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WVU Sports Notebook
June 20, 2015 11:33 AM | General
I received a phone call from a freelance writer the other day researching players who won MVP honors while playing for losing professional championship teams.
Of course, as all dyed-in-wool Mountaineer fans know, he was interested in learning more about Jerry West and Chuck Howley, just in case LeBron James was named MVP of the NBA Finals which ended up going to Andre Iguodala of the winning Golden State Warriors.
West earned MVP honors during the 1969 NBA Finals when the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics and Howley was the MVP of Super Bowl V in 1971 when the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Baltimore Colts.
Had James won MVP for losing Cleveland he would have had something in common with West and Howley – and that would have been really cool.
West is in the Hall of Fame and is considered one of the greatest to ever play the game, and James will get in the Hall of Fame one day, too, but I’m not sure Chuck is ever going to get his just due and that’s a shame.
It is somewhat depressing that Howley’s outstanding 13-year NFL career is now encapsulated in trivia: Name the only player in pro football history to win the Super Bowl MVP from a losing team?
Totally forgotten about Chuck is that he was one of pro football’s best outside linebackers in the late 1960s and early 1970s playing for one of pro football’s best franchises.
People also forget that he was voted to play in six Pro Bowls and was a six-time Associated Press first team All-Pro in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1971, demonstrating that those who covered the game during that time considered him to be the best in the league at his position.
That alone puts Howley ahead of a lot of others currently in the Hall of Fame, including one-time WVU teammate Sam Huff, who was a five-time Pro Bowl choice and a four-time all-pro selection.
Chuck has two strikes going against him, in my opinion. One, he played with a bunch of other great players in Dallas who are already in the Hall of Fame, and, two, he’s not a self-promoter and never has been.
I remember once asking him his feelings about winning the MVP award for Super Bowl V and he told me that he didn’t even want to talk to reporters afterward. He was so mad that his team had lost to Baltimore and how poorly it had played that afternoon in Miami that all he wanted to do was take a shower and get on the plane and fly back to Dallas.
He actually ended up getting rid of the Dodge Charger that he won for being the game’s MVP because his wife didn’t like driving it.
I hope somebody down in Dallas can take up Chuck’s cause and get him in as a Senior Candidate because he is probably one of the best players in pro football history that nobody knows about. And Howley's name is beginning to slip in the minds of Cowboys fans - he is only 16th in this ESPN Dallas listing of the 50 Greatest Cowboy Players of All-Time: http://espn.go.com/dallas/photos/gallery/_/id/7356790/image/1/all-greatest-cowboys-50-greatest-cowboys
Remember, Chuck was just the fourth player in Dallas Cowboys history to be put in the Ring of Honor in 1977.
Just getting him on the Hall of Fame ballot would be a good place to start: http://www.notinhalloffame.com/football/1154-7-chuck-howley
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Speaking of Jerry West, he is now one of the most successful executives in pro sports history following Golden State’s NBA Finals victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week. West, the team’s minority owner and consultant, has been involved with seven NBA titles as an executive – six of those coming with the Los Angeles Lakers.
West was only able to win one pro basketball title as a player for the Lakers in 1972 despite his Los Angeles teams reaching the finals nine times during his brilliant 14-year playing career.
That begs this thought: If only Jerry could have had a hand in constructing those Lakers teams he played on.
It is clear West understands how to build great basketball teams, but unfortunately, a lot of what he has learned probably came as a result of all of the disappointments he experienced as a professional (and collegiate) player.
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Happy 152nd birthday West Virginia! Thanks again for choosing the USA!
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A major focus for Director of Athletics Shane Lyons since his arrival in January has been improving West Virginia University’s athletic facility situation. There is a building boom going on throughout collegiate sports right now that is creating a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.
Lyons touched on some of the projects on the horizon during a recent interview with WV Illustrated, which you can read here: http://www.wvillustrated.com/story/29349486/lyons-football-stadium-construction-to-begin-this-fall
And while building impressive facilities is certainly important, there is also a significant cost involved that can eat up a lot of your yearly budget, which you can also read about here: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-06-13/texas-tech-works-manage-111-million-long-term-athletic-department-debt#.VYLdsOfIyL-
Having nearly 16 percent of your yearly athletic budget dedicated to debt service is not something to take lightly, which is why fundraising has become so critical to the success of athletic departments throughout the country these days.
With media rights basically locked up for the next decade, athletic departments have essentially two major ways now of generating significant revenue – ticket sales and fundraising.
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The Athletic Communications Office earned more awards during the recently completed CoSIDA Convention held down in Orlando, Florida, including a “Best in the Nation” citation for last year’s football media guide cover: http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=28137&cat=exclusives
According to Director of Athletic Publications Joe Swan, that is the 10th “Best in the Nation” award for Mountaineer athletics since 2002.
My congratulations to Joe (also my No. 1 copy editor), our very talented graphic artist Kristin Coldsnow, associate athletic director for communications Michael Fragale and football director of communications Mike Montoro for a job well done!
I can’t wait to see what these guys have cooked up for this year’s football media guide, which should be available in convenience stories throughout the state in early August.
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One of the great challenges in athletics today is keeping things affordable for the average family. It can be costly for a family of four to go and watch a professional or collegiate sporting event, and in some instances, families are choosing to stay home and watch the games on their 60-inch flat screen TVs without battling for a good parking spot or taking the time to wait in line for concessions or to use the bathroom.
Well, now it’s even becoming pretty expensive for your kids to participate these days. My daughter plays club soccer and the amount of money that we spend sending her to tournaments and camps, along with receiving top-flight instruction, seems to grow each year.
The same goes for youth baseball, as you can read here: http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/8547699-74/baseball-pirates-athletes#axzz3d2AR1GaN
After you dole out a couple hundred dollars on a composite bat, another couple hundred on a glove and spikes, a couple hundred to pay the travel coach and then the hotel and travel expenses incurred watching your kids play in other cities, you are talking about a substantial amount of money just so your kid can participate.
Because of this, I am seeing a growing number of parents who are having unrealistic expectations for their children based on the amount of money that they are spending on them simply to play.
As a matter of fact, I once heard Pittsburgh Pirates all-star centerfielder Andrew McCutchen say that he would not have been able to afford to play baseball as a youth had it not been for a sponsor who absorbed some of the costs for him to participate on a travel team.
Whatever happened to the days when all you needed was a glove, a ball, a bat and an empty field?
Unfortunately, those days are long gone.
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And finally, one of the great things about this job is running into former players from time to time. The other day I saw Tyrone Sally checking out the WVU Coliseum before making his way over to the basketball practice facility where he was noticeably impressed.
I also got a phone call out of the blue from Darris Nichols, now assistant men’s coach at Florida.
It’s great to see these guys doing so well for themselves in adulthood, but that’s not really surprising to me considering the success they enjoyed here at WVU.
I’ve written a lot about these guys through the years and it’s amazing how easy those stories were to write because of who they were and how successful they were.
Don’t ever forget it’s the people that make West Virginia University such a great place, and it’s always nice to be reminded of that whenever I see old friends and new friends.
Have a great weekend!
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