Then & Now: Stu Lantz

Then & Now: Stu Lantz

Compiled By Dave Brandon

(Photo Courtesy Topps Sports Cards)

Nebraska

Basketball Hall of Famer Stu Lantz played for the

Huskers from 1966-1968, and finished his career ranked

thirteenth on the Nebraska all-time scoring list (1,269

points.)  Lantz also ranks in the top ten of career

scoring average, and grabbed 571 rebounds while at NU.

After the two-time All-Big 8 pick

graduated, he went on to play eight seasons in the NBA,

spending time with San Diego/Houston, Detroit, New

Orleans, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Lantz currently

serves as television analyst for the Lakers.

Lantz recently joined HHC as the

latest Sunday guest of “Then & Now.”

HHC: Stu, we want to

start by thanking you for taking the time to join us.

SL: No problem. When

the Lakers gave me your contact information today, I was

excited to check out the site. I haven’t had time to

check it yet, but after this phone call, I am definitely

going to be going there.

HHC: That’s what we like to hear! We want

to start off by asking what brought you to Lincoln,

Nebraska clear from Uniontown, Pennsylvania? 

SL: Well, my best

friend Ben Gregory and I had gone to the same grade

school, junior high school, and high school together,

and he got a scholarship to play football there, and I

got one to play basketball, so that’s kind of how it

happened. It was the only school where we both could get

scholarships in our sport, and we wanted to go pretty

far from home, since if we didn’t, we knew it’d be a

temptation to go home on weekends. And if you go home on

weekends, then you don’t get your studies done.

But yeah, Ben Gregory was his name…

He was a fullback, and unfortunately passed away about

eight years ago. 

HHC: You played under “Slippery Joe”

Cipriano in his early years at Nebraska. Since most of

our fans know very little about him, describe to us what

kind of coach he was.

SL: (Laughs) Well, he

was a character. He was a fun coach to play for because

he was so “shooting from the hip,” so to speak. You

never knew what to expect from him.

The type of teams that we had at

that time were obviously smaller, and we pressed and ran

quite a bit. And, Joe’s style was very good for that. He

was a good coach to play for. I would say overall, his

players liked him, and I don’t remember any real

problems with that. Of course, there’s always going to

be a player or two who feels they should be starting or

playing more on every team that’s ever existed, but no

problems to the point where we had a player or coach

dissension.

HHC: How did he earn

the nickname “Slippery Joe?”

SL: (Laughs) That’s a good a question. I

don’t really know how he got that nickname, but it was

one that definitely followed him around. It could have

had a bad connotation to it, but at the same time, could

be something comical. I’m not really sure.

HHC: In your own words, what kind of

player and teammate was Stu Lantz?

SL: I was the type of

player that did whatever it took to help the team at

6’3”. I was playing out of position just about my entire

college career. Center my freshman and sophomore years,

and forward after that. I was the type of player that

did whatever it took to win. As far as what type of

teammate I was, you’d have to ask the teammates, but I

thought I was a good teammate.

HHC: Your first season at Nebraska was

1965-1966, and you guys won twenty games, finished the

year ranked eleventh, and enjoyed the school’s first

winning season in fifteen years. Talk about how exciting

that year was, and remind us of some of your teammates?

SL: Wow, you’re going

Watergate on me here. (Laughs) Where were you on

December the 6^th, 1910, ya know? (Laughs) I

remember that we were a team – we really played well

together. I didn’t see any problems then, and obviously

we had ourselves a pretty good year. But, it was

obviously overshadowed by the football program.

Tom Baack was a teammate that was

with me for four years, and when we left, we were one

and two in scoring. Ron Simmons was another; we just had

lots of guys that just got along really well. Nate

Branch was also was a teammate at that time, and he

ended up playing for the Globetrotter’s. A local guy

from Omaha named Fred Hare was there, and I’m sure

people still remember him, because he was a legend back

then.

HHC: 1966-1967 saw you earn All-Big Eight

honors, and as a team, Nebraska made the NIT for the

first time in school history. Talk to us about how much

of an honor making the NIT was back then, and tell us

how the post-season was set up?

SL: It was really an

honor to get to the post-season, especially when nobody

really expected much out of the basketball program, I

don’t think, as football was and probably still is the

number one sport. Everything else is just something you

play in between spring and fall football. But it was a

real pleasure for us to go to New York and play in the

NIT. What wasn’t a pleasure was losing in the first

round.

If memory serves me right, we

didn’t have the right attitude to really win. I think we

were a little to “laze” going to the NIT. In other

words, I don’t think from top to bottom, we were as

serious about what we were trying to accomplish as we

should have been.

HHC: Besides the post-season being set up

much differently, what else was different about the game

of basketball back then?

SL: Aside from the rules you mean?

(Laughs) Well if memory serves me correctly, back then

they outlawed the dunk, which was the Lew Alcindor rule.

