Grantland Article on Paul Silas (Creighton '64)...

[billyjack]

Nice long Grantland article on Creighton's Paul Silas, NBA legend:

http://grantland.com/features/paul-sila ... l-russell/

"...By his senior year at McClymonds (High School), Silas was averaging more than 30 points a game and was named the best player in California. Yet despite his achievements, it hurt him that his father didn’t watch him play. “I just didn’t understand why he wouldn’t come to games,” Silas said. Still, Silas wanted his father to be proud of him, so he let Leon decide where he’d go to college. Leon, who worked as a train porter and often passed through Omaha, Nebraska, instructed his son to attend Creighton.

Silas starred as soon as he got on the court for his sophomore season (it was still customary in the early 1960s for recruits to sit out their freshman year). He amassed 22 points and 29 rebounds in his first game, against Colorado College (three more boards than the entire opposing team). Silas could score, but rebounding became his calling card. Iowa’s Don Nelson had not heard much about Silas before playing him. “He was the best I ever played against,” Nelson said. “He kicked my butt good.” Silas figured he had to focus on one aspect of the game to impress professional teams. He chose rebounding partly because a knee injury in college hampered his shot. “I didn’t have the power in my knees that I needed and my shot started going different,” Silas said. “I couldn’t shoot a straight shot, [so] I used to try to shoot hooks, go to the hoop.” ..."

Great article, very long, on Paul Silas's life and career.

As a kid, I remember Silas on the Celtics, especially that Game 5 vs the Suns at the Garden. The crowd was nuts. At one point, Red Auerbach came down from the crowd to coach because Tom Heinsohn was too exhausted to continue. I then remember him winning a title on Seattle with Friar Lenny Wilkens as coach. Interesting read.

[mel ott]

Paul was a little before my time at CU. However, I just saw him last year at the funeral of his coach, Red McManus- a classic old time coach who got tossed from a lot of games including throwing his sport coat in to the stands after a bad call. Red was beloved at CU and Dana Altman and Coach Mac always had him at the games. At Red's funeral there were a huge turnout, but it was special to see three gentlemen come up to speak at the wake. All three I believe were 69 years old and played at the same time for Red. Tom Apke, who was an asst for Eddie Sutton for CU and took over when Eddie left to Arkansas. Bob Portman, who was the leading scorer in the country and was drafted in the first round. Lastly, Paul Silas was there and there were great stories about how Red spent his own money to go visit Paul numerous times to come to Creighton. It was a classic night for a great Irishman's wake, with his former players. They were still an imposing lot and had such class.

It was a great article and you don't realize until you get older what classy and talented these older players were.