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Featherston: USA Olympic Players Share Special Moment With Doug Collins
9/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. ? Moments after the members of the United States Olympic basketball team received their gold medals for their triumph in Beijing, several American players sought out Doug Collins, the father of Duke associate head coach Chris Collins.
NBA superstar LeBron James removed his medal and draped it around the elder Collins' neck.
For Mike Krzyzewski, who understood the symbolism of that gesture, it was one of the “great, great” moments of Olympic Games. For Chris Collins, it was the emotional payoff of a three-year commitment that offered few tangible rewards.
“What they did after that game to include him in the win, is just a real special moment for our family,” Collins said. “It was really special to see.”
To understand the significance of the moment, it's necessary to go back 36 years in time. Doug Collins was a key player on the 1972 Olympic team that was locked in a titanic struggle with the Soviet Union in the gold medal game in Munich. The Americans trailed most of the game, but Collins and South Carolina's Kevin Joyce keyed a frantic U.S. rally. Down one with seconds remaining, Collins stole a Soviet pass and raced the length of the court to try and score the go-ahead basket. He was tackled from behind ? a brutal foul that would result in free throws and possession under today's rules, but was merely a two-shot foul in 1972.
The elder Collins had the weight of the basketball world on his shoulders as he stepped to the line with three seconds left and calmly swished what Coach K called “two of the most pressure free throws in the history of our sport” to give the Americans a one-shot lead.
Those two shots should have made Collins an Olympic hero and secured the eighth basketball gold in a row for the United States. But what followed his heroics was a nightmare of confusion, botched game management and plain bad luck. Thanks to the (illegal) interference of Dr. William Jones, the president of FIBA, the Soviet team was given chance after chance to play and re-play those last three seconds. On what amounted to their third opportunity, Alexander Belov caught a length of the court pass and laid in the winning basket at the buzzer.
The heartbroken American players ? furious at the myriad mistakes and rule violations that cost them the gold ? voted not to accept the silver medal. To this day, their medals remain in a Swiss bank vault and their “defeat” remains one of the most controversial moments in basketball history.
Krzyzewski wanted his players, who were not born in 1972, to know about what happened in Munich. When the 2008 team gathered in late July, he had Doug Collins address the team and explain what happened to his Olympic dream.
“When we were in Vegas, before going over to China, Doug came in and spoke to our team and was really emotional,” Coach K said. “A good portion of our team was crying, listening to him.”
It was tough for Chris Collins to hear his farther talk about that experience ? really for the first time.
“It was very emotional,” Collins said. “It was something you don't really talk about at home. People say, ?You guys must have talked about that all the time,' but when you have a negative experience, you don't want to relive that.
“Other than seeing different pieces every four years when the Olympic Games came around, we didn't talk about that game a whole lot, so to hear him share his experience with the Olympic team about what he went through, the commitment that team made, then to come up short the way they did ... I thought it was very heartfelt and the guys felt his pain from that loss. “
The younger Collins was able to offer his father a connection to the 2008 Olympic team. The Blue Devil assistant became a part of the team that Coach K assembled to win the gold in Beijing. Officially, Krzyzewski had two assistant coaches ? NBA head coaches Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillen.
But Collins, Duke associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski and former Blue Devil associate head coach Johnny Dawkins were also part of the staff. Former Duke Director of Basketball Operations Mike Schrage handled the Olympic team's film work until he left Duke last spring to join Coach Dawkins at Stanford. His place was filled by Kevin Cullen, Duke's new video coordinator
“Those guys did an amazing job,” Krzyzewski said. “At the end, in our hotel after the gold medal game, there was a little bit of a celebration. Jerry Colangelo [the executive director of USA Basketball] got up and gave a toast and he said, ?I want to toast Duke University because not only did they allow Coach K to coach, but they gave us Chris Collins, Johnny Dawkins, Mike Schrage, Kevin Cullen and Wojo.'
“He understood that was a good thing. That helped us in the establishment of our culture. Chris and Wojo were unbelievable ? and Johnny. I was so proud of them. They were really good.”
Collins, Wojciechowski and Dawkins were involved all three summers, helping Coach K teach his system to the best players in the world. They didn't get gold medals and they won't even be listed officially as assistant coaches, but that doesn't mean there weren't some valuable rewards.
“Being there and sharing it was the best,” Collins said. “I did a lot of shopping for my kids. I bought a lot of Olympic mascot dolls. I got to see the Great Wall of China which was cool. So many times, Wojo and I pinched ourselves: ?Man, can you believe we're halfway around the world doing this?'
“Some of the pictures I took on my own with the guys ... a couple of them let me put their medals on. That was good enough for me. I was just so thankful that Coach K wanted to include us and have us help in the journey. It's been an amazing journey.”
But the greatest reward for Collins was seeing what the triumph in Beijing meant to his father.
“His experience [from 1972] was like a scar, a wound, that never totally heals,” Chris Collins said. “I think the fact I was able to be involved with the team and help out and for him to have a little connection with the guys and be able to speak with them ... when we won, the way everything played out, it healed that wound a little bit.”
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