The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 441 Curly Hair
Chuck Daly, male, white American, was born on July 20, 1930, in Cairns, Pennsylvania. His father was Earl Daly and his mother was Geraldine Daly.

He started working in 1952, graduated from the University of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and spent his entire career as a basketball coach, never playing professional basketball.

He taught at Pusuttani High School, Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania before entering the NBA in 1978 as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.

He served as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1981, but was fired due to a poor record of 9 wins and 32 losses. He has served as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons since 1983.

In Game 1 of the 1987 NBA Finals between the Detroit Pistons and the Portland Trail Blazers, Chuck Daly was unexpectedly and violently struck by Gan Guoyang in the third quarter, fracturing his nose and bleeding profusely. He was carried off the court by the team doctor.

An outstanding NCAA coach, a master of sideline entertainment in the NBA, a well-known wealthy father in Detroit, a seasoned working-class poor boy, a collector of blue suits, a Macy's shopaholic, the godfather of bad boys, and now he has made a glorious exit.
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Chuck Daly often has a recurring dream in which he becomes destitute, hundreds of blue suits disappear from his wardrobe, his Cadillac vanishes from his parking lot, and his mansion in Detroit is reduced to ashes.

He returned to the impoverished area of ​​western Pennsylvania, living in Hoover Village, where he was starving and poorly clothed, and could only afford a bowl of pea soup a day. He died of hunger and deprivation.

Every time Daley had this dream, he would wake up drenched in sweat, and only when he felt the soft Simmons bed, turned on the light, and saw the spacious and luxurious room could his heart slowly calm down.

The dream depicted his childhood experiences. He was born into an impoverished working-class family, and his childhood was always overshadowed by the Great Depression.

Throughout his life, he had almost nothing and had nothing to rely on but himself.

Parents have already done everything they can to feed their children, and they have no energy left to provide them with any more help.

He started working as a pool cleaner at the YMCA when he was very young, earning 25 cents an hour. In high school, he worked in a leather factory, processing animal hides from South America.

The leather factory smelled terrible, extremely smelly. Working there would make you dirty and ugly.

But Daly was different. On the contrary, despite being very poor, he was very good at dressing himself and always put a lot of effort into his appearance and clothing.

So even though he wasn't very smart and his family wasn't well-off, he was able to find a girlfriend in high school, and she could help him with his homework. He would also go to her house to eat and drink to his heart's content. His nickname when he was young was "Hungry Ghost" because he could eat a lot and always ate a lot because he was always hungry as a child.

He was the best basketball player in high school, but compared to those true geniuses, his basketball talent was too mediocre; he just played very hard.

After graduating from college, he worked as a basketball coach at the high school in the small town of Pusuttani, where he also served as the school's driver, golf coach, and English speech teacher.

Every time he had to play an away game, he would drive his yellow school bus to the away school and play a basketball game in a cramped high school gymnasium that no one paid attention to.

He persevered, spending eight years in Pusuttani and earning a total of $3600, becoming the second most well-known name in the town—the first being the famous groundhog, Pusuttani Phil.

Daly had mediocre talent and average intelligence, but his extraordinary passion for basketball sustained him as he climbed up from the bottom to the highest level of the basketball world.

That's why he understands better than anyone what price to pay and what means to use to achieve success.

He loves shopping and dressing up. He owns hundreds of designer suits and lives in a million-dollar mansion. He has thick, beautiful curly hair and claims he would rather lose his limbs than lose his curly hair. After each training session, he restyles his curly hair and straightens the legs of his trousers with an iron.

What people don't know is that although all his suits are genuine, he bought them at discount stores, or specially selected overstock, clearance items, or seasonal items at huge discounts. He only buys cheap goods.

Although his mansion was worth millions, he actually took it at a low price when the owner was in a hurry to sell. He kept saying that if he had been more patient and negotiated the price, the price he got would have been even lower.

The Cadillac he drives was a gift from General Motors; Detroit has no shortage of cars, including luxury cars.

His curly hair is where he spends the most money most frequently, always needing to see a hairstylist for repairs. The most he ever spent was $34, which made him very upset.

But his beautiful hair greatly enhanced Daly's image. He displayed a good image and temperament on a Detroit television show called Chuck Daly's One on One, which greatly increased his popularity and reputation.

So, when the Detroit Pistons were committing increasingly rough fouls and using more and more unsportsmanlike tactics on defense to intimidate and threaten their opponents, Chuck Daly wasn't seen as a bloodthirsty madman or a ruthless schemer. On the contrary, his image was always associated with elegance and propriety, as if his group of "bad boys" had held him hostage, and that without his wealthy father, these bad boys would be even worse.

On the contrary, because of Daly's presence, these guys who used to only know how to fight also learned to play basketball.

What an inspiring story of basketball saving delinquent teenagers.

But now, the protagonist of the story is sent flying by a brutal, rugby-like collision.

In an "accidental" save, Gan Guoyang, holding the ball, collided with Daley, who was unable to dodge in time.

Gan Guoyang held the ball with both hands, his upper arms pressing against Daley's nose.

That was a really bad impact; Daley's nose was bleeding profusely, and blood splattered onto his blue suit and white shirt.

After getting up, Gan Guoyang looked at Daley lying on the ground, his eyes showing little remorse.

Dennis Rodman tried to rush over and grab Gan Guoyang, but was blocked by Mitchell Thompson, who rushed over at the same time.

The Pistons' starters and reserves were in a frenzy, but the Trail Blazers players all rushed over to protect Gan Guoyang.

Not only that, fans in the front row of Memorial Arena rushed in to protect Forrest Gump—security in the front row of Memorial Arena wasn't great during the first round against the Warriors.

The Trail Blazers players and fans all knew that at this moment, they had to protect Forrest Gump, not because they were afraid he would get hurt or beaten, but because they were afraid he would lose his temper and fight back, which would result in him being ejected.

Chaos erupted at the scene, and the game was suspended. According to Nielsen statistics after the game, the ratings for the final reached their peak at this moment, and CBS broadcast a barrage of commercials during the subsequent pause.

Gan Guoyang wanted to twist Rodman's head off. Who gave you the guts to charge at me like that?
The match was suspended for more than ten minutes as a result, but the referee still did not eject Gan Guoyang because, upon reviewing the video, it was indeed an accident.

The atmosphere in the Memorial Stadium is now incredibly heated, like a volcano. If the referee sends Forrest Gump off, it will undoubtedly trigger an unprecedented brawl between fans and players.

The role of a referee is not to make every decision fairly and impartially, but to control the situation on the field.

The most important thing now is to calm the situation and let the game continue.

The referees tonight are Darrell Garrison and Joe Crawford.

Crawford was the younger one, starting to officiate in 1977, while Garretson started blowing the whistle in 1967.

For Garretson, such scenes were common in matches in the 60s and 70s, so he quickly learned how to calm things down.

Crawford, on the other hand, was a bit stunned, because after 77, the NBA had become very lenient, and this was the first time he had ever seen such a bloody scene.

Chuck Daly, whose nose was broken, was carried off the court by medical staff. Instead of touching his nose, he smoothed his hair and asked the team doctor, "Is my hair messy?"

The team doctor glanced at Daley and said, "No, everything is very neat."

Daly smiled and said, "That's good."

(End of this chapter)