I was at theFarm when I read that Ray Meyer passed away the other day. Most of my Portland friends will not know who he is…I mentioned him in the George Mikan post a year or so ago (thanks for reminding me Moreth).
Memories of Ray Meyer
Growing up in Chicago, he was the legendary coach of the Depaul Blue Demons. As a little shit, I always cheered for those Blue Demon teams of Aguirre, Cummings, and Comegys. I remember his being a super friendly coach and I was proud that a modern day legend was representing Chicago is such a fine way.
Ray Meyer BasketBall Camp
Moreth and I trucked up to Northern Wisconsin one summer for this basketball camp. Ray Meyer, and his son Joey (he was the coach at the time) as well and a bunch of other folks were up there running us through drills etc for a whole week.
Coach Meyer would always focus on fundamentals. I remember this little move that he taught everyone. He told the story of how Jack Sikma parlayed this move into a 15 NBA career. I remember his saying, anyone can learn how to hit a set shot/jump shot. He said if you practiced enough, you could be totally un athletic, but get a scholarship to college because of a set shot or jump shot and he told story after story about un athletic kids who did. Simply because they could shot a basketball.
Moreth was fortunate enough to play ball under Ray Meyer’s son, Tom Meyer at Niles West from 87-91. So Moreth has even more memories of Northern Wisconsin and the Meyer family. We should reminicnce about those soon.
Anyway, good on you Ray. I can imagine the positive influence over so many kids and so many years will always be remembered. Cheers to Ray and his family.