Harper’s Debut Left Them Speechless

It was a big deal, this opening college basketball game of the 1982 season for Miami of Ohio. Indiana University was coming to Oxford, Ohio. Bobby Knight was bringing the Hoosiers to Miami because Knight admired Darrell Hedrick, the Miami coach.

The medium-sized arena was packed. Media from all over Ohio as well as all the Indiana beat people had showed up. Details are hazy. I was a young reporter for the Cincinnati Post and here’s what I remember.

Miami almost beat Indiana. And Miami almost beat Indiana because of a wide-eyed, shy freshman named Ron Harper.

Harper had come to Miami rather anonymously. Most of the big schools in Ohio and Indiana had not recruited Harper because there was concern about his ability to do college schoolwork. There was concern about his ability because Harper had a speech impediment, a very bad stutter.

On this, the night of his very first college game, Harper showed all of us who were there two very important things.

He could play basketball. Harper scored somewhere around 28, 29 points. He was strong and quick. He penetrated well, causing Knight to constantly be yelling at Hoosier defenders. He had a good outside shot. And he could jump. He could dunk. He could bring a crowd to its feet.

The second thing Harper showed us was an iron determination to never be intimidated or embarrassed because he had difficulty speaking.

After the game Knight was angry at his team. Knight came to a press room and spoke very briefly. He paid effusive compliments to Harper, disparaged his own team and walked out of the building and onto the IU bus. All the Hoosier players were already on the bus. There would be no interviews with them.

This left a restless group of 20 or 30 journalists needing someone to talk to. Everybody wanted to talk to the extraordinary freshman from Miami.

Harper was brought to us. Nobody told us about Harper’s stutter. A question was asked, something lame probably, about how Harper felt doing so well against a Knight team. Harper began to speak. “I f-f-f-f-feel g-g-g-g-good,” Harper said.

For a moment no one said anything. How painful this must be for Harper, many of us thought. It’s hard enough for a freshman to face the media after his first college game. But to face us and have trouble saying a sentence, this took bravery.

It was nearly an hour before Harper finished answering all the questions. Never once did Harper act as if he was worried what anyone would think. Never did he ask to stop talking or seem as if it were a burden.

Anyone who saw Harper handle this interview session never forgot it. And anyone who saw that freshman in his first game has never not been able to root for Ron Harper wherever he played. We knew he would play for a long time too. Because of his athletic talent. Even more because of his brave determination.

*

Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com.