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Bill Self is universally regarded as a big-time recruiter, one of the best in college basketball. The coach of the newly crowned NCAA championship team once signed Dee Brown, Luther Head, Deron Williams and most of the players who took Illinois to second place in the 2005 NCAA tournament and wooed Julian Wright and Sherron Collins to Kansas.
But Self isn't the most accomplished salesman who ever sold a high school prospect on spending four years in Lawrence, Kan.
Meet Sam Miranda.
In an era before cell phones, text messaging and other outside influences such as the Internet, summer coaches and street agents, Miranda served as Ted Owens' assistant coach and recruiter from 1963 to 1976. His primary responsibility? Recruiting talent in Illinois, from Chicago to East St. Louis.
Miranda knew the state well. An all-stater at Collinsville in 1948, he played for Branch McCracken at Indiana. He coached at Galatia for one year, Vandalia for two years and Kankakee for five years. Then he was an assistant coach at New Mexico for two years before joining Owens at Kansas.
It didn't take him long to make an impact. He had persuaded Collinsville star Rodger Bohnenstiehl to commit to New Mexico. But when Miranda left to Kansas, Bohnenstiehl followed. And that was just the beginning.
"I was from Illinois and knew it was a great basketball state," Miranda said. "I knew a lot of high school coaches. I figured we had to outwork people. I was on the phone every night from 7 to 10 talking to players in Illinois. We had practice on Friday afternoon. Afterward, I'd catch a flight in Kansas City, fly to Illinois, see a game, visit with parents, go to dinner, then fly back on a 12:45 flight to Kansas City."
Nobody was more successful. Miranda wooed JoJo White from St. Louis to Kansas. White wanted to go to Cincinnati because of Oscar Robertson. But Cincinnati couldn't get film on him. "You don't have to see him play," a coach told Miranda. "He can play." Miranda didn't hesitate to make an offer.
"I went to Kansas because I couldn't talk to any other coaches. I was always on the phone with Sam," White later said.
Miranda also recruited Bob and Tom Kivisto out of East Aurora, Tom, now an oilman in Tulsa, Okla., donated millions of dollars to renovate Kansas' football stadium. He also recruited Rich Bradshaw (Marshall), Roger Brown (Englewood) and Donnie Von Moore (Kenwood) out of Chicago, Roger Morningstar from Dundee, Dave Robisch from Springfield, Dale Greenlee from Rockford Guilford, Tommie Smith from Kewanee and Rick Suttle from East St. Louis Assumption.
Oh, he lost a few along the way. Collinsville great Tom Parker was set to attend Kansas, then was wooed by Adolph Rupp and Joe B. Hall to Kentucky. Marion's Greg Starrick also opted for Kentucky.
"I once stayed in Joliet for a week to recruit Roger Powell," Miranda recalled. "I saw his mother every morning and took them out to dinner at night. He signed with Kansas but didn't pass the test. He ended up at Illinois State."
Now retired and living in Lawrence, Kan., Miranda admires Self, who has a philosophy of recruiting in Illinois. His predecessor, Roy Williams, preferred California. "Self believes there is nobody he can't get," Miranda said.
"I always felt the key point was to sell yourself. There always was one person in the family that you had to get on your side. If you sold him or her, chances are you would get the kid. I'd talk about Kansas' success and Wilt Chamberlain. Everybody had heard of Wilt."
Cell Phone Alerts
I don't doubt that Sam Miranda,was a great recruiter but for one exception....He couldn't recruit a young lady attending Indiana University in the year 1951. Her name was Polly Mink, a member of ZTA Sorority. It took a basketball teammate of Sam's to finally introduce Sam to Polly. That teammate was me...........
I so enjoyed this article. I remember all of these players (and so many more NOT from Illinois) as young, gangly men who had to duck to walk through our doorways. Sam is now 77, and would love to hear from old teammates and his players. contact me via jglaze@swbell.net and I can give you his phone number. He and Ted's staff had great coaches through the years, many Big 8 Championships, 2 Final Fours and they started the Jayhawk Basketball camp. He has great respect for Bill Self, who has been wonderful to an old retired coach who still lives in Lawrence.
If it was'nt for Sam I would not have ever gotten off the bench at Kansas. I can still heare those familiar words " don't you think we should put Donnie in the game". Every time he said it Ted would put me in the game. He taught me how to play the game and belived in me. But most importantly he taught me honor,diginity and respect. He was my roll model and I carry a part of him with me to this very day. When I coach and when I teach. What a gift. Thanks Sam. Donnie Von Moore
I played at Collinsville 2 years after Sam graduated with Chuck Kraak who followed Sam to Indiana. I was fortunate to see Sam play nearly every one of his high school games, and he was a great ball handler, and had an accurate one handed push shot. He led a great Kahok team in 1948 that could have won Collinsville's first state championship, except for running into a "hot" Marion team in Champaign. Ah! the memories linger on. Hope Sam is doing well!
Regards,
Sam Miranda is one of the finest men I have ever known. I had broken my ankle my senior year of high school playing football, so all of the colleges that had been recruiting me for basketball backed off. My high school football coach in Rockford, Illinois, Bill Swaby, grew up with Coach Miranda in Collinsville, and got Sam to take a look at me. Coach showed faith in me and allowed me to come to KU for a fantastic 4 years of my life. Best break I ever had. Thanks Coach Miranda, for everything. You're the best! Dale Greenlee
I was in the downstate audience when Mr. Belobraydic hit a fantastic number of turnaround J's, blocks and boards, great playing!! With Kevin Stallings, what a great team they had!
Sorry to say but I was pulling for Westinghouse... ;-)
Nice memories! Way to go Jim, you came up big down there and should be proud.
Donnie, what can I say? You were like a mythic legend for me, growing up 3 blocks from Kenwood HS. I was very disappointed at your underutilization at Kansas but glad to see you found so much personal growth there.
All best regards.... IHSA forever! David