Rest in peace...Dean the Dream

[Markedman]

Sad story....

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/knicks_great_meminger_found_still_grjxdXYnptKHcsxO Gtj5xO

[MUMac]

I just walked in the door from dinner and turned on the Fox News. They were just ending with Dean's death. Sad. He was the first star I remembered as a kid. Dean the Dream was silky smooth. Fun to watch. RIP and God's speed Dean!

[CaribouJim]

Holy cow - that sucks. Luke, Jerome and the Dream most recently.

[CaribouJim]

The guy to the left of Willis Reed is Billy Paultz (sp?) who was on the St. John's team that was defeated by MU and the Dream in '70. I remember when he would come into Knicks games his first couple years at the Garden - the fans would go crazy for the Dream. Marv Albert always liked him.

[Gato78]

Totally bummed. My all-time favorite MU player. In my estimation, the greatest point guard in MU history. Surely the best ball handler in MU history. Great going to the rim. The Cheshire smile as stated in SI when we won the NIT in 1970 and he won the MVP over Pete Maravich. Man am I bummed.

[MUMac]

Totally bummed. My all-time favorite MU player. In my estimation, the greatest point guard in MU history. Surely the best ball handler in MU history. Great going to the rim. The Cheshire smile as stated in SI when we won the NIT in 1970 and he won the MVP over Pete Maravich. Man am I bummed.

Gato,everything you stated could have come from me. I loved watching the Dream. Sad, very sad right now.

[Nukem2]

Totally bummed. My all-time favorite MU player. In my estimation, the greatest point guard in MU history. Surely the best ball handler in MU history. Great going to the rim. The Cheshire smile as stated in SI when we won the NIT in 1970 and he won the MVP over Pete Maravich. Man am I bummed.Yep, the Dream was my fav as well.

[Mark Miller]

I remember interviewing him when I was a college newspaper reporter covering the Oshkosh Flyers and the Dream was the head coach of the Albany Patroons. Also recall watching him on those great Knicks teams. One of MU's best, no doubt.

[Phantom Warrior]

Gato, Nukem, Mac,

Add me to the list. I still think the Dream was the best point guard in MU history. He was also the coolest, the hippest player in MU history - though Luke might have been pretty close in terms of hippest. (The difference between Dean and Luke was that Luke went out of his way to be "hip," but Dean put no effort into it at all. He was the epitome of "natural hip." My favorite MU player of all time as well.

It's really tragic the way his life ended.

[TulsaWarrior]

Dean was part of the reason I first became a Marquette fan. He was a smart big city basketball magician and perfect compliment to what Al McGuire was building at Marquette.

[Goose85]

Loved Dean "The Dream" - Very sad news.
Thanks for the great memories Dream

[BLT]

Dean's son's Twiiter...

https://mobile.twitter.com/DeanMeminger/tweets

[Nukem2]

From Bob Wolfley as JS Online:

http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/220942151.html

[TedBaxter]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1084515/1/index.htm

The famous Curry Kirkpatrick piece on Dean and the 1970-71 team.

[CaribouJim]

Some nice comments from some Knick and MU fans after this article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20130823/former-knick-dean-meminger-found-dead.ap/index.html

[Phantom Warrior]

I remember when that article came out. I loved reading and re-reading it. I bet I read it at least 25-30 times.

I do believe a national championship was a definite possibility that year had we not been screwed by the refs against OSU.

I would olove to see TWC air a video of that game the same way the station did the game against Purdue when Mount broke our hearts.

Dennis Krause, if you read this board, can you make it happen?

[Gato78]

Great article. There are so many Al stories and Dean the Dream fit right into that circus. I know most of the MU admins know this history but when I first met Larry Williams, shortly after he got the job, I said this to him: "I cannot overstate how crazy and magical the Al McGuire era was." I hope he reads this article and the many others like it and understands where those of us who witnessed the Al era are coming from. The linked Curry Kirkpatrick article certainly reinforces it but there are so many more like it. The beach ball in Lake Michigan with Pat Smith; Pat Smith getting arrested in Detroit and Al going with him; the feud with Adolph Rupp and the NCAA; the 1970 NCAA rejection followed by the NIT title. etc. The stark differences in 1976 between Bobby Knight's Indiana team and MU's team; the 1977 championship.

Dean Meminger once quit the basketball team--spring of 1970 I think. He was involved in student demonstrations against Vietnam and supporting racial equality. Dean announced he was quitting the team in the front of the MU library and it was big news. Al went down to campus to talk to Dean and told him he should use basketball, not let basketball use him. Dean reversed himself quickly. Just another part of the circus.

We must never forget this era and the characters involved. It will never be duplicated in sports.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1084515/1/index.htm

The famous Curry Kirkpatrick piece on Dean and the 1970-71 team.

[Nukem2]

Those were the days....just amazing.

[CaribouJim]

I'm out east this week and there is a brief sidebar story and picture on Meminger on the top left front page of the Sunday sports section of the Syracuse Post Standard.