How Long You Been A Suns fan?

[TRW]

Been a Suns fan since they played the Celtics in the Championship back in 77 or 78 or one of them years ( I don't want to look it up) Followed them heavily when Barkley came over from My other Team the Sixers....Walter Davis was the man....and...well I a HATE THE LAKERS!!!!

1976. I was leaving early in the morning because I was moving to San Diego. Triple OT, bedlam, best dang basketball game I've ever seen BAR NONE!

Little guard name of Phil Lumpkin was one of my favorites on that team. Westy, Flying Dutchman (had a broken wrist and played with a cast if I recall correctly), Alvan Adams (rookie), Gar (Shot) Heard (Around The World), Curtis Perry...fun days...

 

[khilari]

I have been a SUNS Fan since 1984

 

[Gaddabout]

back in grade school we had a gym instructor who was some part of suns' trainer team. he brought ronnie lee for a class. i was forever more a ronnie lee fan. great fro.

Ronnie also was a big supporter of local business, namely those that dealt in gold chains. One of the all-time best flop artists. He should have been a Globetrotter.

 

[KingofCards]

I moved here in 1973, and have been a fan ever since.

Hey me too!

Except I was only 6 months old in '73.

The two of the first teams I remember rooting for were the Suns and ASU.

Of course Notre Dame and the New York Yankees were their as well.

I have been a Suns for since I was about 4 so what, 28 years.

 

[KingofCards]

My dad became a casual Suns fan in 1971, when we moved here. I was two years old. We followed the 75 Suns team with a little dish on top of our Flagstaff duplex. I started reading at least one sports page each day in 1976. Being such a newspaper freak, one year my parents bought me subscriptions for Christmas to several weeklies and a couple dailies from around the country, but it was always stuff about the Suns I was looking for. Thank the Lord for the Internet!

It's weird what one remembers. Obviously, I have many memories of players and situations, but none more vivid than Walter Davis hitting 18 FGs in a row. I also recall Davis slipping on an ice-slicked floor at Great Western Forum in a preseason game and ruining the season.

I remember the Gorilla upsetting Pat Riley and Kareem Abdjul Jabbar with very pointed videos and skits. When Kareem retired, he confessed he'd always felt the Gorilla was a racist (or at least inappropriate) mascot for a basketball team.

I remember Al Bianchi doing his best Bobby Knight impression throwing a chair on the floor. I remember Jerry Colangelo giving Bob Boze Bell the boot/arena ban in front of everyone and blackballing Norm Frauenheim for his investigation into the death of Johnny High and the subsequent grand jury investigation.

I remember the draft selection of Majerle being booed but the draft selection of Armon Gilliam praised. I remember ambivalence towards Tim Perry, although everyone tried to turn him into the next Larry Nance. I remember Ed Pinkney, with one great game (in the NCAA Championships at Villanova), being described as a savior.

I remember the only time the Suns had a legitimate front line: 6-10 Larry Nance, 6-9 Maurice Lucas and 7-1 James Edwards. These guys may have won a championship if Luke didn't get hurt in the playoffs. They gave those great Lakers teams fits. Imagine if Dennis Johnson hadn't been traded, too ... wow, what a defensive team that would've been. Makes me sad ...

great post man!

That brought back some memories. Johnny High. Wow.

That DJ trade pisses me off to this day.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Ouchie was a Laker fan in the mid 80's. Same with the Rams.

 

[KingofCards]

Ouchie was a Laker fan in the mid 80's. Same with the Rams.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ouchie was a Laker fan in the mid 80's. Same with the Rams.

hey noooow . . . i was foremost a BYRON SCOTT fan, and thus rooted for the lakers in addition to the suns. i NEVER rooted for the lakers over the suns. it was a time where you had to choose lakers or celtics. it was a social requirement. i never owned a lakers jersey. but i did own a hat. it was a cool hat.

and as for the rams . . . we didn't have a team when i started rooting for the rams! at least i wasn't a cowboys fan! and i didn't jump a bandwagon and choose a good team! i chose the rams 'cuz i like their helmets and there was that ever-present rumor that they might move to phoenix.

gotta provide context with dangerous comments like those bro...

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

how can you take the word of the beef unquestioningly like that? you KNOW there's always more to the story . . .

