Gamble thunders into Q-C with coaching bug
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
By Craig DeVrieze | Thursday, November 29, 2007 |
It really was 20 years ago when Kevin Gamble was running the floor at Wharton Field House, a star player in the inaugural Quad-City Thunder season.
“Getting old,’’ Gamble said when reminded of that this week.
The former Thunder, Boston Celtics and University of Iowa standout returns to the Quad-Cities Friday at 7:30 p.m., when his University of Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars take on the host St. Ambrose Bees in opening-round action of the two-day Pepsi Classic at Lee Lohman Arena.
The “getting-older’’ Gamble already is in his sixth season at UI-S, where he built the Prairie Stars program from scratch.
He is coming off a pair a American Midwest Conference championship 20-win seasons, and last year led his 23-9 team to the NAIA’s Sweet 16.
Ranked 13th in a preseason poll, this year’s rebuilding Prairie Stars are 5-3, but they are coming off a program-highlight 68-66 win over Southern Indiana, the 10th-ranked team in NCAA Division II.
“That was a big win for us,’’ said Gamble, whose program will join the NCAA Division II ranks in a couple of years. “It is something I will remember a long time.’’
Gamble also hasn’t forgotten his last visit to Lee Lohman, a 92-64 rout by the 2004-2005 Fighting Bees.
“They spanked us pretty good,’’ Gamble said. “We’re looking to come back and do some damage.’’
His season-and-change with the Thunder constitutes a more pleasant memory. Gamble averaged 21.1 points per game as a Q-C rookie in 1987-88, and then averaged 27.1 over 12 games to start the Continental Basketball Association club’s second season.
That was all the Boston Celtics needed to see to make the small forward the first Thunder player to earn an NBA callup. He remained in the NBA for nine seasons.
“I had fun there,’’ he said of his time in a Q-C uniform. “It was a place I was familiar with from being close in Iowa City, and it was a place where I could get where I wanted to go.’’
UI-S fits the latter bill at the moment. Launching a program in his native Springfield has been fun, and Gamble is glad to have a chance to enjoy success after going 34-56 in his first three seasons there.
“I’m still learning a lot, even though this is my sixth year doing it,’’ he said. “Maybe some day I’ll go to a bigger school and see what I can do, but I am having fun right now.’’
Gamble looked into assistant coaching jobs with his old college coach, Dr. Tom Davis, before he retired last year at Drake and talked to new Iowa coach Todd Lickliter and first-year Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich about joining their respective staffs last summer.
“I would like to stay at the head coaching position,’’ he said, “but if a good job came along, like at Iowa, I would take a look at it.’’
One thing Gamble knows 20 years after launching his life as a basketball professional here in the Quad-Cities is that he has found a career direction for life.
“I have got the coaching bug now,’’ he said. “It is in my blood and I enjoy doing it.’’
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
redditMore Stories By Craig DeVrieze
» More College Stories
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- Magazine Subscriptions
- Magazine subscriptions, save up to 92%.
- www.magazinestaple.com
- Online Article Submission Service
- Our Online Article Submission service submits your Internet marketing articles automatically to over 500 ezines, 15 Article Announcement lists, and major article directories.
- submityourarticle.com
- Instant E-Zine Article Submission
- Our Ezine Article Blaster will submit to over 900 e-zines reaching over one million monthly readers. Our database is always current and effective. Free trial. $59.95 for a year membership.
- www.getwebhits.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
