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Magic vs. Bird: The benchmark TV game
By
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — Connecticut's 82-73 NCAA title win over Georgia Tech
on Monday night was inspiring enough, but some games — even among
championship battles — are bigger than others.
The 1979 national final was the day Magic Johnson and Larry Bird
gave college basketball a permanent spot among America's top sports events.
It was also the day Bob Heaton got "posterized."
Heaton was a forward for Indiana State — one of those "other guys" —
when the Sycamores played in the famous championship game against Michigan
State. He stood under the basket, seemingly in good position, waiting to
take a charge from Johnson.
Instead, Johnson dunked over Heaton, knocked him to the ground and
pointed at him for emphasis. It was a signature moment in a signature game
that found its way onto the cover of Sports Illustrated — and the walls of
kids' bedrooms nationwide.
"I didn't realize exactly what had happened until I saw all the
replays," Heaton said.
Twenty-five years later, as Georgia Tech and Connecticut were
preparing for their showdown, many of the players involved in the Magic-Bird
matchup conceded they didn't realize they were part of history at the time.
In 1979, Bird and Johnson were already stars, and the game was hyped
as a showdown between them, but cable TV hadn't yet saturated the country
with college hoops. In fact, several Indiana State players said they never
saw Johnson play until the Final Four that season.
"The idea that Larry and Ervin went on to have such great pro
careers, and that the rivalry didn't stop there, is what made it seem bigger
in retrospect," said Greg Kelser, a forward on Michigan State who played in
the NBA for six seasons. "That's what magnifies the game."
As is true in so many cases, it didn't live up to the hype.
Stifled by Michigan State's zone defense and a number of long-armed
players, Bird shot 7-for-21 and Heaton went 4-for-14. The Spartans won 75-64
in a game that didn't seem that close, and while Johnson and Bird went on to
change the NBA, most of the rest of those players soon ended up like Heaton,
their playing days ending with graduation.
"I'm so grateful and humble that I just had a chance to be there,"
said Indiana State guard Steve Reed, who got his masters in hospital
administration and has worked in that field since he graduated.
"These days, it blows my mind to think I was there," he said.
The memories that week weren't only on the basketball court. The
Final Four was played in Salt Lake City, and as a special treat for the
participants, the teams were given a special invitation to the Mormon
Tabernacle.
Michigan State's Terry Donnelly recalls walking in with the other
teams and hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir play the Indiana State fight
song. After a brief break, the choir followed up with the Michigan fight
song instead of Michigan State's.
"We might have been the only team to actually boo inside the
tabernacle," Donnelly said.
While Johnson played a great game for Michigan State, going 8-for-15
and getting to the line 10 times for 24 points, it was Donnelly who was
practically perfect. He went 5-for-5 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the
free-throw line.
The only miss? It came on the second of two free throws, when he
looked to the bench and saw teammate Rick Kaye jokingly flashing him an
obscene gesture.
"I started laughing. I missed the free throw because of that,"
Donnelly said.
It didn't matter. Michigan State had this game firmly in hand.
It always bothered Bird that he didn't play better, and he never
really embraced his role in one of the most important college games ever.
Not until this year, in fact, did Bird go back to Indiana State to have his
jersey retired.
"I've always been heartbroken that I couldn't bring the championship
back to Terre Haute," he told the crowd that day.
But really, that game was about more than who won and lost. NBC
estimated 40 million people watched, the most for any college basketball
game.
"I watch the game all the time on the VCR," Johnson once said. "It's
very interesting how people keep talking about it. I think about it much
more now and appreciate it more. You're young and immature, you don't
appreciate the magnitude of it."
The players who were there on that history-making night — from the
big contributors to the role players to the guys who never got off the bench
— now recognize they were part of something special.
"I've had other people talk about what a springboard that game was,"
Heaton said. "When I look back at what the Final Four was then, and what it
is now, I think, 'Yeah, maybe there really was something special to that
game."'
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:03:06 AM
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