Of Hoops and Heart

The Pink Palace brings Memphis Tigers basketball history to life.

March 3, 2020

8:00 AM

PHOTO COURTESY U OF M ATHLETICS

The Tigers’ history with hated Louisville is rich and deep. The Tigers twice beat Louisville for the Metro Conference championship (including a 1987 thrashing on the Cardinals’ home floor). Ronnie Robinson takes flight here during a home game in the early Seventies.

Memphis has its share of churches, but there’s no religion in this town like Tiger basketball. We became an NBA city 19 years ago, but you’re as likely to see as much blue-and-gray at your next block party as “Beale Street Blue.” Considering the University of Memphis has been playing basketball in one form or another — under one name or another — for more than a century now, the multi-generational loyalty is no surprise. Your grandmother cheered Win Wilfong in the 1957 NIT final, your uncle hitchhiked to St. Louis to support Larry Finch and friends at the 1973 Final Four, and your big brother insists Keith Lee is the greatest Tiger of them all (yes, even better than Penny).

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PRIVATE COLLECTION

Thirty-five years after he last suited up for the Tigers, Keith Lee remains the program’s career leader in points (2,408) and rebounds (1,336).

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PHOTO COURTESY MIKE OLMSTEAD COLLECTION

Ronnie Robinson teamed with Larry Finch and Larry Kenon to lead the 1972-73 Tigers to the Final Four. Robinson is one of five Tigers to pull down more than 1,000 rebounds, and he did so in only three varsity seasons.

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PHOTO COURTESY U OF M ATHLETICS

Elliot Perry is one of only two Tigers to score 2,000 career points. He also ranks second in career steals and fifth in assists.

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PHOTO COURTESY U OF M ATHLETICS

Point guard Andre Turner (“the Little General”) starred for the Tigers during their 1980s glory days. His 763 career assists are 124 more than any other Memphis player can claim.

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PHOTO BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Derrick Rose and the top-ranked Tigers played second-ranked Tennessee — one of the biggest games in Memphis history — on February 23, 2008. The Vols prevailed, but Memphis reached the Final Four and finished with a record of 38-2.

The Pink Palace Family of Museums is giving Tiger basketball the treatment a centennial deserves. From March 7th through October 4th the venerable mansion on Central Avenue houses treasures that range from sneakers (size 17) to trophies (like the 1957 NIT runner-up hardware on this page), from game programs to a surfboard (yes, a surfboard). “Tiger Hoops” features more than 40 items, any one of which will escalate the heart rates of local fans. Dozens of donors have contributed pieces to what should be the largest such collection ever displayed in one venue.

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PHOTO COURTESY LARRY GARBER COLLECTION

A 1963 program suggested the still-segregated world of college basketball. Herb Hilliard became the first African American to play for the Tigers in 1966.

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PHOTO COURTESY PENNY HARDAWAY HALL OF FAME COLLECTION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS

The runner-up trophy from the National Invitational Tournament played in 1957 at Madison Square Garden.

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PHOTO BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI, COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES

Founded in 1912, the U of M was originally known as the West Tennessee State Normal School. There was nothing normal about the graphic they included on pennants at the time.

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PHOTO COURTESY DR. JANE HOWLES HOOKER COLLECTION, CA. 1937

A warm-up jacket for the Tiger women’s team from the 1970s.

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PHOTO COURTESY MIKE OLMSTEAD COLLECTION

There’s no more hallowed jersey in Tiger history than Larry Finch’s number 21. To this day, Finch owns the Memphis record for most points in a single game (48 in 1973).

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PHOTO COURTESY MIKE OLMSTEAD COLLECTION

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PHOTO COURTESY DR. JANE HOWLES HOOKER COLLECTION, CA. 1937

Women have played basketball at Memphis since 1914. This sweater(!) was worn by a player representing what was then known as West Tennessee State Teachers College.

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PHOTO COURTESY PENNY HARDAWAY HALL OF FAME COLLECTION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS

A scorecard from the 1957 NIT championship game between Memphis State and Bradley at Madison Square Garden. Despite 31 points from MVP Win Wilfong, the Tigers lost to the Braves, 84-83.

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PHOTO BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Fans at the Tigers’ game against Virginia Tech on March 2, 1991, left with a lump in their throats and a special certificate noting the final game at the Mid-South Coliseum. Memphis State had played there since the 1965-66 season.

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PHOTO COURTESY PENNY HARDAWAY HALL OF FAME COLLECTION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS

Rumor has it the surfboard given Tiger coach Josh Pastner at the 2011 Maui Invitational had to be retrieved from a dumpster. The Tigers lost two of three games on the trip.

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PHOTO COURTESY PENNY HARDAWAY HALL OF FAME COLLECTION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS

William Bedford starred for the Tigers’ 1985 Final Four team and was chosen by the Phoenix Suns with the sixth pick of the 1986 NBA draft. Plenty of room for his autograph on the sneakers below.

The most endearing of relationships are those that make us cry both tears of heartache and joy. Tiger basketball and Memphis have been of, by, and for each other in such a way that “love affair” doesn’t quite do it justice. You’ll see here — and on display at the Pink Palace the next few months — images of time, place, and moment that help define a community. If you’re like me, you’ll pause at Larry Finch’s jersey and relish that lump in your throat. Some heartache, sure. He left us too soon. But mostly joy. Pure joy.

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