Then & Now: Jerry Fort

Then & Now: Jerry Fort

Compiled By Dave Brandon

(Photo Courtesy NU Media Relations)

Jerry

Fort played for the Huskers and Joe Cipriano from

1973-1976, and is a member of the Nebraska Basketball

Hall of Fame. Fort, a 6’3” guard from Chicago, is third

in career scoring, (1,882 points) second in scoring

average, (17.9 PPG) and upon graduating, was drafted by

the Boston Celtics.

Fort recently caught up with HHC to

take a trip deep down memory lane.

HHC: We want to start

by thanking you for joining us and reliving one of the

neatest eras of Nebraska basketball.

JF: No problem Dave.

I’m happy to do this.

HHC: Before we talk

about your times at Nebraska, tell us what made you

choose NU from your hometown of Chicago. What kind of

things did Joe Cipriano do to earn your trust, and what

did the recruiting process consist of back then?

JF: Man, your going

way back, picking my brain here. (laughs) When I came

out of high school, I actually didn’t have a whole lot

of offers. I started progressing my junior and senior

year when some recruiters started coming around. One of

Joe’s assistants, a guy with the first name Rex, was

looking at some of the other players on my high school

team and happened to see me. Then, they came back and

saw me play in some All-Star games. It ended up coming

down to Nebraska or Loyola of Chicago – those were my

final two.

Actually, one of the things that

got me interested in Nebraska was the Thanksgiving

football game when Johnny Rodgers was playing Oklahoma

in 1971. I also used to get Big 8 basketball up in the

Chicago area too, so I thought it might not be a bad

place to go play. I think that was also the first year

that they had the freshman year of eligibility, and Joe

told me I’d have a good chance of playing right away,

which I did. Plus, Lincoln wasn’t too far from Chicago,

only about 8 hours by car or an hour and a half on the

plane.

HHC: Most current

Husker fans know nothing about head coach “Slippery" Joe

Cipriano, who was at Nebraska from 1964-1980. Talk to us

about what kind of coach and man he was.

JF: (laughs) I think

he was one of the dean’s of the Big 8 coaches at the

time, so he’d been there for quite some time. Before I

got out there, they had Chuck Jura, Marvin Stewart,

Stuart Lantz, and some pretty good teams. So, he had

some success in the Big 8 at the time. He was from

Washington State, and he played college basketball as a

guard as well. He was pretty smooth, (laughs) I will say

that, as far as recruiting goes.

One of the most impressive things

about Cipriano was the fact that he landed one of the

guys that I still stay in touch with to this day, Ricky

Marsh. Marsh was out of Queens, and could have gone to

any college in the country. Somehow Cipriano got him out

of NYC to come to Nebraska. Marsh left after two years,

because he was disenchanted with his playing time and

ended up at Manhattan before hooking up with Golden

State for a year or so. But getting back to Joe, the

fact that he was able to recruit a player like that out

of New York was something.

Coaching wise, Joe’s offense pretty

much depended on personnel that he had. He had a pretty

standard UCLA type of offense similar to John Wooden’s,

with the high post offense coming off screens. That was

good for me, because that was the kind of player I was,

so I fit in with that portion of it. We tried to run and

push the pace, if we could, although we weren’t really a

running team. Defensively, Moe Iba was instrumental in

what we did, and I think learned to play a little

defense with Moe Iba there. (laughs) We played man to

man, in your face defense, although we didn’t press

much. They worked real well as a team, Iba and Cipriano.

HHC: Cipriano

ultimately lost his battle to cancer and was replaced by

Iba as head coach in 1980. Did you guys have any clue of

his illness while you played, and when was the last time

you talked with him?

JF: Oh yeah, we

definitely had a clue. My senior year, this was right

after the draft, and I had broken my leg in a pickup

game, believe it or not. (laughs) I never got injured in

my four years out there playing, but right before I went

back to Chicago from Lincoln, I fractured a fibula in my

leg. So, I was going back and forth between Boston and

Chicago to see doctors, and I got a call from Cipriano

telling me had cancer. It was shocking… Just

devastating. He worked at it the best he could, which

was great, but it was so tough. He was only 51 or 52,

and just way too young.

Last time I talked to him…well,

what I recall is that he was pretty upset about it, but

told me he was going to try and fight it as best he

could. He was also concerned with what was happening to

me at the time with my leg broken and career up in the

air, and genuinely cared about which way life was going

to take me after my years at Nebraska.

I also remember he was pretty close

with Randy Cipriano, his son who later became a coach

under Moe Iba, and Randy was in high school at the time;

he was a great kid.

HHC: Such a shame

that had to happen. 

JF: Most definitely.

He was way too young, just way too young.

HHC: A lot has

changed in college basketball since your days as a

Husker. Talk to us about some of the major differences

in the game today compared to then, and would you have

scored more points had there been a three-point line?

JF: (laughs) Let me

first tell you that the players are much bigger, faster,

and jump higher. (Laughs) All of the above. You know, I

live out here in Connecticut now so I follow the UConn

team closely, and just seeing what they bring in is just

so much more athletic and strong. Most definitely a big

difference from thirty years ago.

As you said, there was no

three-point line back then, and there is no question I

would have had another couple hundred more points, so I

missed out on that. That was definitely part of my game,

the outside shot off the screens, so yeah, it made a

difference not having it.

HHC: The Bob Devaney

Sports Center opened up the season after you graduated,

so you played your career in the Old Coliseum. Talk to

us about what it was like playing there, and how was the

atmosphere?

JF: The atmosphere

was great man. My last couple years there, we were in

the run for the Big 8 title. And let me tell you, the

place was jumping just like the football stadium; it was

pretty neat. It used to get pretty hot in there when we

got around to March, I recall that, but the fans

definitely got into the game. The noise was great and it

was an awesome group of people to play for.

