:10—Of course I should start with the number one topic in America and I will…but it’s not what you think you think! No, the number one topic in America is not Duke vs. Wisconsin in the NCAA Championships…the No. 1 topic in America is the induction of Thomas Coates, aka “Bum” into the Glenville State College Hall of Fame, an honor well deserved and anyone that knows him knows it couldn’t happen to a better man. And for those of you that had the unfortunate opportunity to play against him in the past 30 years since his collegiate and Detroit Piston days, you know him better than you wanted to. A clear silent assassin, “Bum” would light you up with that sweet long range jumper all night long. And if you made the mistake of trying to guard him outside, he would twist you and turn you, slice you and dice you, and take you to the hole. As the unspoken leader of the great “Bump Yes” Pittsburgh Summer Leagues, he was joined by several Connie Hawkins League Hall of Famers who would do damage to you in more devastating ways. The likes of Larry “Byrd” Richardson, “Magic Mike” Williams, Gilly “Lights Out” Cummings, Larry “Juice” Walker, Mike and Roy Dean and of course the late great Lenard “Houdini” Johnson. But I assure you at the end of the day, nobody did it better than “Bum!” Coates goes into the Glennville Hall of Fame on May 16, with a spectacular career including as a two year letterman WVIAL All Tournament Team, First Team WVIAC All Conference, Team Leader I scoring, rebounding and foul shooting (20 pts. -10 RBS and 85 percent foul shooting), honorable mention All-American, Athletic Department Player of the Year, Glennville State College Male Athlete of the Year and held the single game scoring record for one game for “32 years” with 46 points. And all this time you’ve been wondering why you couldn’t stop him. Now you know!!! Congratulations Tom “Bum” Coates, another in a long line of Pittsburgh legends. (If you want to congratulate “Bum,” you can reach him at his e-mail of tcoates@pr.org).
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