 

[KingofCards]

how can you take the word of the beef unquestioningly like that? you KNOW there's always more to the story . . .

I know, I was waiting for the story, but had to toss in the puking icon, while I waited.

 

[devilalum]

I have been a SUns fan since my family moved here in 1970.

My dad and I had season tickets from 74-76 (2 seasons, it wasn't easy but my dad was able to afford them even on a teacher's salary) and I saw the whole crazy run to the finals against the Celtics. Man that team was like 42-40 during the regular season.

I now have a 4 year old son and I too am a teacher. If I win the lotto I'll be getting season tickets so I can share with him what I got to share with my dad.

Or we'll just go to a couple of games a year.

 

[Gaddabout]

hey noooow . . . i was foremost a BYRON SCOTT fan, and thus rooted for the lakers in addition to the suns. i NEVER rooted for the lakers over the suns. it was a time where you had to choose lakers or celtics. it was a social requirement. i never owned a lakers jersey. but i did own a hat. it was a cool hat.

This is certainly how I remember the sports-sociology of the early 80s. You rooted for the Suns until the finals. Then you decided you hated the Celtics way more (except for those turd-brained neo-racists who tried to turn it into a white/black thing) because East Coast is imminently more despicable than West Coast. However, I always had a hard time rooting against DJ.

 

[KingofCards]

I always rooted for the Celtics in the finals.

 

[MrY]

I was in Phx working in the late '80's. You could walk up to the window at the Vet a get a ticket for $10.00, then sit just about anywhere. I used to yell at James Edwards a call him a bum. I was pissed when he got a ring with the Pistons.
The first time I saw KJ play against Magic I was really impressed. He wasnt afraid of him at all. I was a fan of KJ always after that. I loved Tom Chambers too, he was a hell of a regular season player, but it just didn't happen post season for him. Never quite understood why they traded Larry Nance to Cleveland either.
Been a fan ever since those days. BTW I'm coming to PHx next week and will catch the Memphis game on Dec 22. Wanted to see Hubie and J-will...Hubie retired and J-will is on IR...hoping to see a good game with Amare and co.

 

[KingofCards]

That trade of Nance was the best trade they ever made.

 

[ajcardfan]

I've been a Suns fan since 77, and this thread has been a great trip down memory lane. My favorite Suns players were Davis, KJ and Barkley.

MrY, Magic could not guard KJ. Nobody ever gave him a tougher time. KJ used to just light up John Stockton too. I often wonder just how many games the Suns could have won over that stretch if he didn't get hurt so much.

 

[Cheesebeef]

This is certainly how I remember the sports-sociology of the early 80s. You rooted for the Suns until the finals. Then you decided you hated the Celtics way more (except for those turd-brained neo-racists who tried to turn it into a white/black thing) because East Coast is imminently more despicable than West Coast. However, I always had a hard time rooting against DJ.

I remember Ouchie screaming at the TV during a Lakers-Utah game . . .

 

[sly fly]

I guess since I was 6 (1976).

- I cried when we lost to Seattle in the Western Conf. Finals here at home. I still hate Jack Sickma to this day. Vividly remember my dad telling some Seattle fan to shut the "F" up or he'd do it for them.

- I cried when I learned Walter Davis had a cocaine problem.

- I loved Truck Robinson. Dude never stopped chewing his gum.

- I thought Larry Nance could jump 20' high. Seriously.

- Can't believe I've listened to Al McCoy since grade school. Remember watching the game he called when Sweet D hit about 18 in a row.

- Remember watching Tom Brokaw describe the Suns drug scandal on national tv.

- Don't know how many times I played myself one-on-one, with Sweet D being on one team... and Alvan Adams on the other. Amazing how many last second shots I hit.

- I remember drafting David Thirdkill.

- Michael Holton was our PG, right before KJ.

- How many people remember the Jewish Community Center?

- Remember Jude LaCava going ballistic on the airwaves after the brawl between KJ/Greg Anthony.

- Didn't miss a single game during the 92-93 season. I would find any place with a satellite feed if the game wasn't on local tv. That was more difficult to do back then.

- Tom Chambers going for 63 was pretty cool. Watching it over and over on videotape was even better.

- Barkley shredding Golden St. for 53 in the first round was one of the most dominating performances I've ever seen.

- KJ's hamstring problems.

- Hornacek's farewell.