HHC: Your first

season at Nebraska was 1972-1973, and the Huskers had a

disappointing finish of 9-17. However, in your sophomore

season of 1973-1974, you helped Nebraska to begin a

streak of fourteen consecutive winning seasons, and

during the same year, you began your streak of three

consecutive all-conference selections. Tell us what you

remember about your sophomore season, and remind us of

some of the players who played on that team?

JF: Ricky Marsh was one, and we had Bob

Siegel, who grew up in Nebraska. Brian Banks was another

one of our guards, and Larry Cox really started coming

around. So, we had a lot of talent on that team with

different players. Even though we were over .500, it

seemed like we should have done a little better than we

did.

By my senior year, I think we had

probably less talent than we did that year and ended up

having a better record, but its just the way things

worked out.

HHC: In your junior season of 1974-1975,

you scored a then record 40 points in a game against

Missouri. Tell us what you remember about that game, and

is that your favorite moment of your Nebraska career?

JF: Well, that was definitely one of my

best games. I recall that in that game, I think I was

something like 14 for 20 from the field. (Laughs) I

think I remember the stats pretty good on that one… 12

of 14 from free throw line, and had they had the

three-point line in there, I think I would have had

close to 50. (Laughs) But everything was going in, we

executed very well as a team. It was just like...well,

being in the zone.

That was one of my favorite games,

but the games I liked the most were when we beat Kansas.

My senior year we beat them three times in a row!

HHC: Always good to

hear about beating up on the Jayhawks!  Speaking of

your senior season, it saw you guys close down the

Coliseum for basketball games, and you finished 19-8

with a 3^rd place Big 8 finish. How close did

that team come to postseason play, and how much more

difficult was it to land a post-season birth at that

time?

JF: Well, the field has definitely

expanded now. As for back then, I can’t remember exactly

what it was, although I think it was 48. Obviously,

there weren’t as many openings for the NCAA’s. What was

disappointing was that we thought we’d at least get an

NIT bid, and we had a great shot at winning the

conference that year too. So, that was real

disappointing based on the way we played.

We actually began practicing for

postseason, thinking we were going to get a bid but then

were shutout. So, maybe one game would have got us over

the hump, who knows, but even though we had a great

year, it was a disappointment not getting to play in the

postseason.

HHC: You finished

your Nebraska career as the all-time leader in points,

and really helped to get the Huskers on the map. What do

you remember and cherish most about Lincoln and UNL

almost thirty years later?

JF: Well, like I said, I think it all

boils down to the people and fans. One of things that

struck me coming from Chicago was that people would just

walk up and say hello. When they came to the games, they

really got into them. So, out of everything, just the

people at Nebraska were great when I was out there

playing.

HHC: Before we get to

where you are today, talk to us about being drafted by

the Boston Celtics in the third round of the NBA Draft.

Where did your professional career take you?

JF: I got drafted with the second pick in

the 3^rd round, and unfortunately, as I

mentioned before, I got injured in that pickup game. So,

I went back to Chicago, then went to Boston and saw some

doctors.

I ended up attempting to try out

for the fall camp anyway, even though my leg was

probably 70% at best. They ended up waiving me. So, I

went back to Chicago before the Celtics immediately

called me and told me about a team in Hartford, CT.,

which was part of the Eastern Basketball Association, or

a prelude to the CBA. They wanted me to come to Hartford

and play on this certain team.

There were some folks here in

Hartford that helped me look for a daytime job while I

played, because at that point in time, you played

basketball at night but had to have daytime employment.

The folks who were connected to that team were part of

Travelers Insurance Company, and fortunately I had my

degree and was able to get a job as an underwriter. I

was able to do that during the day and play basketball

on evenings. The Celtics also had me coming back and

forth to practice, since Hartford is relatively close,

so I did that for the remaining of that year.

The following year Boston signed me

to come back into their camp, and I was the last guy to

get cut, which was quite disappointing, but I played for

another Eastern basketball team outside of Quincy,

Massachusetts. I still worked in the insurance business

here in Hartford, and then I played in that league and

was one of the top scorers. Actually, I made the

All-Star team, and then got an offer from the

Philadelphia 76ers.

At the same time, Boston wanted me

to come back for a third tryout, but my sports agent

convinced me that Philadelphia was the better situation

and to go there. So, I tried out with the 76ers, but

that was the year they brought in Maurice Cheeks, so

that ended up being a poor decision in hindsight.

After that third time, that was

about it for me. I still played for fun, but didn’t have

any professional aspirations after that.

HHC: Finally, where will we find Jerry

Fort today, and what is he doing?

JF: I’m still in the insurance business

working as an underwriter for a company here on the east

coast. I had that training back then, so I’ve been very

successful in this line of business. To be exact, I’m

living in Newington CT. with my lovely wife who I met

out here. (Laughs) She had no interest in moving to

Chicago, so we decided to stay out here. She was

actually a cheerleader for UConn, so we follow the

Huskies now.

However, anytime the Huskers are on

television out here I watch, and I think one year

Nebraska even played UConn in the NIT.  

I also caught them a couple of

times in New York in the NIT, so I watch them anytime I

might see them on TV, both the football and basketball

teams.

HHC: Nice. We have

set you up an e-mail account at

[email protected].  Would you be

willing to answer some e-mails from fans?

JF: Sure, no problem. It’d be great to

hear from some people in Nebraska.

HHC: Awesome. Thanks

a lot for taking the time to join us, and we hope to

catch up with some more of your teammates soon.

JF:  That’ll be good. Thanks a lot Dave.<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">