Then & Now: Chuck Jura

Then & Now: Chuck Jura

Compiled By Dave Brandon

(Photo Courtesy NU Media Relations)

Nebraska

Basketball Hall of Famer Chuck Jura played for the

Huskers from 1970-1972, and is fourteenth in all-time

scoring at Nebraska (1,255 points). The 6'10" Jura also

ranks in the top ten in career scoring average, field

goal percentage, rebounds, and rebound average. And,

besides being All-Big 8 on the court, Jura also excelled

in the classroom while at Nebraska, where he enjoyed

All-Big 8 accolades. 

Jura was

a third-round draft pick of the Chicago Bulls, and

recently joined HHC for our latest Sunday version of

"Then & Now."

HHC: Chuck,

thanks a lot for taking a trip down memory lane with

us. 

CJ: Not a

problem, glad to talk with you.

HHC: Before arriving at NU, you starred in

basketball at Schuyler, Nebraska. Do you feel that

playing at that small of a level prepared you well for

the Big 8, or did most of your growing occur at

Nebraska?

CJ: I would say that to a certain extent, high

school prepared me well, because at that time, there

were some good players in the state. Tom Kropp, Dwayne

Dillard and Bob Gratopp out of Omaha Central, and Sam

Martin in Pawnee City were just a few of the good

players at that time who went on to play Division One

ball. But today, it’s a completely different game.

Players are just so much bigger, stronger, and more

athletic, so maybe today it wouldn’t have prepared me as

well.

HHC: Who else recruited you besides

Nebraska, and was there ever any doubt where you'd end

up?

CJ: It came down to Nebraska, Missouri,

LSU, Washington, and Seattle University. I really liked

the Pacific Northwest, but in the end, it came down to

Nebraska.

In those

days, they actually had you signed as far as the

conferences were intended. I was down to Missouri and

Nebraska after I signed my Big 8 letter of intent, and

then signed with Nebraska.

I always

really liked Norm Stewart, and we still talk. Both of my

brother’s live in Missouri, actually. But yeah, Joe

Cipriano and I got along really well, and that was the

man reason I came to Nebraska. 

HHC: Since most of our readers have no

recollection of Joe Cipriano, describe him in your own

words, both as a coach and a person.

CJ: Joe

Cipriano was one of a kind. He was probably not the

greatest X’s and O’s man, but he was a very good

recruiter and very personable as a coach. He was someone

who cared about you as a person, and I think that’s one

of the things that led to my success. I almost owe my

success to the fact that he was patient with a 6’10”

white kid out of Schuyler, Nebraska.

HHC: How did he earn the nickname

"Slippery Joe?"

CJ: He was a character, man. He used to do all

kinds of stuff. There was a game one time, and in those

days they had, believe it or not, at the end of the

game, a starter pistol on the scorers table to announce

the commencement. But I can remember Joe, and your not

going to believe this, but he went over to the referees

and was mad one time, and fired the pistol to get their

attention during the game. That happened in ’68 or ’70.

Joe was

a tremendous basketball player, too. He was a very quick

point-guard and played at Idaho, I believe, or somewhere

in the northwest. I think that’s where the name comes

from. I remember that he and the coaches used to take

their suits off some days and come out and play against

us, and it seemed like they never played besides that,

but they’d come out and pass it around and shoot. He was

just a character. 

HHC: We always

talk about Danny Nee being colorful, but he sounds

pretty colorful in his own right, huh?

CJ: Definitely. Another thing Cipriano did was

one time at KU, playing in front of a sold out crowd,

(laughs) he slipped vampire teeth in his mouth, and the

students were on him, and he turned around and acted

like a vampire, and they went nuts on him. (Laughs) They

absolutely loved him everywhere he went. Just a

character, that’s all I can say.

HHC: (Laughs) How would you describe Chuck

Jura, both as an individual player and a teammate?

CJ: To be perfectly honest, when we were

at Nebraska, I wasn’t very good, and we really didn’t

come to our potential. We had some tremendous players,

like Al Nissen, who is now a doctor, and was the last

cut with the KC Kings in 1972. Nissen was actually a

walk-on at Nebraska before that. Then, there was Leroy

Chalk and Marvin Stewart, but we just never put it

together as a team, and for that, I feel very

unfortunate.

I became

a much better player after Nebraska when I got to Italy,

because it was a business then and I knew what I had to

do. I had a coach who put it in straight terms, and told

me either you performed, or you went home. I spent a lot

of time shooting hook shots at Nebraska, to answer what

kind of a player I was there, and when I got to Europe,

I turned around and faced up a lot more. That is what I

should have done while I was at Nebraska, but I didn’t,

and instead shot hooks even though I couldn’t make one

to save my life.

HHC: In your first season of 1969-1970,

you guys went 16-9, and finished third in the Big 8.

Talk to us about some of your teammates, and describe

them as players, as most people just know them from a

name in the media guide.

CJ: Marvin Stewart got drafted in the 2nd

round by the 76ers and signed a contract, and would have

been playing for a long time because he was a tremendous

pure shooter, but he tore his knee up in training camp.

Bob Gratopp was another great shooter, and went on to be

a referee, although he’s since passed away,

unfortunately. Another guy who passed away was Kenny

Cauble, who played two years with us and later became a

police officer. He was a long jumper and high jumper in

addition to playing basketball. I think he high jumped

6’8 or 6’9. We had a ton of individuals that had talent,

but we just never put it together.

