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- [00:00]
Ali Farhang
Julius Irving is coming to Tucson, Arizona next month and we have a very special guest here joining us to talk about that. Welcome to our number two of Spears and Ali here on ESPN Tucson. We are presented by Tucson Federal Credit Union and the Volpe team at Nova Home Loans. BS Dr. J is coming to Tucson next month and he's going to be talking to Bob Elliott, Arizona basketball legend at Palo Verde High School. And Bob is joining us here on ESPN Radio. Bob, good morning to you. How's it going?
- [00:32]
Bob Elliott
Good morning. How you guys doing?
- [00:34]
Ali Farhang
Doing fantastic, Bob.
- [00:35]
Justin Spears
We are doing good and my colleague here, Justin doesn't really appreciate how great you were at the University of Arizona. Bob, what I have to.
- [00:44]
Ali Farhang
Hold on. That's fake news.
- [00:45]
Justin Spears
I have to educate him. He asked me probably a question you get all the time and it's confounding to me is like, is Bob Elliott related to Sean Elliott? And I'm like, no, Justin, he's not just the same last name.
- [00:59]
Bob Elliott
Not that we know.
- [01:00]
Justin Spears
Not that we know.
- [01:03]
Ali Farhang
But yeah, Bob, there are just, there.
- [01:06]
Bob Elliott
Are just so many similarities in Sean's life, my life. We should probably do a DNA. Sean's dad is from the family from the Highland Park, Michigan area.
- [01:19]
Ali Farhang
Okay.
- [01:20]
Bob Elliott
My dad is from that area. My dad was adopted. Wow. You just don't know.
- [01:26]
Ali Farhang
So there's a non zero chance.
- [01:28]
Justin Spears
There's, there's a, there's a chance. There's a. Well, there's one other similarity that they had and maybe I'm old enough to actually remember watching Bob, Bob Elliott and Sean Elliott. They're, I mean Bob was great. Bob was like one of the, he is one of the best players to ever step, core step on the floor for the University of Arizona. So Bob, real honor to have you on the show, buddy.
- [01:49]
Bob Elliott
Well, thank you. You must have been around here for a few years because I'll be 70 next year.
- [01:55]
Ali Farhang
Well, Bob, you got a big time guest coming to Tucson, Arizona, Dr. J. Julius Irving. This is an event that's presented by the African American Museum of Southern Arizona and he's going to be in town for a fireside chat at Palo Verde High School. What can you tell us about all the details about this event and, and how you were able to put this together?
- [02:18]
Bob Elliott
Well, this is part of our Fire Chat series. Our first person two years ago was Ruby Bridges. A lot of people say, wait, I think I heard that name. People in the school district definitely know about Ruby Bridges. Ruby Bridges. Most people remember that iconic painting by Norman Rockwell of the six year old black girl who's being escorted in New Orleans by four large white federal marshals when she integrated the system. So we had her here two years ago. We had Carlotta Walls from the Little Rock Nine when they integrated Central High School in Little Rock last year. We had Stacey Snowden, also last year, Coach Snowden's daughter, who shared about all the different death threats, how they couldn't buy a house, et cetera. When Coach Snowden was named the first black Coach in Division 1 in major university here at the University of Arizona. Now, Julius will be our next one. He'll be here January 16th. Julius and I were teammates. I was drafted by the 76ers, and at that time, we struck up definitely a brotherly relationship. You know, what happened was, you know, in training camp, the veterans have their own rooms. The rookies have to bunk up. Well, after the first week, there was a cut. I had a single room, and some of the vets, like Doug Collins, Henry Bibby, Lloyd, be free. They're like, hey, put three of those little rookies in the room together. Julia said, bob can move in with me. And he. He's been my big brother ever since. And so about six months ago, he and I and our wives were having dinner, and he said he gets the newsletter for the museum. And he says, I want to do something for the museum. And I said, what would be great is if you came to town and be a part of our Fireside Chat series. So he's coming in January 16th. And somebody told me, they said, wait a minute. Julius Irving coming to Tucson? Are you for real? I say, yes. His life is unbelievable. He is the reason why there was a merger. And he can go into all of that, all the different things happen behind the scenes between the AVA and the NBA, et cetera. But it'll be a great chance for people in Tucson to see a true sports icon, one who's very well respected. I love the quote from President Obama. Somebody asked President Obama, would you rather be the president of the United States or Julius Irving? He said, oh, not even a question. I want to be the doctor. I want to be able to float from the free throw line and dunk it, you know.
- [04:59]
Justin Spears
And Bob, a lot of people don't know, you know, Dr. J, also an excellent actor. He was in one of my favorite basketball movies of all time, the Fish that Saved Pittsburgh. So I expect you to get into that a little bit with him.
