game) and assists (5.6), Davis will leave a permanent imprint on Memphis basketball history, and in a span of time that feels as brief as the point guard’s head-bob crossover.

“It’s been fun,” says Davis. “I wish I had more than a year.”

Kendric Davis broke the AAC’s career scoring record while leading the league in 
both points and assists. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)

Why is Davis a Memphis Tiger for this one — perhaps historic — year? You might call it the value of a Penny. When Davis entered the transfer portal after the 2021-22 season, he fielded calls from the likes of Kentucky and Kansas, blue-blooded institutions where most college players would offer a kidney to play one season. But as his phone was blowing up with calls and texts, three numbers caught Davis’ eye: 901. “I didn’t know the number,” reflects Davis, “but I knew 901 was Memphis, and I knew Memphis was Penny Hardaway.”

Davis first got to know Hardaway as an opponent, more familiar with the former NBA star’s line of Nike shoes (and One Cent brand) than the rising coach of a conference rival. And when Davis struggled against the Tigers during the 2020-21 season (he shot a combined 5-for-27 in two games against Memphis), he actually approached Hardaway after one of the games to find out the coach’s secret for shackling his performance. Before granting a photo request from Davis, Hardaway advised him to look more for his own shot within the flow of an offensive possession. At that time a pass-first point guard, Davis became predictable when double-teamed or cornered with the basketball. The advice came back to bite Hardaway a year later, when SMU beat the Tigers twice and Davis averaged 23.5 points in the Mustang victories. Look for his own shot, he did. And when the opportunity surfaced for Davis to play for Hardaway instead of against him, he pounced.

Coach Penny Hardaway became a father figure to Davis while plotting a course for a 
second straight NCAA tournament. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)

“Memphis has exceeded my expectations,” says Davis. “The city. The love. Great teammates. Coach Penny has been unbelievable to me, helping me grow on and off the floor, building a bond that’s probably going to last my whole life. Putting on that Tiger jersey is an honor.”

Davis’ father John went missing in the fall of 2021, shortly after an October visit with his son in Dallas. (A truck driver, John’s rig was discovered in November, but with no sign of its owner.) Davis acknowledges Hardaway filling a void in his life, one he didn’t anticipate or ask for, but one the Memphis coach has occupied beyond a basketball relationship.

“We clicked from the first phone call,” says Davis. “I was ecstatic. My parents, their friends, they used to wear his Orlando Magic jersey. He was before my time. I looked him up, and he was like a 6’7” Kyrie Irving. If he didn’t get hurt, he might have gone down as a top-five point guard. His game could exist in this era. And he’s taken my game to another level.”

Davis is a father himself, now. (Kendric Jr. will turn 2 this fall.) So there’s a multigenerational component to leaning on Hardaway as a role model, a standard for success beyond the hardwood. “I’ve struggled a long time,” he says, “finding that father figure you need. I have a son, and I need someone to teach me how to be a daddy. Penny’s someone you can look up to; I want to be like that someday. We can relate. Similar backgrounds. What he wanted in life, I want in life. His attitude, his passion for the game. Lots of people want things from you, and it can be challenging, balancing it all. I’ve learned more from him than anybody else. I wish I had two or three years [to play for him].”

Are the current Tigers built for March basketball, all the madness of win-or-go-home conditions? Davis nods emphatically when posed the question: “You look at teams that are successful in March: veterans, great guard play, and you’ve got a great four-man. Oral Roberts went to the Sweet 16 with that [in 2021], and we’ve got way more talent. We took Alabama [to the wire] at their house and lost by three points. That tells you how good we are. I guarantee you, in March Madness, teams won’t want to play Memphis.”

DeAndre Williams has averaged 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds on his way to all-conference honors. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)

Davis points to a certain partner in crime in establishing expectations for the Tigers in the weeks ahead. That great “four-man” — or power forward — is DeAndre Williams, the 26-year-old fifth-year senior who may well join Davis on the AAC’s all-conference first team. Having struggled with a propensity for foul trouble his first two seasons as a Tiger, Williams has found a balance between defending aggressively and sloppily, with the result of one of the best seasons by a Memphis forward in the last decade. Averaging 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, Williams reeled off 26 consecutive games with at least 10 points. On February 12th against Temple, he scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds on his way to earning AAC Player of the Week honors. If that DeAndre Williams shows up, Memphis is a stiff test.

