the Baller’s Almanac: September 7, 2012

Coach Al McGuire was born on this date in 1928 in New York City. He played high school basketball at St. John's Prep in Brooklyn, and then starred at St. John's University, where he was team captain for three years.

After a short professional career, McGuire took an assistant coach position at Dartmouth. Two years later he was hired to be the head coach at Belmont Abbey, and seven years following that he took the same position at Marquette.

At Marquette he won the NIT (1970), and advanced to the Final Four (1974) where he became the first head coach ever ejected from the championship game. In December of 1976 he announced his retirement. He continued to coach for the rest of the season, and that year Marquette won it all. It remains their only National Title.

It's Mateen Cleaves birthday, born 1977 in Flint, Michigan. As a high school senior Cleaves was involved in a car accident while on a recruiting trip to Michigan. The investigation discovered that Cleaves and several current Michigan basketball players were returning from a party that included drugs and strippers. Further investigation broke open a scandal that rocked the Michigan program (and that scandal will be covered in full in a February Baller's Almanac).

Cleaves chose to attend Michigan State, where he became a star. He was twice named a consensus 2nd Team All American, and once a 1st Team All American. He was the captain for three years, and led Michigan State to the National Title in 2000.

His number was retired in 2007.

Other birthdays include: Wilbert Kautz 1915 (Loyola IL), John Mills 1919 (Western Kentucky), Jack Hewson 1924 (Temple), Clyde Lovellette 1929 (Kansas), Ralph Davis 1938 (Cincinnati), Toby Kimball 142 (Connecticut), Dorie Murrey 1943 (Detroit), Joe Hamood 1943 (Houston), Cliff Anderson 1944 (St. Joe's), Bob Verga 1945 (Duke), Mike Grosso 1947 (Louisville), Charlie Davis 1949 (Wake Forest), Perry Warbington 1952 (Georgia Southern), Lynbert "Cheese" Johnson 1957 (Wichita State), Antonio McDyess (Alabama), Nana Papa Yaw Dwene "Pops" Mensah-Bonsu 1983 (George Washington), and Kevin Love 1988 (UCLA)

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