Michael Brooks: Philly Sports Hall Class X and Memory Lane

[phillyhof]

Hello Explorer Fans!!!

I am on the board of the Philadelphia Sports
Hall of Fame (www.phillyhall.org). We have our TENTH annual induction
ceremony coming up on 11/7: www.phillyhall.org/class10  In this year's class is All-Explorer MICHAEL BROOKS!!!!!!!

We
have a Preview Gallery at Spikes Trophies on Grant Ave in NE Philly. Currently, one of our featured displays is of LaSalle alum Joe Verdeur - Olympic gold swimmer from the 1948 London games. 

Also, I
was digtizing (aka scanning) some old programs for one of our displays
on the Palestra.  Check out these lineups....

Saturday, February 4, 1978: St. Joseph's vs LaSalle (Penn - Columbia game 1)

St. Joseph's
Tom Haggerty - Warminster, PA
Boo Williams - Hampton, VA
Luke Griffin - Jersey City, NJ
Jeffrey Clark - Philadelphia, PA
Ed DiRugeris - Cornwells Heights, PA
Zane Major - Philadelphia, PA
Norman Black - Baltimore, MD
Robert Valderas - Baltimore, MD
John Griffin - Philadelphia, PA
Michael Thomas - Wilmington, DE
Adrian Hubbard - Baltimore, MD
Randy Alter - Boyertown, PA
Head Coach - Harry Booth (West Chester, PA)

LaSalle
Greg Webster - King of Prussia, PA
Joe Mihalich - Philadelphia, PA
Tony DiLeo - Cinnaminson, NJ
James Connolly - Philadelphia, PA
Darryl Gladden - Willingboro, NJ
Kurt Kanaskie - Enola, PA
Kevin Lynam - Havertown, PA
Tony Plakis - Oaklyn, NJ
Mark Spain - Philadelphia, PA
Greg Metzinger - Barrington, NJ
Jim Wolkiewicz - Philadelphia, PA
Michael Brooks - Philadelphia, PA (2013 PSHoF Inductee)
Stan Williams - Clayton, NJ
Reggie Miller - Pleasantville, NJ
Head Coach - Paul Westhead (Philadelphia, PA)

LaSalle won 82-74 in front of 7,761 at the Palestra.

[phillyhoops4life]

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1120263/1/index.htm

One of the 1st College Players I ever started following...

[Deleted]

Sept 16, 2013 15:06:32 GMT -5 phillyhof said:

Hello Explorer Fans!!!

I am on the board of the Philadelphia Sports
Hall of Fame (www.phillyhall.org). We have our TENTH annual induction
ceremony coming up on 11/7: www.phillyhall.org/class10  In this year's class is All-Explorer MICHAEL BROOKS!!!!!!!

PhillyHOF, do you know if Michael is planning on attending the induction ceremony? I believe he still lives in France and he doesn't get back to the U.S.much. I know he didn't come back for his induction to the Big 5 HOF but he may have still been playing then.

[Deleted]

Sept 16, 2013 17:28:23 GMT -5 phillyhoops4life said:

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1120263/1/index.htm

One of the 1st College Players I ever started following...

Michael played as hard as anyone I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to see every home game he played and a decent amount of away games. He really was a special player.

[lwc4591]

Kjmac I thought Micahel was the greatest player in Big 5 history and it is sad that him and Kenny got hurt and in those days didn't know how to fix the injury.

[Deleted]

Sept 16, 2013 19:24:57 GMT -5 lwc4591 said:

Kjmac I thought Micahel was the greatest player in Big 5 history and it is sad that him and Kenny got hurt and in those days didn't know how to fix the injury.

It's hard for me to say who the best ever was but you can make valid arguments for a number of guys. Personally, I think Ken Durrett was the most gifted and most skilled player to ever wear a La Salle uniform. If he hadn't hurt his knee, he would have been a NBA All Star for many years. He was ahead of his time.

P.S. I should quantify this by saying I never saw Tom Gola play so I can't compare him and Ken.

[lwc4591]

Kjmac the difference in Kenny and Michael was Kenny was Mister high spdeed excitement and Michael was Mister power. Really impossible to say who was better but as I have said in the past Brooks had to do it with a much lesser supporting cast( not to say he did not have some good players with him because he did but no NBA level players ) than Kenny or the L Trian.