- [05:12]
Bob Elliott
No doubt. No, because, see, some of the things people don't realize, how Julius really broke the barrier for a lot of pro athletes to get and be branded and marketed into other things, like a Wheaties box, like movies, like endorsing products, like becoming members of the board of directors of major Fortune 500 companies. He bridged a lot of gap for a lot of us and a lot of different areas.
- [05:40]
Ali Farhang
Bob Elliott, joining Spears and Ali on ESPN Tucson, talking about his upcoming fireside chat with Julius Irving. And you mentioned how you were teammates with Dr. J with the Philadelphia 76ers, and you talked about just his impact on the game of basketball, you know, working with him closely with the Sixers. What separated Dr. J from some other really good players.
- [06:04]
Bob Elliott
You know, to put it into today's language, okay, Julius is literally like LeBron. I mean, he's the. He's the focal point of the whole. He's like Michael Jordan before there was a Michael Jordan. So I'm at practice and I learned very quickly in what we call the rectangle, because, you know, a basketball courts a rectangle. He is Dr. J. He does things with that basketball that you just don't believe there are possible. But once he leaves the rectangle, he, Julius. And I think that's the thing I learned the most, which is you can be a pro athlete, you do your job, but when you get off the rectangle, you're just a person. And what you do with your life as that person, that makes the difference. And that's why he's always been one of my top mentors.
- [06:59]
Justin Spears
Bob, you talk about what an impact he had on you when you were younger. Your big brother, you know, is there when you leave college and you go to the NBA, right? You're. You're leaving, you're going into a different world. It's a professional sports, it's a business. Is there something that Dr. J conveyed to you or a piece of advice he gave to you that has stuck with you till this day?
- [07:23]
Bob Elliott
Multiple. I mean, just so many. He was always teaching me and sharing me. I don't think even when he knew basketball wise, I was never a guy that looked like I was that athletic. So my wife, we grew up together, she seen me play competitive basketball, junior high, high school, college. I go to the Sixers. After a month and a half, the Sixers, I'm released. I'm going over to Italy. And over in Italy, I end up playing the three. And after the game says, what was that? I said, what's the deal? What are you talking about? He said, no, you never used to pick it off the floor and float to the air and dunk. I've never seen you even do that or even try that, and. And it just shows you. Like, they talk about the great one, how they make everyone better. Obviously, whatever Julius was doing in practice, I must have felt like I could do it. And so he taught me that way. Professionally, Julius has always been about class and style. So I remember we're getting ready to go to our first game and Julius says, okay, so what are you gonna wear? And I showed him and he said no. So he takes me down to a place called Boyd's of Philadelphia, which is the place he got his clothes, and he says, okay, make him talking about me. A gray three piece and a brown three piece. Classic looks that he'll always be able to use. And how you look in public makes a difference. I learned that with broadcasting when I was doing TV. 90% of people, when you come on camera to begin the show, they've already made an assessment as to what they think you're going to sound like and what you're going to say based on how you look, regardless what you say. Yeah, the visual aspect.
- [09:30]
Justin Spears
And Bob, if you can just pound in that home with my partner here, Justin Spears, I'd really appreciate it because what I'm doing is not working. And I got pictures to prove it, man. The shorts with the red Rudolph the reindeer shoes and what. Bob, let me ask you a basketball question. The aesthetics of the game. Speak of aesthetics. You know, I was a Lakers, I'm still a Lakers guy, but I was a Lakers guy back in 80 when they played the championship game on tape delay against the Lakers and Sixers. And the game had a lot more movement. It seemed like it was, you know, a lot more sharing the ball and moving around. And now we've got the game where it's, you know, kind of gone into three pointers or layups. That's. That's what we're doing. We're going to shoot as many three pointers as possible. What do you think about the aesthetics of the game today as opposed to the way it used to be played?
- [10:27]
Bob Elliott
First thing I go to is defense. Back when we played, the main thing you could do defensively was hand check. And the person that was the greatest I ever saw in terms of hand checking playing defense was Michael Jordan. Think of the iconic move when Michael dribbles to about the free throw line. He's got Byron Russell on him and he takes. Michael takes his left hand and moves Byron two further to the left and it stops and shoots the jump shot and poses and the whole thing. You could do that on Offense and defense. Maurice Lucas, who I used to play with, was known as the enforcer. Well, Maurice used to say he used to try to take his thumb and middle finger and he's reaching into the guy's ribs and trying to touch those two parts through their kidney.
- [11:26]
Justin Spears
Man.
