Aug. 14, 2008
Every four years in the month of August, University of New Mexico head coach Steve Alford gets nostalgic about one of his finest memories on the basketball court. Alford was a member of the last group of U.S. amateur men’s basketball players to win Olympic Gold. At age 19, he was the youngest member of Team USA’s 1984 Men’s Basketball Olympic Team.
Alford’s Olympic story began in April of 1984. He had just finished his freshman season at Indiana, leading the Hoosiers to a second place finish in the Big 10 and the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament. The Olympic Trials were about to begin on Indiana’s campus.
“I was pretty young then,” laughed Alford as he started down memory lane. “I was only 19 years of age and finishing my freshman year at Indiana. I was living in the dorm and I go to my mailbox – as I did every other day. Usually the only thing in there is a letter from my mom. All of the sudden there is a letter in there from the U.S. Olympic Committee. I opened it up and I am one of 77 that has been invited to the Olympic Trials. My life kind of changed after that.”
The list of the players that did not make the Olympic team was full of future NBA stars and the best college players of the time. The players cut from the team included Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Danny Manning, Mark Price, Roy Tarpley, Joe Dumars, Chuck Person and Johnny Dawkins, just to name a few.
“I was a gym rat, so now for the next three or four days I was going to get to practice against these 76 other players,” continued Alford. “That was enough for me. I had a blast with that.”
Youtube.com is full of clips from the 1984 Olympic Trails. There is footage of the team going against an All-Star squad of Indiana Alumni. There is also a short clip of player introductions that include a very young coach Alford getting a standing ovation from the hometown fans.
Alford’s college coach, Bob Knight, had been selected as the head coach of the Olympic team, so he had an inside track to make the squad. However, it was his relaxed attitude that allowed him to stay loose and play well throughout the trials.
“I think I had a very good trial because I didn’t go in there with a huge amount of expectations,” claimed Alford. “I was just having fun. Charles Barkley was my roommate over at the Indiana Memorial Union. I don’t think I was feeling the stress that some of the others did that were a little bit older. I played well and I shot the ball well.”
Following the six-day tryout at Indiana University, Alford was one of the 13 players selected for the team that included Leon Wood, Patrick Ewing, Vernon Fleming, Alvin Robertson, Michael Jordan, Joe Klein, Jon Koncak, Wayman Tisdale, Chris Mullin, Sam Perkins, Jeff Turner, and Jim Waterhouse. There is another great clip on YouTube.com that shows the team playing against a group of NBA All-Stars in Phoenix, Ariz. One forgotten fact about the 1984 team was they went 7-0 in exhibition play against the NBA All Stars.
The team trained together for the entire summer, getting ready for the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles, Calif. Coach Knight was well known for treating basketball like a class at Indiana and he did the same thing with the Olympic team.
“He made us have these notebooks on the Olympic Team just like we did in college,” explained Alford. “We always wrote down the scouting report. The hardest part of the whole thing was spelling the names.”
Alford and his team went through a rugged summer of training for the Olympics. He spent every practice going against guys like Michael Jordan, Chris Mullin and Vern Fleming. By the time the Olympics rolled around the team was prepared for anything the world had in store.
Alford started slow in the opening game of the Olympics. He scored six points and two assists in his first action, a 101-68 win over Spain. However, he had one of his best games ever on a basketball court in the second contest against France. Alford went 8-8 from the floor on his way to 18 points and four assists.
“I am 43 now and I have to have a little fun with my kids,” said Alford. “Anytime France comes up, whether it is french fries or anything to do with France, I tell them – `That country still can’t get over me…I shot that country out…I was eight for eight.”
Even during his gold medal run, Alford took time to soak in the entire Olympic experience. He rubbed elbows with the likes of Carl Lewis, Pernell Whitaker and Mary Lou Retton at the Olympic Village.
Alford proudly displays his gold medal from the 23rd Olympiad. |
“It was a lot of fun because were we at USC’s campus,” said Alford. “That was Olympic Village and nobody was allowed in the village other than coaches and the athletes. If you wanted to see your parents you had to go outside the village. All of the other time you were quarantined in the village. I think it helped us develop a little bit more pride in the other sports as well because we were around each other so much.”
Against Uruguay, Alford cooled down a little bit, but he did record an impressive pair of blocks to go with six points and four rebounds. He posted 13 points and five rebounds in an 89-68 win over Canada and six points and three boards in a 97-49 win over China to round out pool play.
Another one of Alford’s best game at the Olympics came against West Germany in the quarterfinals. He scored 17 points, plus three boards, three assists and four steals in a 78-67 win. It was the closest game the U.S. team had at the 1984 Olympics.
The semifinals was a rematch against Canada where Alford had six points, seven rebounds and five assists. He had another strong game against Spain, finishing with 10 points and seven assists in the 96-65 win to clinch the gold medal.
Following the gold medal game was the traditional medal ceremony. All of the U.S. players and coaches can be seen on the podium thanks to this YouTube clip. It was another event in the games that Alford remembers with great pride and enthusiasm.
“Growing up playing as much basketball as I played, the National Anthem can become like the jump-ball,” added Alford. “You start a game with the National Anthem, you start a game with a jump ball. In 1984, that took on a whole different notion.”
Alford is very proud of his gold medal for obvious reasons, but he gets even more excited talking about the history of the gold medal. For the first 26 Olympiads, the medals were virtually the same design until they were changed in 2000.
“I think there is some neat history to this,” Alford explains whenever he shows off his gold medal. “In the first 26 Olympiads the medals were all the same. It had the Athens, Greece, theme and the front and back were all the same. The only difference was what Olympiad it was and where it was. I have the same medal as someone who won one back in the 30’s and 40’s and I always thought that was very neat.”
Alford’s Olympic stories are insightful, amusing and very interesting. He recently sat down with KOB-TV’s J.P. Murrieta for a 15-minute interview on his Olympic experience. The entire session can be viewed online by clicking here.
“That was the best stretch of basketball I have ever been involved with,” concluded Alford. “It was so highly competitive against the best in the world and that was just a lot of fun.”