Celebrity Artist Series Brings Hoops Legend To The Stage
On Friday, Nov. 4, star of stage and screen Cotter Smith will perform a one-man show about real life sports legend Al McGuire here at Bloomsburg University as part of the Celebrity Artist Series. Smith has been touring with playwright Dick Enberg since 2005 when he was selected to portray McGuire in Coach: The Untold Story of College Basketball Legend Al McGuire.
Longtime sportscaster Dick Enberg, like many others, was fascinated by college basketball legend Al McGuire – and for good reason. McGuire, a young coach whose basketball roots were in NYC, was the head coach of the Marquette Warriors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1964 to 1977. He led the Warriors to 11 consecutive postseason bids and one NCAA national championship, earned a 295-80 win-loss record over his 13 seasons as head coach, was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, and later became a sportscaster before passing away in 2001. Just so we’re clear how cool this guy really was – McGuire has a sports arena named after him on Marquette’s campus, had his own lingo (and a dance, strangely enough) that is used and imitated to this day, and even started an annual run/walk that raises a lot of money for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to this day. Oh, and that NCAA championship was earned on the last game of his last season as head coach in 1977 — it also happened to be Marquette’s first time winning the bracket, perhaps a parting gift from McGuire.
After McGuire retired from coaching he began working as a commentator and sportscaster for NBC and CBS where he partnered up with Enberg. They worked together for a decade, and became close friends. McGuire passed away in 2001 of leukemia, and it was only 4 years later when Enberg delivered Coach: The Untold Story of College Basketball Legend Al McGuire at Marquette University for the first time, with Cotter at the wheel. Because of popular demand alone it returned in 2006, and since then has been heralded as a superb one-man show and has made its way around the country on those accolades. This is Coach’s last year on tour, and if you miss the BU show, there is a good chance you may not be able to see it later – so you fans of theater and sports, take advantage of this opportunity or risk missing out!
Smith has been working in theater since 1978, not to mention he has worked on television shows and in movies for almost as long. His TV works range from his early appearances on 1982’s St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues to more recently guest staring on White Collar, NCIS, and Without A Trace. He has been with Coach since its first show.
Al McGuire. (Right)
Now Coach is coming to Bloomsburg University, giving students and the community a great opportunity to see a show that has performed to sold-out audiences around the country, about a true sports legend, in a beautiful and historic theater. The show will be on Nov. 4 at Carver Hall in the Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. Tickets are $29.50 for adults, $16.50 for children 12 and under, and $14 for BU students. For ticket sales and general information call (570) 389-4409 or visit them on the web at www.bloomu.edu/CAS.
