. . . Winter 2003
by Bert
Schiller
The Houston Rockets were winding down training camp shortly before the 2002-03 NBA season began. The Rockets have a distinct U-M flavor. Their coach is Wolverine great Rudy Tomjanovich '70, who is identifiable worldwide as "Rudy T," and former U-M forwards Glen Rice and Maurice Taylor are notable players. When Michigan Today's writer introduced himself to Tomjanovich after practice as "a fellow U-M grad," Rudy T. immediately threw out his arms and broke into a rousing version of "Hail to the Victors" in front of the players, coaches and media. All-American center for Michigan from 1967 to 1970, NBA All-Star forward for the Houston Rockets for 11 seasons, two championship banners as head coach for the Houston Rockets, head coach of the US team that won the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics: it's quite a resumé for a man whose basketball ambition as a boy in Hamtramck, Michigan, was simply "to be able to play on the center court at Copernicus Junior High School with all the big kids." In the 1950s and '60s, Hamtramck was even more of an Slavic-American enclave than it is today. Tomjanovich, who is of Croatian ancestry, remembers it as being almost like an old European village. "When I was little, we had no TV set, no car or even a telephone in the house. Dad always said, 'What do we need a telephone for? If you want to talk to someone, you just walk down the street to their house.'" Sports were young Rudy's entry into the larger world. At first he tried baseball. A cousin had played for the Hamtramck Little League World Series champs of 1959, and Rudy's uncle, a coach on that team, thought Rudy showed a lot of promise in that sport and wanted him to stick with baseball. "But basketball was my true love," Rudy says. "I remember playing at the junior high gym when I was just a kid, thinking, God, wouldn't it be great to play with the big kids on the center court. To this day, one of my greatest thrills was the first time I played on that court." Tomjanovich began inauspiciously, by being cut from his freshman team. He responded by challenging the coach to a game of one-on-one. If Rudy won, he'd make the team; if not, he was off. Rudy lost. But the coach liked his determination and put him on the team anyway. Rudy worked hard and improved every year, going on to become one of the greatest players in Michigan high school history, averaging 34 points a game in his senior year. It was then that he told his dad, "I think we'd better get a phone. I think colleges will be trying to call our house."
Tomjanovich was right. Schools across the country contacted him. He narrowed the list to four universities close to home: Michigan, Michigan State, Detroit and Toledo. In the end there was only one choice: "To play where Cazzie played." Tomjanovich was one of many athletes (as well as many other students including this writer) who were drawn to the University of Michigan in the mid '60s by the exploits of Cazzie Russell. The freshmen and varsity squads still played at old Yost Fieldhouse back then, when NCAA rules barred first-year athletes from joining varsity teams. "I loved the floor at Yost," Tomjanovich says. "It had so much spring, it was real easy on your legs." When he started his first varsity game the next year, in 1967, it was against Kentucky in the first game ever played at U-M's Crisler Arena, "The House that Cazzie built." Tomjanovich's teams enjoyed winning seasons throughout his three-year varsity career. They never won a Big Ten championship, however, and without a Big Ten championship a conference team could not play in a postseason tournament. Tomjanovich says that being denied tournament games meant "the highlights of my career at Michigan became individual accomplishments or special games we wonlike winning at Duke."
Rudy T's individual accomplishments were many. His high game was 48 points against Indiana in 1969, tying Russell for all-time Michigan single game scoring honors. His 25.1 point per game career scoring average is second all-time at Michigan behind Russell. He holds the single game rebound record with 30, and his 14.4 rebounds per game average is also #1 all-time. He was all Big Ten in 1969 and 1970 and All-American in 1970. Tomjanovich majored in education and maintained a solid B average throughout his career. He laughs when asked, "Who was your favorite teacher?" and answers immediately: "Doc Losh! I took every one of her classes!" For those who don't remember or have never heard of her, astronomy Prof. Hazel "Doc" Losh '24 PhD was a campus institution for more than 50 years. She was famous for her grading curve, reputed in campus lore to be "A for athlete, B for boy and C for coed."
Everyone on campus loved Losh and showed it by electing her as U-M's first Honorary Homecoming Queen. On several occasions, Tomjanovich bought tickets to Pistons games and took Doc Losh into Detroit to see Cazzie Russell play when he was in town. "Her memory was amazing," Tomjanovich says. "She remembered all her favorite student athletes. She used to say, 'Tom Harmon used to sit right over there.'" San Diego made Rudy T. the second pick in the 1970 NBA draft, after Bob Lanier by the Detroit Pistons. The franchise moved to Houston the next year. Although shocked at first to be living in Houston's sultry climate, Tomjanovich certainly acclimated, staying 33 seasons with the Houston Rockets, 11 as a five-time All-Star forward from 1970 to 1981. After retiring as a player, he scouted for the team for two years before moving to the bench as an assistant coach from 1983 to 1992. He became the Rockets head coach in February 1992 and has stayed at the helm ever since. Despite his outstanding career, non-fans may remember Rudy T. most for being the recipient of "the Punch." On December 9, 1977, in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Tomjanovich, captain of his team, rushed to center court to break up a scuffle between teammate Kevin Kunnert and the Lakers' Kermit Washington. As he approached Washington from the rear, the karate-trained Laker wheeled around and landed a blow directly to Tomjanovich's face.
The punch knocked Rudy T. unconscious briefly and caused massive, life-threatening head injuries. He endured five surgeries and missed the remainder of the 1977-78 season. As detailed in the recent book The Punch: One Night, Two Lives and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever (Little, Brown & Co, Brown, 2002) by John Feinstein, that punch changed the NBA's approach to on-court violence and changed the lives of the two players forever. Although understandably bitter initially, Tomjanovich's feelings toward Washington mellowed over the years until the two finally formed an unusual bond. Tomjanovich says he is a different person than he was before the incident (the book details Tomjanovich's struggle to overcome alcoholism) and has learned "how to turn a negative into a positive." He knows others have had to deal with even more difficult situations, he says, and he has concluded that "the way to move on is to forgive, to let go of being a victim." Feinstein quotes Tomjanovich as saying that he and Washington are now "brothers" because of the incident. Publicity about the book has kept them in contact. Rudy T. told Michigan Today that he'd invited a player to this season's training camp on the strength of Washington's recommendation. (The player didn't make the squad, however.) Ultimately, The Punch will be only a minor part of Tomjanovich's basketball legacy. He's very proud of coaching the Rockets to NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995, but equally proud of "taking a group of no-names out of nowhere" to a bronze medal in the World Championship games in 1998 and coaching the US men's team to a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics. "Representing my country successfully was one of my greatest thrills," he says. As he turned to head back to the Rockets afternoon practice, Rudy T.'s parting words were a hearty, "Go Blue!" Freelance writer Bert Schiller '69 of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is an environmental consultant and a history buff.
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