Verne Lundquist on Duke/UK and the Laettner Shot

[kako]

Verne Lundquist is on a podcast with Richard Deitsch from The Athletic. The Athletic is a pay site (a very good one that I am trying out and so far think is worth it). At the 36:30 mark, he talks about his call for CBS of the 1992 Duke-UK game, the Laettner shot and many aspects about the game. If you have a subscription, it’s worth a listen:

https://theathletic.com/329171/2018/04/25/sports-media-podcast-verne-lundquist-talks-extending-his-stay-at-cbs-calling-the-masters-which-broadcasters-he-likes-today-and-more/

A few things:

- He doesn't like his call of the Laettner shot. He thought it was unimaginative.
- Len Elmore (Lundquist's partner for the CBS broadcast) thought after the game that it was better than the classic NC State/Maryland ACC final in 1974, in which Elmore played.
- He talks about how K went over to Cawood Ledford (the “Bob Harris”- legendary voice - of UK hoops for decades) radio broadcast to congratulate UK on the game and Ledford (he was retiring after the game). He says that K went over to UK before he went over to the Duke broadcast to do his contractual sit down with them. This was always a class move by K, but the little tidbit that it was before he went over to Duke’s broadcast was interesting.
- He sat down with Elmore and Laettner for some CBS retrospective on the game years later, and they watched the game in replay. He talks about how Laettner reacted "viscerally" about the play prior to when Laettner does the stomp on Timberlake. Laettner talks about it on the 30 for 30 "I Hate Christian Laettner", but this gives it more color.

9F

[sagegrouse]

Here is a somewhat longer account, based on a discussion with Verne, who lives in my town, a few years ago:


In a recent column that some of you saw and quoted from, Norman Chad listed 23 supposedly true sports facts: “10. If Verne Lundquist lived next door to me, I’d go over to borrow a cup of sugar every other day.”

I don’t live next door to Verne but I do see him often in our small town of Steamboat Springs. As Chad intimated, Verne is a really good guy, totally pleasant and exceptionally well informed on many subjects. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Verne Lundquist about “The Shot,” which he called for CBS. Until I saw a recent You Tube clip, I hadn’t even realized that he was the game announcer. I was with another neighbor, former Duke hurler Larry Harrison. “What did you think,” I asked Verne, “when it happened?”

“Well,” he said, “there was total silence [at the mike] for a few minutes and the camera just panned the court and all the celebrations going on. Then Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe came over and asked Len Elmore [Verne’s partner that day – who knew?], ‘Until today I thought the ACC final you played against North Carolina State in 1974 was the best college basketball game I had ever seen. Which game do you think was better?’ Len hesitated for a long minute and finally said, ‘I think this game may have been better.’”

“It was a few minutes later before I could talk to Mike Krzyzewski. One of the things I really admire about Mike (and there are many things I like) is that immediately after the game he went over to talk to the Kentucky radio announcer, Cawood Ledford. Ledford had been there forever and, as the tournament started, had announced that the next Kentucky loss would be his last game. Mike spoke first to Ledford and to the Kentucky fans on the radio network.” K told the Kentucky fans that they had listened to one of the classic basketball games in history.

“When I talked to Mike a few minutes later,” he said, “I knew if I could get the ball to that son-of-a-I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. in the circle, he would make the shot.’ I was asked later why we didn’t mention on the broadcast that Laettner was perfect from the floor and perfect from the line. [He was 10-10 and 10-10.] Well, I didn’t know. I asked my statistician, a guy who had worked with me for years, why he hadn’t told me. He was a bit strange. He said it was in the handwritten notes, which I hadn’t managed to figure out. I believe he ended up getting fired over the incident.”