“I’m locked in,” says Williams, “on whatever it takes for us to win. Getting to the [NCAA] tournament is tough. We gotta put our hard hats on and just grind out wins. I wouldn’t think my last year would be my best year, but that’s how it’s gone. I’m happy. It’s a testament to my teammates and coaches, helping me succeed. I’m loving the ride, every moment. I want to leave my mark, on the team and the city.” On February 19th, Williams scored his 1000th point in a Memphis uniform, the first Tiger to reach that milestone in more than four years. So consider one significant mark already left.

There’s been an urgency this winter we don’t always see with the Tiger program. The roster is built almost entirely around seniors, six of them fifth-year players clinging to an extra year of eligibility granted in the aftermath of a Covid-restricted 2020-21 season. Davis has never played in the NCAA tournament. He has a fire in his belly, having been snubbed last season at SMU despite the Mustangs winning 24 games and finishing second in the AAC (ahead of Memphis, and the Tigers made the field). Keonte Kennedy (currently sidelined with a broken hand) and Elijah McCadden haven’t played in an NCAA tournament, each of them critical role players who transferred to Memphis to be part of one last attempt at the effervescent “madness” that can make a good season unforgettable.

Says Davis, “I remind my teammates all the time: We don’t have any redos. Whatever you’ve got, give it all. If there’s something you have left, it’s not gonna help this summer. Give it all. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. We’re in desperation mode now. Coach tells us we have family depending on this. Our lives are depending on this. I’ve got my son. I feel like I shine the brightest in the biggest games, and March Madness is all big games. I’m due. I feel like the nation needs that. I owe the [selection] committee one.”

At this point, the 2022-23 Tigers may enter the history books as the best Memphis team to go an entire season without being ranked among the nation’s top 25. And it doesn’t match the eye test. Just last Sunday at FedExForum, the country’s top-ranked team — the Houston Cougars — needed a buzzer-beating shot by Jamal Shead to win its 11th straight game. With a 23-8 record and second-place finish in the AAC, the Tigers will play in the NCAA tournament. First comes the AAC tournament in Fort Worth this week. If the Tigers are to win the event for the first time, they’ll likely have to beat a pair of teams (Tulane and Houston) that have already beaten them twice this season. Would Davis like to play the Cougars a third time? “Bad,” he says. “It’s on my mind.”

When asked about a factor that will determine the Tigers’ fate in the coming weeks, Davis goes back to his reason for wearing blue and gray to finish his college career. “Just listen to Coach Penny’s game plan. He spends hours and hours, studying habits of players, what teams like to do, what they don’t like to do, what you can expect out of time-outs. When we follow his game plan, we usually win.

“And also, taking it game by game. We can’t control what the committee thinks. If we keep stacking wins, that’s all that matters. We had one of the best nonconference schedules in the country. It’s prepared us. It’s built us. We’re ready for March. Coach always tells me, ‘It’s your time now.’”

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Josh Pastner Leaving Memphis For Georgia Tech

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

In a still-breaking development, it appears Josh Pastner is departing the University of Memphis to become the new head basketball coach at Georgia Tech. A press conference is scheduled later today in Atlanta to announce the move officially.

The voluntary departure means the U of M will not be required to cover the guaranteed balance of Pastner’s contract (through the 2019-20 season), a figure north of $10 million. The coach’s standing in the local community plummeted over his last two seasons, each ending without a postseason appearance for the Tigers. Attendance for Tiger games at FedExForum barely reached 6,000 last season. (Average ticket sales for 2009-10, Pastner’s first season in charge, was 16,498.)
Larry Kuzniewski

Over seven years in Memphis, Pastner compiled a record of 167-73 and reached the NCAA tournament four times (though never the Sweet 16). The last two seasons, though, were clouded by the departure of key players like Austin Nichols and Nick King, highly ranked local recruits who were unable to find comfort under Pastner’s guidance. After an 18-14 season in 2014-15, the Tigers went 19-15 last season, reaching the final of the American Athletic Conference tournament but again falling short of even an NIT bid.

