New ESPN 30-for-30: Phi Slamma Jamma

[WizardofhOgZ]

This new episode premiered on Tuesday, and I'm sure it's scheduled to be shown several times over the next 2-3 weeks.

For those too young to really know what that era was all about - just watch it . . . you won't be disappointed. For those of us who remember that era, and the epic games between those Houston teams and the Kleine/Robertson/Walker led Razorbacks, it's "must see" TV.

There are many intriguing story lines in the episode, and I don't want to provide any spoilers. But I will relate this one anecdote, of which I was unaware.

Hakeem Olajuwon ("Akeem the Dream") came to the UH program in an odd way. He was a great athlete - primarily, a soccer player - in Nigeria. Some guy (forget his name) went over to that part of the world in the late 70's and started a basketball camp to develop talent and send it to the USA. But keep in mind that none of the coaches in the USA had seen any of these players in person. And all of them had, I'm sure, had dozens if not hundreds of "can't miss" players referred to them only to find out that they guy was a YMCA player - not D1.

So, Hakeem found himself with airplane tickets to four destinations - presumably, for the college coaches to take a look at him based on this fellow's recommendation. He landed first in the Newark, NJ airport and was supposed to meet with Syracuse . . . but, for whatever reason, no one from Syracuse was there to meet him. Ollajuwon had never been in cold weather conditions (having grown up in Africa), and when he stepped outside to look for these guys, he got his first taste of a cold wind in his face (it was Jan or Feb in NJ), and he really didn't like it. As chance would have it, one of the baggage claim guys at the airport was Nigerian, and Olajuwon struck up a conversation with him. He pulled out the other 3 tickets - to Louisville, KY, Providence, RI and Houston, TX., and he asked him "which of these has weather most like home (warm)?". The guy told him Houston, so Hakeem jumped on that plane.

Guy Lewis, the UH coach, was skeptical of what this coach was sending his way. He sent two players on the team to meet Olajuwon, and told them that if was 6'6" or shorter, buy him lunch and send him on his way. When they saw him, they called Lewis and said "Coach, this guy is a legitimate 7 footer" and Lewis said "why are you on the phone? Get him over here".

And the rest is history.

[Hogwop]

That's awesome. Definitely gonna have to give this a watch.

[k.c.hawg]

Feel fortunate to have attended all the SWC tournaments during their tenure.

[WizardofhOgZ]

Feel fortunate to have attended all the SWC tournaments during their tenure.

The games we had against the Olujawon teams were wars.

[hamARchy in the USA]

The games we had against the Olujawon teams were wars.

Most entertaining team to watch in my life.  Hated to see them beat the Hogs but loved them otherwise.

[hoglady]

Those were some of my absolute favorite Razorback basketball games.
It's funny - I never hated those guys.
I always rooted for those Houston teams to win when they weren't playing the Hogs and continued to root for Olujawon and Clyde "The Glide" when they were in the Pros.