Chuck Daly's Memorable Moments

From Detnews.com

Written by Terry Foster

Restaurant owner John Ginopolis is one of Chuck Daly's best friends. He roomed with him during the 1988 NBA Finals. Daly frequently came to his Farmington Hills restaurant.

Like many of Daly's friends, he believed Daly was invincible. You always thought Daly would be around. That is why the news of Daly's death after a battle with pancreatic cancer was so tough on Ginopolis.

"You never thought anything would happen to him," Ginopolis said. "This thing that's got him is awful. You never think of Daly getting sick. I mean he looked so good before this happened. I can't believe it."

Ginopolis sentiments were shared throughout the NBA. Newspapers often reported his age 10 years his junior. Players who played for him and the media that covered Daly during his days as Pistons coach often believed he was invincible.

But he was human, just like everybody else.

That was evident during a road trip to Portland. A curtain accidently opened to a training room and Daly lay on a table getting a back massage. It was a frequent routine for Daly, who had chronic back pain, and he didn't want anybody to know about his vulnerability to a back that sometimes caused him to lean over when he walked.

Daly looked upset when his secret was blown. The curtain closed quickly and Daly's massage continued.

Daly's bad back made for news inside the dressing room, but I never wrote about it. It was not worth the grief.

Daly appeared younger than he was. He had the best hair in the dressing room and he loved his image of being a cool dude even though he was often the oldest guy in the room.

Moments that stand out:

• The Pistons had just played a tough game against the Boston Celtics at the old Boston Garden. During a time-out, Daly and forward Adrian Dantley got into the most horrific argument I've ever seen during my years of covering the NBA. It seemed to last forever. Daly and Dantley screamed and cursed within inches of one another.

Later that night the Pistons remained at the team hotel because of a flight curfew at Logan Airport. I ran into Daly in the hotel bar and he was still livid.

"We've got to get rid of him," Daly said.

Daly's words were much spicier, but you get the point.

I was stunned because players and coaches often kept private matters from the media. I promised not to write about our meeting then. But it was still interesting to see the anger still boiling in his soul.

He believed that Dantley slowed the offense and caused the four other players to stand around while Dantley went through his routine of posting up his man and trying to set up a slow drive to the hoop.

A few weeks later Dantley was traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Mark Aguirre. Everybody assumed that point guard Isiah Thomas orchestrated the trade behind the scenes. Maybe he did push for the trade. But Daly was also a proponent.

• Daly always wanted to be cool. His suits were his trademark, and he got many of them from a Southfield clothier. But he had his favorite places to shop in New York, Seattle and Chicago. Once Daly became so agitated with a call that he slipped and fell to the floor at The Palace. His assistants came over to help him up and he shook them off.

He would help himself up.

People saw the replay nationwide and everybody got a good laugh out of it. Here is what people don't know. Daly also split his pants.

I could see it from press row and sent word that there was a large rip in his seat. Daly was careful how he walked during the rest of the half and it was sewed at halftime.

• Daly was good with the media, but he sometimes became agitated with us and walked away from press conferences. Once Dennis Rodman was acting up and he stormed out of the dressing room following a game. The media had to make a decision. Do we run after Rodman and see what his problem was? Or do we stick around and listen to Daly's post-game press conference outside the dressing room.

Many of us chose to follow Rodman who didn't have much to say as he drove off. We ran back to try to catch Daly. As soon as he saw us he cut off the press conference with the media who remained behind.

Hey I was here, he said as he walked off.

• Daly was called the Prince of Pessimism because he always pointed out tough stretches of the season and often feared that the Pistons would not win a game. During critical playoff games he often said if we don't win this game its "Katie bar the door."

That was one of his favorite catch phrases, meaning that the Pistons would face grave danger if they did not win a game.

He would often run his finger through a stretch of the schedule and gripe: I don't know how we are going to win a game.

Of course they almost always found a way to win.