- [11:26]
Bob Elliott
That's how we used to play. Think of the Jordan rules. Yeah, he'd go through the hole against the Pistons and it was like, no, you are going to have to earn two free throws. You're not getting the ball to the basket. They don't do that anymore. The game has changed defensively so much. Offensively, analytics have like in some respects, ruined the game. Because if it's either got to be a three or a dunk, what happened to the mid range game? Yeah, that used to be the classic where, you know, you penetrate, you get 12, 15ft from the hole. I get that if somebody comes to pick you up, you kick it out to the guy who's open. But that's a shot every time down the floor. The goal should be to get a good shot at the basket. Two or three, just get a good shot. Play the percentages, Bob.
- [12:21]
Ali Farhang
Going back to the fireside chat with Dr. J and the connection with the African American Museum of Southern Arizona. I believe the museum has been open now for, is it two or three years? How long have you guys been open?
- [12:34]
Bob Elliott
We've been open a little over a year and a half. And the response from not only the Tucson and Southern Arizona community, but all over the state, we have had over 7,000 people come through the museum in the last year and a half. Now, just to give you a metric, the state museum across the street gets about 2,000 in a year.
- [13:00]
Ali Farhang
Wow.
- [13:00]
Bob Elliott
We've had over 7,000 people come down. And it's a combination of the. I'd call the regular people, like the people just want to come to museum, but so many students. We've had students come from Phoenix high schools, Castle grand high schools, Yuma High schools, Flagstaff High schools. They come down and one of the byproducts of the museum is to try to help recruit future Wildcats. But if you get them on campus, so if the hook is the museum and they come down now, you have them on campus. So now if you have these high school kids on campus, let some of the admissions people take over, take them to lunch, give them some swag, give them a show about what the university is about. And this is how you increase not only the minority population, but the total population in the school.
- [13:54]
Ali Farhang
And before we let you go, just as far as the, the information for the fireside chat with Dr. J, is there anything that, that our listeners should know about before January 16th?
- [14:06]
Bob Elliott
Yes, is go to the website www.aamsaz.org. go to that website. What shows up there is the sponsorship packages. If you're interested in just coming to the event, send us a message and we'll have to get back in touch with you. Right now we're stressing the sponsorships because what we're able to do with those sponsorships, besides the sponsors getting publicity and being a part of it, is we're able to bring in kids on behalf of those sponsors to come to the Fireside Chat for free.
- [14:42]
Ali Farhang
Heck yeah. That is Arizona basketball legend Bob Elliott joining Spears and Ali here on ESPN Tucson. Bob, actually real quick, before, is there any holiday traditions or anything that the Elliot's do during Christmas time?
- [14:58]
Bob Elliott
We do what everybody else does. Eat.
- [15:04]
Ali Farhang
I'll see you at Christmas, Bob.
- [15:11]
Bob Elliott
We just want to eat. You know, it's the time where you can eat. You'll be mad January 2nd. But right now we're going to just enjoy all that great food. You've never seen an Elliot look like he missed a meal. So you know, Bev's a very good cook.
- [15:26]
Ali Farhang
Heck yeah.
- [15:26]
Bob Elliott
So we, we just have a good time. What about you guys?
- [15:30]
Justin Spears
Well, looking like you never missed a meal, Justin would fit right in with the Elliott family. I mean, eat is the motto of every day of the year, not just the Christmas season. We, you know, for me, man, it's, it's trying to be with family as much as you can. But I got, you know, Snoop Dogg come in on December 28th and that bowl game kind of, no question, eclipses everything. I mean, think about it. Within, you know, two and a half weeks, we're going to have both Snoop Dogg and Dr. J in Tucson, Arizona. And I think that's awesome.
- [15:59]
Bob Elliott
I, I agree. I mean look at this is Tucson. People say, oh hey, we have a lot to offer here. I'm looking forward to Snoop, you know Snoop. And Snoop and I go back to where when I was doing the EA Sports video games and you know the very first one else street game called NBA Street. I did that one. The studio was in Vancouver, British Columbia. I go up there. I tied it when it was gonna be a Lakers game. Well, everybody knows Snoop is a big Lakers fan. So he's at the game, we're in the back in the green room and I'm talking to him and you know, it's kind of like Dr. J right on the court he's Dr. J. And off the court he's just Julius.
- [16:45]
Ali Farhang
Wait, I didn't know you were an NBA Street, Bob.
- [16:49]
Bob Elliott
Oh, Yeah, I did four games for EA Sports. I did NBA Live 2001, 2 and 3, and NBA street, the first, very first street game. And so Snoop was big into basketball and so we were talking about the, the NBA street video game.
