Cool Story Bro - Juwan
As a fellow Fab Freshman living in SQ during the 1991-92 school year, interaction with the Fab 5 was not uncommon at all, especially with Juwan, Jimmy and Ray. One time I was waiting for the dryer to finish in the laundry room and when it did, I pulled the clothes out on to the folding table, dumped my wet clothes in ...dropped a quarter and went back to the TV lounge. About 5 minutes later, Juwan comes into the lounge saying, "Who took my clothes out of the dryer?!"
Admittedly I did not own up to it in front of a bunch of dorm mates ...Juwan then took my clothes out of the dryer, dumped them on the floor and finished up on my quarter. A few weeks/months later I told him it was me.
The other Cool Story Bro ...the epic snowball fight vs WQ with the F5 all slinging snowballs alongside us.
So happy for Juwan ...happy for the Hoops program and proud to have him as the HC!
/story
I pre-dated the Fab 5 by a bit, unfortunately. I did, however, get to witness Roy Tarpley do a massive pile of blow at a party though. So there's that. Dude was a massive talent; coulda been a hall-of-famer if not for his vices. Damn shame.
I got a chuckle out of this :) Thanks for the much needed laugh.
I predated the Fab 5 as well. I did, however, get to witness C.J. Kupec eating pizza at the Brown Jug.
Ah the memories :)
Were you his pusher?
I was not. IIRC, though, the biggest dealer on campus back then was was a QB on the football team. Won't name names but it didn't help his football career.
*begins pouring through rosters*
In all seriousness though, it really was a shame to see addiction derail Tarpley's NBA career.
No kidding. I had no idea he died in 2015.
As a freshman in East Quad I directed Tarpley and a teammate who I won't name to the room of a guy who was a major dealer. This dealer used to deliver to the hotel the night before games.
I had a friend in "retail" at the time (as he described it) who worked with me at the Gandy Dancer. He said that he basically stopped selling to that particular set of basketball players because "there was way too much business" and eventually those dumbasses were going to get him arrested.
The same friend let me tag along with him a few years after the Tarpley era to a party attended by the football team. I watched members of the OL hoover a long-ass rail off of a coffee table. The 80's!
I worked at the Gandy Dancer as well. Good times. And trust me, the A2 cops knew exactly what was going on. They would keep the coaches informed but no athlete was getting arrested. Your friend in retail was probably safer with them as customers than without. Truth.
I was expecting an ending along the lines of the laundry room story, in the Bacon book, about Tom Brady...
I'm just imagining what it must be like to pull a load of laundry out of the dryer and realize the t-shirts are about the size of a bedsheet. Must have been some laundry.
Did you go all Hanson Brothers on Coach Howard, trying to get your quarter back?
Were his clothes dry or not? Trying to decide who's the guilty party here.
Lol, "dry" by dorm standards but likely still a tad damp. My bad ..you can have my quarter Juwan!!
I'm fairly certain there is no way to fully dry a load of laundry in a dorm dryer. It isn't scientifically possible.
Sounds like ElBictors was at fault here imo. Also have to give the person who's clothes are in the drier that 5-10 minute grace period to let them take their clothes out of the dryer
In all fairness, Coach had exceeded that grace period, but I plead guilty as charged!
In laundry disputes, the 6'9" guy is always right.
Ten minutes! I totally disagree. You have to be there for your clothes when the dryer buzzes. OP is owed a quarter.
i was at UM at the same time, but didn't live in SQ (Bursley represent!)
the stories of the Fab 5 "conquests" in SQ were legendary (i.e Chris Webber having a line of girls waiting outside of his door all night etc.)
I did work at Burger King to pay some bills, and usually worked the closing shift. It wasn't unusual to have a few of the Fab 5 come by very late to pick up some late night munchies. They were all very nice, but always seemed red-eyed from studying late and spent a lot of time giggling for no reason (probably about the funny jokes from practice)
Smoking with the Fab Five would net thousands if they put that up for a charity auction.
Webber and Rose were on the 5th floor across the front courtyard. There were definitely some parties on that hall and around their room. Girl from A2 who knew my friend was often a designated driver for the two when they'd go out.