[Deleted]

Sept 16, 2013 19:45:01 GMT -5 lwc4591 said:

Kjmac the difference in Kenny and Michael was Kenny was Mister high spdeed excitement and Michael was Mister power. Really impossible to say who was better but as I have said in the past Brooks had to do it with a much lesser supporting cast( not to say he did not have some good players with him because he did but no NBA level players ) than Kenny or the L Trian.

Have to disagree with you on the supporting cast. Kenny played on the best La Salle team ever his sophomore year, but the supporting casts his junior and senior year's weren't as good as the guys that Michael played with.

The '70-71 team consisted of Ken, Bobby Fields (my all-time favorite La Salle player), Skyman Crawford, and role players Greg Cannon, Ron Kennedy, Bob Walsh, and Bill Michuda. Michael had Gladden, Kanaskie, Connolly, Miller, Williams, Lynam, and Webster which was imo a more talented supporting cast.

Westhead did a phenomenal job with that '70-71 team. They were 17-1 and ranked in the Top 20 when Ken got hurt. They beat two of the Final Four teams that season. That team was a prime example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

[phillyhof]

Michael does still live in France, and has not made it easy to contact him. LaSalle Athletics even has limited contact with him. We are absolutely trying to get him back across the pond in November. If anyone on this board is in touch with Michael - we'd certainly appreciate some help in contact info for Michael.

Lionel Simmons made everything look so easy, you could tell that Michael was "working" on the court.

[lwc4591]

Kjmac I agree that after Kenny's sophmore season with the graduation of Cannon, Taylor, Williams,...
that Michael probably had a slightly better supporting cast but I would say it was very close. As far as Kenny's soph season we all know how great the players and team was. I thought Miller was going to be a star but once again a serious injury and he was never the same player.

[ncaabestin1969]

IMO:

1. Kenny Durrett (pre-injury)
2. Lionel Simmons
3. Michael Brooks

I saw Durrett numerous times and agree he would have had a superlative NBA future sans injury. One could readily rate them differently.

(Was it Kenny's Schenley team that beat the Shamberger, Eddie Swain, Byrd Powell Chester team for the Penna state championship? Can't quite remember).

[talkinbball]

I have always categorized these 3 (I also never saw Gola) as:

Brooks - Hardest worker
Simmons - Most Consistent
Durrett - Best Player

[Deleted]

Sept 17, 2013 13:11:42 GMT -5 talkinbball said:

I have always categorized these 3 (I also never saw Gola) as:

Brooks - Hardest worker
Simmons - Most Consistent
Durrett - Best Player

Nice piece of analysis.

I just feel lucky to have gotten the chance to see all three play just about all of their home games and a decent amount of their away games. They were all special players and deserving of every accolade they got.

[glorydays]

Sept 16, 2013 20:16:12 GMT -5 @kjmac12 said:

Sept 16, 2013 19:45:01 GMT -5 lwc4591 said:

Kjmac the difference in Kenny and Michael was Kenny was Mister high spdeed excitement and Michael was Mister power. Really impossible to say who was better but as I have said in the past Brooks had to do it with a much lesser supporting cast( not to say he did not have some good players with him because he did but no NBA level players ) than Kenny or the L Trian.

Have to disagree with you on the supporting cast. Kenny played on the best La Salle team ever his sophomore year, but the supporting casts his junior and senior year's weren't as good as the guys that Michael played with.

The '70-71 team consisted of Ken, Bobby Fields (my all-time favorite La Salle player), Skyman Crawford, and role players Greg Cannon, Ron Kennedy, Bob Walsh, and Bill Michuda. Michael had Gladden, Kanaskie, Connolly, Miller, Williams, Lynam, and Webster which was imo a more talented supporting cast.

Westhead did a phenomenal job with that '70-71 team. They were 17-1 and ranked in the Top 20 when Ken got hurt. They beat two of the Final Four teams that season. That team was a prime example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

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Bittersweet memories. If memory serves me correctly Kenny was going for a loose ball at mid court against Canisius. Life can be unfair.

articles.philly.com/2001-01-09/sports/25309436_1_shooting-range-training-camp-tom-gola

[baab]

this is like ancient history but if Bill Pleas hadn't had academic issues.....referring to the 70-71 team of course. No real center but durrett pleas and crawford with kennedy off the bench. Pleas was a hell of a player.

[lwc4591]

Billy Pleas was a great leaper even better than Skyman. 70-71 team was a good team even without Pleas.

[baab]

and to take this to extremes what if isiah king didn't flunk out. or what if dallas comegys chose lasalle over depaul.