So that was different. Obviously, the emphasis on

television games was not there, and uniforms were way

different. (Laughs)

However, the game itself though,

its pretty much the same then and now. I mean, you can

change some of the rules, but the fundamental parts of

basketball will always remain the same.

HHC: How many more points do you think you

could have scored with a three-point line?

SL: Of course I shot from out there, so at

least a few, but as I mentioned before, my major asset

was around the basket. So, I would assume that I would

have scored a couple of more points, but not enough to

over take the number one rating, as Tom Baack scored

about all of his from beyond the three-point line.

HHC: If you were

being recruited today, would you still be as good as you

were back then, especially considering the different

sizes of players?

SL: I would like to

think I’d be more effective today because of the old

adage of “If I knew then what I know now.” But, at the

same time, the desire and drive would have been the

same, too. I think maybe what would have been different

was how I was approached from the coaching aspect. Maybe

I wouldn’t have been playing out of position, so I’d be

even better.

HHC: Your senior

season was 1967-1968, and you were again an All-Big

Eight pick, while as a team, you guys won the Big Eight

Holiday title. Describe to us what this means? Is it

similar to the Big 12 Tournament?

SL: That would be the Big 8 Christmas

tournament. All of the school’s went, and you had a

tournament there. I don’t know if Nebraska had ever won

that before, since Kansas had been the power for quite

some time, so that was a real nice achievement.

As far as specifics of the

tournament go, I think if you lost, you went into the

loser’s side. But again, I can’t remember exactly how it

worked without going back to the books and checking. It

was similar to one and done and the Big 12 tournament

today, though.

HHC: What are your favorite memories of

Nebraska, both on and off the court, and how often do

you get back?

SL: My favorite memories… Well, I loved

going there. I went there, and at the time, I was going

to get an education, unlike a lot of athletes that go to

college today who are going as a stepping-stone to go

somewhere else. I had no aspirations of playing

professional basketball when I enrolled. I was there as

an Elementary Ed. Major, and I got my degree in it, and

I was looking forward to doing it.

One of my fondest memories of

Lincoln were the people. They were just so nice. Like I

said, I was used to the city life of Pennsylvania, and

when I got there, I was totally shocked with how the

people treated everybody. It was really a very, very

friendly city. It was so friendly that in fact, I met my

wife there and we were married in college. That was my

biggest thrill of going to the University of Nebraska,

getting to meet my bride.

Normally, we get back every summer,

as her father is still in Lincoln, although I missed it

this past summer. But we normally get back there once a

year, and normally in the summer.

HHC: After your senior season in 1968, you

were a third-round selection in the NBA draft by the

Rockets. Your NBA career spanned eight seasons, and you

played for several teams. Tell us about the most

memorable teams you were a part of?

SL: I remember all of

the teams in that regard, but I would assume my rookie

year was pretty memorable, since like I said, I had no

aspirations of ever playing professional basketball. So,

that was a surprise and great, just the people you

become friends and teammates with.

Elvin Hayes was the #1 pick, and we

became teammates and roommates for four years. Then, I

had the opportunity to go to Detroit and play alongside

a guy that is one of the best people both on and off the

court that I’ve ever known, Dave Bing. He is a Hall of

Fame guard that really is quite an individual. And also

there was Bob Lanier, who now works in the NBA office as

something under the commissioner. I tease him all the

time about his title. (Laughs) And I also played

alongside “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who I became great

friends with.

And when I finally joined the

Lakers, I came right after Jerry West was there, but

became friends with him and still am to this day. I also

got to become friends with Karrem Abdul Jabar, and lots

of other great players. It was an honor to play against

the best athletes in the world.

HHC: Tell us more

about your job as television analyst for the Lakers. How

long have you been doing that for?

SL: My first year was

1987-1988, so this is my nineteenth year with them as

the color analyst on TV. It doesn’t seem like that long,

but it’s something where when you put it on paper,

that’s what it comes out to.

It’s been a real thrill, and it

sure beats working for a living. Anytime you can be

involved in professional sports, you’ve really got to

count your blessings, because you can’t really count

that as a job, because the jobs are guys that work 9-5.

It’s not athletes who are just doing what they love to

do.

Today, as an announcer, I do the

same thing as you do, as far as sitting and watching the

game and talking about what happened or what should have

happened. The difference is that I get paid, and you

don’t.

HHC: And how are the

Lakers looking this year?

SL: Not real healthy. They came into the

year as a young team, and then they’ve just absorbed so

many early injuries. So, they are struggling along right

now, as they’ve lost 5 of their last 6 games, so we’re

cruising along with a bad record. It’s still early, but

when you’re young and hurt, it maybe doesn’t spell the

recipe for a great year when you get in such a hole

early, because it’s tough to dig yourself out of it. 

HHC: Thanks for your time, Stu, and if we

set you up an e-mail account at

[email protected] , would you be willing to

take e-mails from Husker fans?

SL: Not a problem, and thanks a lot for

having me Dave.<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">