- The McDyess fiasco. I think I went into short-term depression when he left.

- Horry throwing the towel at Ainge.

- Ainge throwing the ball into Mario Elie's face (by accident, of course).

- Eddie Johnson for Xavier McDaniel.

- Wayman Tisdale and his damn saxophone.

- Damn, I could go on and on.

 

[Cheesebeef]

- How many people remember the Jewish Community Center?

OH MY GOD!!!!! As I started to read your post I flashed on memories of my grandmother bringing the Suns cookies all the time and introducing me and my cousin to Sweetness. I remember Alvin Adams looking at the cookie, then looking at me and he simply said, "NIce - bite size!" Then ate the whole thing in one bite. Ah - the J!

Man - sly - that's OLD SCHOOL DAWG!

 

[Gee!]

=sly fly- How many people remember the Jewish Community Center?

Damn! Ya I remember that. The training facility before we got AWA.. I been there before too as a kid. Them high dives scared the crap outta me as a kid.

 

[Gee!]

BTW I thought I seen on the news a lil while ago they were closing down the JCC.

 

[Errntknght]

Good thread! Refreshed lots of memories.

I guess I'm the elder 'statesman' at 67... I started watching the NBA in 1953 or 54. Back then there were no LA Lakers... they were the Minneapolis Lakers. There were also the Fort Wayne Pistons, Philadelphia Warriors and Milwaukee Hawks among the 9 pro teams. (Only the Celtics and Knicks have remained in the same city continuously since then.) The weekly paper is my little town didn't carry anything about pro-basketball so it wasn't until we got television that I saw a game between the Boston Celtics and New York Knickerbockers - what puzzled me was how Gene Conley could be playing for the Celtics since he was a professional baseball player so had to be ineligible for college sports. It took several games before I realized they were pros.

Conley came from a nearby town that I'd also lived in for several years and everyone around there followed his career as a pitcher for the Red Sox. Anyway, because of him and this amazing passer named Bob Cousy I became a Celtics fan. A couple of years later the Celts drafted KC Jones and his tall, skinny buddy from USF, and suddenly Red Auerbach began lighting up cigars much more often and earlier. (Tom Heinsohn was also drafted that year, I think.)
It was called 'fast break' basketball in those days and nobody did it like those Celtic teams.

Moved to Phoenix in 1964 and became a Suns fan when they got underway in 1968. By then I was a penniless grad student at ASU with a wife and kids so I didn't get to many games but fortunately the away games were on TV. The Sunnies drafted Gary Gregor at #8 that year, as somebody recollected. The next year they got Neal Walk at #2, who was to set the tone for the franchise's centers for the next 35 years or so.

 

[StopTheMadness]

I worked for the Suns marketing department for 3 years from 1990 to 1993, then moved overseas to New Zealand with my wife.

Followed them casually ever since, though it's quite hard when you can't watch the games, but my bro is a big suns fan and sends me games when he can.

 

[Joe Mama]

I worked for the Suns marketing department for 3 years from 1990 to 1993, then moved overseas to New Zealand with my wife.

Followed them casually ever since, though it's quite hard when you can't watch the games, but my bro is a big suns fan and sends me games when he can.

welcome to the board, Kiwi.

I started watching the Phoenix Suns in 87. My little brother and I would sit no farther than 5' from the TV every time they played. We were hooked after the first one. Even now almost 17 years later, he still comes over to watch most of the games with me. He just brings a wife now.

Joe Mama

 

[JCSunsfan]

- Wayman Tisdale and his damn saxophone.

Bass guitar. But it was a great post.

Golden State fans throwing golf balls on the court during the 7th game of the 76 WC finals.

The truck that someone rolled across the court the day that Truck Robinson took the court as a Phoenix Sun.

The Space Needle from ORU.

Watching Pat Riley's face as he walked off the court (his last game as a Laker's coach I believe) after being swept by KJ and crew in the playoffs.

Watching the news in disbelief when it was announced that Northwest Airlines flight 255 had crashed.

I laughed, embarrassingly, as the Gorilla came out and did his "I've fallen and I can't get up" skit of Oliver Miller.

Oliver Miller (with .4 seconds on the clock) from a half court throw in, banking a pass off of the backboard for a game winning Barkley tip-in. Still one of the most amazing planned inbounds plays I have ever seen.