Johnny Orr: One-of-a-kind and more

They're honoring Johnny Orr at Iowa State today and tonight before the Cyclones' men's basketball game against Kansas. A $150,000 statue, a sports bar-themed area named for him, and a pregame tribute. I loved being a sportswriter who covered Johnny Orr. So did every sportswriter I ever knew who covered Orr and his Iowa State basketball teams.

The reasons were simple. His teams were almost always interesting, and he was always candid. Always.

Do you know how rare that is for anyone in public life? Of course you do. It's rare because it's usually in anyone's best interest to be completely forthright publicly. You have to play the game to appease the greatest number of people, and telling the truth often causes public figures more harm than good.

Orr didn't care. I feel odd typing "Orr." He is "Johnny." That's what I'm calling him the rest of the way here. This isn't a news story.

Johnny came to Iowa State in 1980, the day after the Final Four ended. It was a shocker, Orr's hiring. He was at Michigan. ISU called him to ask about his top assistant, Bill Frieder. Orr found out ISU was willing to pay decent money, and went to Ames himself, leaving Frieder to get promoted at Michigan.

Johnny's 1976 Michigan team was national runner-up to Indiana. Yet, he left to go to a place with zero basketball cachet nationally. He wanted to be at a place where he'd be appreciated. Whoo boy, coach, did he ever pick the right one.

Johnny's first three Cyclones teams had losing records, but they were better and more fun to watch than those that came before him. In 1984, an NIT berth. In 1985, 21 wins and the Cyclones' first NCAA berth in 40 years. In 1986, March Madness. Iowa State knocked off two teams in Minneapolis in the NCAAs, the second being ... Michigan.

Four more trips to the NCAAs came in Johnny's next eight years before he stepped down after the 1994 season. So many nights of "Hilton Magic," fired-up crowds, fired-up teams, and fired-up Johnny as he strode onto the Hilton floor to the pep band's sounds of "The Tonight Show." Heeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny. He pumped his fist a few times at the crowd, the noise got ratcheted up even more, and the visitors knew they were in for a battle.

Johnny brought players to the school, too. Jeff Grayer. Jeff Hornacek. Barry Stevens. Fred Hoiberg. These weren't just players, these were big-time talents. When you bought a ticket for Iowa State basketball through most of Johnny's era, if nothing else you knew you'd be seeing some players with serious skills.

It wasn't as if ISU was a King Kong. The Cyclones only had two winning Big 8 records under Johnny. They just didn't win much on the road. They were up against some of the nation's powerhouses in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, where the talent usually took backseats to no one.

But Johnny did something bigger than building a competitive program. He made a program something. He made an arena a place to be in the wintertime. He gave it a vibe, a flair. He made so many people feel attached to Iowa State basketball because of his personality and the go-get-em personality of his teams.

Who else would go on ESPN on a Selection Sunday and basically tell Dick Vitale he was full of it? Who else would a tell a roomful of reporters this about an official: "That damn Woody. My players hate him. I don't like him."

Who else called everyone he met "Coach" when he was "Coach" to everyone else? I've known several ISU fans and at least one of the school's employees who started calling people "Coach" because of it, and probably didn't even realize they were doing it.

They're not honoring Johnny Orr tonight because he took a team to a Sweet 16 or because he lifted a program from obscurity to competitiveness. No, at 83 years old and 17 years removed from coaching, Johnny is being feted because he made ISU basketball fun and special from the sheer force of his personality more than anything else.

I could go on and on. The guy, to use his own terminology, was a dinger. That's high praise, by the way, if you weren't around for Johnny's coaching days.

Now Hoiberg coaches ISU. Part of the reason Cyclone fans were so enthused about a never-before-coach stepping in to run their Big 12 program is Hoiberg came from an Iowa State era they still embrace dearly and left his own fingerprints on it.

Whooo-wheeee, those were good times at Hilton back then. They'll have another tonight, remembering them with Johnny back in the gym.

For a link of the unveiling of the Johnny Orr statue and Johnny's reaction,

click here.