Pop Herring

[NBALIVE2000VIDEOS]

this was the all-time NBA great MJ's coach, the one you and me watched in those jordan dvd highlights who smiled and said he cut MJ from the team.

reality is he isn't just another face on tv, the way most media types make fun of how he cut MJ and made the "Biggest Mistake" etc.

I read this story a while back and it has never left me. In my opinion, I take from it that the poor guy really deserved a break and I personally believe the media surrounding this coach and his decision had at least an impact on his current quality of life. I mean he had to coach for a living, its not the best if on your resume is this overhyped thing of cutting MJ.

For years the NBA Hall of Famer has claimed that his high school coach underestimated his talent as a sophomore. Clifton (Pop) Herring, whose life has been a struggle since then, tells a different story
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1193740/1/index.htm

excerpt:
Over the next three decades Jordan would become a world-class collector of emotional wounds, a champion grudge-holder, a magician at converting real and imagined insults into the rocket fuel that made him fly. If he had truly been cut that year, as he would claim again and again, he wouldn't have had such an immediate chance for revenge. But in fact his name was on the second list, the jayvee roster, with the names of many of his fellow sophomores. Jordan quickly became a jayvee superstar.

"After I beat out MJ for the last spot on that varsity team," the fictional Leroy Smith says in a fictitious ad for his training services, "he went on to become the greatest basketball player of all time. Coincidence? No way! [He is shown soloing on an electric guitar, surrounded by flames.] I'll teach you the skills you need to dominate opponents the same way I dominated Mike when we were in 10th grade. [He karate-kicks in the direction of the camera, and the screen seems to shatter.] You! Will learn my three pillars of success: Motivize! Pulverize! And realize!"

The ads introduced Smith as the Man Who Motivated Michael Jordan, even though the real Leroy Smith didn't do much to motivate Jordan besides being tall, showing up at the tryout and accepting someone else's decision.

That someone else, of course, was Pop Herring. He faded from public view soon after Jordan left town. When a crew from NBA Entertainment went to Wilmington around 1988 to film the short documentary Michael Jordan: Come Fly with Me, Herring was no longer coaching at Laney High. The varsity coach was a man named Fred Lynch.

another related article:
http://www.heygoodcall.com/home/2012/1/26/sis-tom-lake-on-pop-herring-the-man-who-cut-michael-jordan.html

[NBALIVE2000VIDEOS]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1194468/index.htm

Never have I been as moved by a story as I was by Thomas Lake's superb article on Pop Herring. The piece was touching and sad, and it allowed me to understand why Herring was right in his decision to place Michael Jordan on the jayvee team. I wish nothing but the best for Herring and hope that he can put his troubles behind him.

Robert Scholz, Elmo, Mo.

Your piece on Herring (Did This Man Really Cut Michael Jordan? Jan. 16) was one of the most poignant that I have read in any magazine. If nothing else, I hope it helps Jordan understand that he didn't become one of the greatest players of all time despite the actions of others, but because of them.

John Taylor, Superior, Colo.

I can't help but feel that the remarks Jordan has made regarding his old coach have contributed to Herring's woes. I don't understand how someone in Jordan's position could not show more compassion, even if he felt Herring had made a mistake.

Marshall Jackson, Lakeland, Fla.

[shadowgrin]

My title was better.

[NovU]

Same shit.