Pastner replaces Brian Gregory at Georgia Tech, members of the acclaimed Atlantic Coast Conference. Gregory went 76-86 over five seasons with the Yellow Jackets. Duke assistant Jeff Capel had been considered a candidate for the job but removed himself from the search earlier this week.

U of M athletic director Tom Bowen will now be tasked with finding a coach for a program with very little “in the cupboard,” so to speak. Star forward Dedric Lawson is exploring his standing with NBA scouts and may enter June’s draft. Junior guard Avery Woodson has announced he’s transferring. Whether or not Pastner’s top 2016 recruit, point guard Charlie Moore, remains committed to the program is in doubt.

More to come as developments with this story unfold.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About the Flyer post, “Venerable Sportscaster Jack Eaton Dies” …

I have no idea how many hours of Jack Eaton’s voice I heard over the years. Rest in peace, Jack. You made a lot of people happy. And what better monument to a life is there than that?

OakTree

What a wonderful person. I worked with Big Jack for many years at Channel 5, and he was always a delight to be around. He will be missed by us who grew up watching him and laughing at his rhymes. My condolences to Erma and his family.

Cyndy Grivich Tucker

The voice of a region, we called him Big Jack.

Larry and Louisville, it’s a Tiger comeback!

Tiger football he called, in good times and bad.

Great Scott, for Jack Eaton, we all should be glad.

Frank Murtaugh

About Martha Park’s cover story, “Memphis Burning” …

We appreciate the story, “Memphis Burning,” by Martha Park, with Andrea Morales’ beautiful photos and the Flyer‘s willingness to join in the work to recover Shelby County history that has been hidden too long.

One correction: “Responding to Racism” is the name of a group at First Congregational Church where conversations were first held about this project. “The Lynching Sites Project” is the name of the group working to memorialize lynching sites and victims.

Randall Mullins

On that day when Ell Persons was lynched, parts of Memphis’ soul and bloodlust was momentarily sated. God bless America and her founding ethos and fathers for the gift that keeps on giving.

Jr. Golden

Stand for Children, the organization working to destroy public education, is listed as something people should support in this story. Stand seeks to create more segregation through charter schools and vouchers. They do not work for justice.

MegHank

About Joshua Cannon’s story, “A Look at Mud Island Park Redevelopment Proposals” …

So many developers, so many self-serving visions based on public money financing private profits, so many promises that the public will somehow profit from spending millions and millions on projects that aren’t feasible for the private sector.

Half our 911 calls aren’t answered within the national standard time, but we have millions to “help” build yet another Midtown grocery or a 500-room resort with a parking garage and front-door monorail service?

ALJ2

I don’t get the need for three new bridges, but the ML Professional Properties proposal strikes me as the most promising in terms of providing tangible benefits for city residents. After all the tax dollars spent on Mud Island over the years, city residents deserve to enjoy some tangible benefits.

Strait Shooter

About Jackson Baker’s post, “There’s an 8th District Congressional Race!” …

Given that a Republican will win this election, Tom Leatherwood wouldn’t be a terrible choice. He has run the Shelby County Register’s office efficiently, and his office has done a great job in getting county records digitized and online.

Kelsey, on the other hand, is a twit. Get him out of the state legislature. Working for a health insurance company turning down claims for kids’ kidney transplants would be more his style.

Packrat

About Frank Murtaugh’s post “Connecticut 77, Tigers 57” …

This game was as close to a desperation game as a team can get. What the devil happened in the locker room at half-time? It was as if a different team took the floor in the second half. How can a team be so competitive and then barely show up?

I watched the game with two visiting friends from Connecticut. There was great banter, but by game’s end, I was speechless.

Teams do not owe fans wins, but they do owe them a competitive effort.

Mike Tremaine