HHC: 1970-1971 saw Nebraska go 18-8, yet

no post-season. How difficult was it to make the

post-season back then, and were you guys close that

year?

CJ: If it were like it was today, we’d

have made the dance, that wasn’t the problem. In those

days, the first place team in the Big 8 went to the

NCAA’s, the second place went to the NIT. Two teams

went, and that was it. That was just the way it was, and

of course they expanded it later for the revenues and

money, but in those days, if you check back and look at

our senior year, we went 3-0 in the Big 8 and we went to

KU and played against Bud Stallworth. There were 5

seconds left on the clock, and we had a 65-65 ballgame.

Our ball, out of bounds, Stallworth is fouled out on the

bench, and we’re taking the ball out of bounds. However,

we didn’t get the ball in bounds, as a Kansas player

stole the ball, went the other way, and layed it in. We

had their best player on the bench, waiting for

overtime, and we lost it. That put us at 3-1, and then

the next week, Oklahoma came into Lincoln and took us

out. After that, it was really over. 

HHC: Besides the post-season, talk about

some other differences in the college game from back

when you played?

CJ: Well there’s the dress, of course. We

had the short shorts and everybody wore one or two

brands of tennis shoes. There was Converse, but no Nike.

Also, when I started as a freshman, I couldn’t play in

post-season, even though I played in 10 games. But, they

didn’t count the stats.

Back then, Bill Harrell was my freshman coach, and after

Nebraska, he went onto Moorehead State. He actually

wrote two books on defense, and is the only man in the

history of college basketball to win a high school

championship in both the state of Indiana and Kentucky.

However, he was fishing a year ago, fell out of the boat

after a heart attack, and drowned.  

Here’s another difference for, you couldn’t dunk back

then.

HHC: That stinks for a 6’10” guy, huh?

CJ: That’s for sure.

HHC: (Laughs) Talk

about what it was like playing in the Coliseum.

CJ: It was unbelievable man. There were

sparrows dive-bombing you when you’d lay it up in

warm-ups. 

HHC: What?!?

CJ: Yes, I promise you. The place was

always packed, sold out, and the fans were just amazing.

We had bleachers on the sides, and it ran straight up,

and the fans were just right on people. The place was

electric.

There was a memorable vendor that would sell ice cream

bars, and people would throw him down a quarter, and

he’d shoot the ice cream bar up. And he never missed, I

swear. We’d sit around in the huddle with Cip, and watch

this guy THROW it way up. It was amazing. 

HHC: Your last year at Nebraska was

1971-1972, and you earned All-Big 8 honors. However, the

team finished just 14-12. Talk about what you remember

from your senior season at Nebraska, and was it the most

special one you had?

CJ: No, it wasn’t, because everybody will tell

you that we had tremendous talent, but we just didn’t

put it together as a team. Our last year, we played some

tough teams, like Iowa against “Downtown” Freddy Brown,

who lit us up for 36 with no 3-point line. The guys we

had, our starting guard Al Nissen, who had been a

walk-on, was the last player cut by the Kings. They kept

Mike D’Antoni, who is now the coach of the Phoenix Suns.

My freshman year, Jim White, the golfer from Nebraska,

he was on the team. He was a starting guard, before he

transferred to Hastings.   

HHC: So you

underachieved. Does this fall on Joe Cipriano’s

shoulders?

CJ: No, I think the team cohesiveness was the

problem. You have to understand, this was the 1960’s and

1970’s when we had lots of individualism. The African

American players were just coming into their own, as far

as being able to express themselves. It was an

interesting time to go to school. 

HHC: After you

graduated, you were drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the

3rd round of the NBA draft. Talk about the excitement of

being drafted, and what happened with the NBA?

CJ: It was real exciting, except the fact the

Chicago Bulls had a full roster of no cut players. Bob

Love, Chet Walker, etc. So, getting drafted in the 3^rd

round meant small bonus, get cut, go to CBA. I wasn’t

going to do that, so my agent introduced me to some

people from Italy, and I signed there in 1972 and stayed

for two years. Then, I fired my agent, and took

everything over myself, and I played the next twelve

years in Italy by myself. I played against Spencer

Haywood, John Brown from the Bulls, Bob McAdoo, and Mike

D’Antoni.

HHC: And what

has Chuck Jura been up to the last thirty years, and

where is he at today, both personally and

professionally?

CJ: I’m retired, and living in Columbus,

Nebraska. I have a son who plays at UNK, and he’s a

junior, so I follow him at UNK. That’s about it.

After

basketball, I had a situation involving investments,

where I owned some investments like a few Pizza Hut’s,

motels, and stuff, but I sold those and am now retired.

I still

play basketball, actually. We just won the world

championships for players 55 and over in Canada this

July.

HHC: Really?

CJ: Yes. And four years ago, I went to

Melbourne, Australia, where we won the world

championships for 50 and over. I play with a team out of

Chicago. 

HHC: We hope

we are still that active at your age.

CJ: You calling me old?

HHC: (Laughs) Of course not. Chuck, thanks

a lot for taking the time to join us, and will you be

willing to take e-mails from the readers at

[email protected] if we set it up and

tell you how to check it?

CJ: Yeah, I don’t have a problem with

that; I’d love to hear from some fans. And thank you for

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