If Juwan would go to Burger King, I don't want him as the HC. Clearly has bad taste
TBH it was mostly Jalen and Jimmy
let me guess, you're a white castle slider kind of guy. .25 apiece, buy 'em by the sack full
Heard the lines out the door for Woodson too.
Juwan cares very much about the cleanliness & freshness of his clothes. But not yours!
Is this a Christine Blasey Ford story?
Sorry, man. Made me laugh.
That was the goal
Ah yeah, I also heard the rumor about girls lining up outside Webber's dorm back in the day. Through the prism of three decades, I now ask myself why didn't I saunter over to South Quad and shoot my shot with the dozen or so co-eds who probably didn't get admitted.
Then I looked at myself in the mirror just now and answered my own question.
I used to see him all the time at the movie theater on Carpenter.
I'm much younger and only graduated last year, but I'll never forget the time I was on a bus with DJ Wilson. As my girlfriend and I were getting off the bus, the doors slammed shut and my girlfriend had to stick out her arms to hold them open.
DJ looked up from his phone amazed lol.
What did he say when you told him? Or how did he react? Just curious.
He was totally cool ...something like, "oh man, that was you?!" He was always really nice and among the 5 very approachable. If you said "good game" or just made small talk, he'd treat you like a normal person.
One other time coming back from some random keg party, I wound up with the 5 in the elevator and Juwan looked at me and said, "hit 5 little man."
damn that was soooo long ago. I'm so damn old.
I was a kid at that time, and my impression of him was that he was the older player with the calming voice when they would get in those huddles on the court.
Thank you for sharing the story.
Juwan Howard was in one of the classes that I was a GSI for (Analyzing Television Com 417, I think). He was in one of the other GSI's discussion sections, so I didn't interact with him a lot, but he was always friendly and came to the lectures regularly (unlike some other student athletes I had in my classes).
Fab Five Sixth Man (and erstwhile NBA journeyman) Eric Riley was in my section for the very first class that I was a GSI for. He was very tall. I remember looking up at him as I told him "Eric, you really should come to class more often.
Cool story bro.
Got eeeeem.
Did the washer/dryer machines really only cost a quarter then? I was a year after you and remembered them being at least $1.00. Perhaps it was a South Quad benefit.
No idea. Wasn't a dime but maybe a quarter was worth 5 mins ...cost a $1 in quarters to dry.? I honestly don't recall what I paid for SQ laundry in 1991 exactly.
In my day, $.25 for a wash, $.10 each dryer spin...usually would need three or four....(decades before laundry delivery and p/u at the dorms)! We didn’t have internet yet either, and had just left the punch tape days behind us, punch cards were still king!
I mighta posted this before, but (as is undoubtedly the case with others here), I had a class with the Fab Five and some football players. It's kinda crazy to realize that I was also sitting with our future hoops coach.
Intro to Urban Planning as a sophomore - I was applying to architecture school for junior year, so I figured it was in my wheelhouse. An architect where I was working six years later related to me that it was apparently a blow-off class that many athletes took, because blow-off class. The professor (Warner, I think?) was a sweet old lady whose assignments were so softbally that I'm kinda surprised Coach Hutch never had her on scholarship. Athlete attendance was about 70%ish, but that was about par for the course for everyone.
Of the athletes in attendance, Chris and Jalen were by far the most chatty: I vaguely remember Jalen talking a bit about how parts of SW Detroit were food deserts served only by a lone Farmer Jacks. (As a Laker fan, I sorely regret neglecting to tell Jalen that in 15 years he'd be literally and figuratively dunked to on to the tune of 81 points by a then-grade schooler named Kobe who would then proceed to coldbloodedly relate that tale ad infinitum)
CSB Fab5 version.
Recall seeing Webber getting his head shaved on someone’s front porch at a house on either Packard or State. And seeing Juwan, Jimmy and Jalen walking around fairly often. And seeing “Big Nook!” on the scoreboard during player intros and being totally confused.
Big Nook
Jimmy Jam
C-Webb
Jinx
Rob Pelinka Bass
Michael Turnover Talley .... (ok, that one's fake. but true)
I think Talley was the genius signaling "time out" to Webber in the NCG.
Money - Ray Jackson
Truth - Chris Webber
Webber was "The Truth" and I think the accompanying animation was a scale of justice?
Please tell me Jason Bossard was The Boss or some such thing.