– by Bob Romantic
It
was only apreseasonconditioning test, and
it wasn’t designed for one of the bigger
basketball players on the team to excel.
Photo by Darryl Webb
But for
Dan Majerle
– then
a 6-foot-6, 230-pound post player
at Central Michigan University – it
didn’t matter.
During a one-mile run at the
school’s track, as the story goes,
one of Majerle’s teammates broke
away from the pack of runners.
“It was a guy who had run cross
country in high school who was
much smaller and had a body
conducive to running longer
distances,” said
Chip Pisano
, a
teammate of Majerle’s at Central
Michigan. “There were four of
us running together, and all of a
sudden Dan takes off and starts
running after him. Dan ended up
running a 4:35 mile. For somebody
that big, in the mid-’80s, that’s a
really good time. Our milers on
the track team were running 4:20.
“We just looked at each other and
said, ‘How is he doing this?’ But that
tells you how competitive Dan is.
He never wants to lose at anything.”
As Majerle remembers the
event of some 30 years ago, his
time was even better – a 4:26.
Regardless, it exemplifies the
determination and work ethic
that never wavered throughout
his professional career.
Not when he became the
second-leading scorer in Central
Michigan history.
Not when he attended the
U.S. Olympic tryouts, where
they didn’t even know how to
pronounce his name initially (for
the record, it’s “Mar-lee”), and
earned a bronze medal at the
1988 Seoul Olympics.
Not when he was booed by Phoenix
Suns fans who had never heard of
him after he was drafted with the
14th overall selection in the first
round of the 1988 NBA draft.
Not during a 14-year NBA career
in which he was a three-time All-
Star, a two-time member of the All-
Defensive Team and an inductee
into the Suns’ Ring of Honor.
Not as an assistant coach with
the Suns.
And not now, as he becomes
a head basketball coach for the first
time, at Grand Canyon University.
“I’ve been successful at everything
I’ve done so far. Everything I put
my mind to, I go 100 percent,”
Majerle said during a break in his
second week on the job. “I have
no doubt that I can be a good
coach and I will be a good coach.”
Icon inthecommunity
It’s that type of attitude that
defined
Majerle’s
career,
endearing him to the coaches
he played for, the players he
shared the court with, and the
fans who came to watch him play.
His rugged “Thunder Dan” style
of play early in his career won
over even casual basketball fans;
he was an integral part of the
Charles Barkley
-led Suns team
that captured Phoenix’s heart
as it made its way to the 1993
NBA Finals; and the Majerle’s
Sports Grill in downtown Phoenix
became so popular that there are
now four in the metro area (with a
fifth planned in Flagstaff).
His good looks don’t hurt, making
him a favorite of female fans
everywhere. But, more than that,
Majerle’s massive popularity is a
result of a humility and regular-
guy persona that come across in
his dealings with people.
“He’s always willing to give back
and he treats people as equals,”
Pisano said. “He’s the type of guy
who will talk to anybody. That’s
just the way he is and how he grew
up. If you sat down and had lunch
with him, he’s just a normal guy. …
That is why I think he continues to
be such a loved figure in this town.”
To Pisano’s point, consider this: Of
all the athletes who have called
Phoenix home over the last 25
years, who is the most iconic in
the community?
Steve Nash
,
Randy Johnson
and
Barkley certainly accomplished
great things in their careers, but
none was entrenched in Phoenix.
Kurt Warner
did wonderful
things in the community and on
the field, but he played here for
just five years.