- [17:07]
Justin Spears
That's amazing.
- [17:07]
Ali Farhang
Wait, are you the. Oh, Joe the show. You're the guy that's on the court with a, with a megaphone.
- [17:14]
Bob Elliott
I'm the guy. You are exactly right. I'm the guy on the court. I helped design a guy. He's got a bald head, which obviously is not me. He's got earrings going down both sides his ear. That's not me either. I wanted a Samuel L. Jackson Shaft kind of goatee. That's definitely not me. And the way I would talk, obviously I can't talk like I have an mba. Yeah, because the guy's on the court. I like the Rucker in New York. Hey, y' all, join the show. Baby. What's happening is in the house.
- [17:48]
Justin Spears
That is amazing. Well, Bob, with the food and NBA Street, I don't know. I know you're just about to turn 70. I don't know if you're looking for another child, but Justin will be asking you to adopt him.
- [18:03]
Bob Elliott
Oh, man. Hey, hey, listen. We have four kids, all married. We have 10 grandkids.
- [18:08]
Justin Spears
Oh, man.
- [18:09]
Bob Elliott
And guys, this is what hurts. I mean, this really hurts. Two months ago, our 24 year old grandson let us know that we are now going to. We are now great grandparents.
- [18:22]
Ali Farhang
Wow. Congratulations.
- [18:26]
Bob Elliott
No, no, no, I was cool with the grandparent thing.
- [18:33]
Justin Spears
Yeah.
- [18:33]
Bob Elliott
But a great grandparent. Oh, man. Oh my goodness, man. What are you trying to tell me?
- [18:40]
Justin Spears
Yeah, I know, man, I get it, I get it. It's these youngsters that are standing next to me, they don't understand. They think they know it all. And I'm just trying to convey to them, you don't know anything. Just wait till you have a child and wait till you have a grandchild. They're gonna teach you some things.
- [18:55]
Ali Farhang
That's awesome, man.
- [18:57]
Bob Elliott
I'm telling you. And the thing is, okay, it's Christmas time, right? Yeah. And. And it's collusion, okay? It's been collusion in the Elliot house. The oldest granddaughter is 25. It goes all the way down from her down to the 11 year old grandson. The 25 year old was telling the other ones growing up, listen, this is how you get what you want. For Christmas. Number one, send it to Non Nude. All the kids call her Non New. Call me Big Pop. Don't send it to Big Pop. He's going to scrutinize it. Send it to her. Make sure there's a site. Make sure it's on sale. She'll push it through so by the time he sees it on the credit card, Big Papa be okay with it.
- [19:42]
Ali Farhang
That is Bob.
- [19:42]
Bob Elliott
It's collusion, man.
- [19:45]
Ali Farhang
That is Bob Elliott, Arizona basketball legend here talking about the fireside chat with Julius Irving, Dr. Jackson, coming to Tucson here on January 16th at Palo Verde High School. Bob, thank you so much for your time. It was a pleasure talking about this fireside chat. I can't wait for this event. And more importantly, merry Christmas, my friend.
- [20:05]
Bob Elliott
Same to both of you guys. You guys enjoy. We got Christmas. We got Snoop coming on, then we got Dr. J. I mean, Tucson is great. We're rolling.
- [20:13]
Justin Spears
Tucson's popping, baby with you, Bob. Tucson is great, and thanks to guys like you. So, Bob, thanks for everything you do for our community. Really appreciate it.
- [20:21]
Bob Elliott
Thank you.
- [20:21]
Ali Farhang
Thank you, Bob.
- [20:22]
Bob Elliott
Appreciate you guys.
- [20:23]
Ali Farhang
Talk to you later.
- [20:23]
Bob Elliott
Take it easy.
- [20:24]
Ali Farhang
You, too. All right, man. That was awesome. Learn something new.
- [20:28]
Justin Spears
A lot of things new. You learn a lot of things new.
- [20:31]
Ali Farhang
Bob. Ellie might be my favorite person.
- [20:34]
Justin Spears
I don't.
- [20:34]
Ali Farhang
I mean, who comes.
- [20:36]
Justin Spears
You're one of the people in the world, but this is one where I'm like, I'm good with. Should be your favorite person.
- [20:43]
Ali Farhang
I'm happy to be top 50.
- [20:44]
Justin Spears
Yeah. Yeah. Just remember about what he said about dressing.
- [20:48]
Ali Farhang
About dressing. Yes. It's resonating.
- [20:50]
Justin Spears
You got it from Bob Elliot, not from me.
- [20:52]
Ali Farhang
It's resonating. It's resonating. All right, let's talk about the CFP with Jordan Ham coming up next.