Jon McGlocklin has been doing Bucks TV games for 32 seasons and has been with the franchise in some capacity since its inception in 1968. (Getty)

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April 3, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- Nowhere on God's great earth is the game of basketball held in higher regard than it is in Indiana.

Anyone who has played the game there -- especially at the high-school level -- can attest to that.

And many of the best players the state has produced considered it a step down when they had to leave Hoosierland to pursue collegiate or professional careers in the sport.

Jon McGlocklin, who was once voted one of the 50 greatest high school basketball players in Indiana's glorious history, is an exception to that rule. He has Milwaukee to thank for that, and his gratitude has been continuous since he arrived here in 1968 -- and never left.

Milwaukee will get the chance to thank him back on the night of Friday, April 4, when the Milwaukee Bucks rededicate his retired jersey No. 14 in the grand finale of their 40th anniversary celebration series.

McGlocklin will be honored at halftime of the Bucks' 7:30 p.m. game against -- coincindentally enough -- the Indiana Pacers.

"I can tell you so many Indiana stories," McGlocklin said. "The greatest game I ever played in was in high school, three overtimes. Playing in Indiana was a great, great experience, but I didn't step down when I came to Milwaukee; I stepped up.

"I'm in four halls of fame in two states, which is a great privilege and honor, but having my jersey retired by the Bucks was the single greatest individual honor I've had."

For McGlocklin to have such sentiments speaks volumes. After all, he was introduced to the game and began playing it in a place and at a time where it never mattered more to the surrounding population.

"The magnitude and pressure of the games was unbelievable, and the guys who played the game were intense and serious all summer," he said. "It was a great time and place to be a high-school basketball player."

McGlocklin offered up a couple of his many classic stories as cases in point.

The first unfolded before he had even reached high school.

"I signed my first autograph in eighth grade," he said. "I was big by the time I was in fifth grade, and it was obvious I was going to be a player. When I was in eighth grade, we were playing Columbus at Franklin, and a girl and two guys from that school asked me for my autograph.

"I ran away in embarrassment -- I thought they were making fun of me. They followed me, and said they really wanted my autograph and thought I was going to be a great player."

Jon attended Franklin High School, located 15 miles south of Indianapolis. His most memorable game as a Franklin Grizzly Cub came in the regular-season finale of his senior year. His team, rated 12th in the state, was playing second-ranked Indianapolis Cathedral on a neutral court to accommodate a crowd of close to 5,000.

The game went into triple overtime, and in that era, after the first OT, any remaining extra sessions were sudden-death. No one scored in the second OT, but in the third one, McGlocklin's coach called his number.

"For the only time in four years of high school, I played guard," McGlocklin said. "The coach said, 'You've got to get the tip,' and I did. They set a play for me, I pulled their 6-foot-11-inch center out, and let go about a 23- or 24-footer. It circled the rim, and at that moment I felt like I was in a movie, where everything goes to slow motion.

"I squat down, I'm looking at the rim, and the ball's going around, and around, and around, and I can't hear a thing. The ball goes in. I score 30, we win, and the gym goes up for grabs. People were on the floor, throwing people in the air.

"And then I collapsed. I didn't realize how exhausted I really was until that moment. It was the most thrilling moment I've ever had in my life."

In that day and age, basketball players in most parts of the country didn't become celebrities until they reached the professional ranks. But remember, McGlocklin lived in a very different place when it came to hoops.

"You can't explain how special it was to grow up in Indiana playing basketball, especially when I grew up there -- in the '50s and early '60s," McGlocklin said. "It was when Milan High School wrote the story of 'Hoosiers' and there were so many other great teams and players.

"I never played in an empty gym there in high school. And then playing with Tom and Dick Van Arsdale at Indiana (University), there was so much hype and notoriety. But to come here and play in Milwaukee was still a step up, so that's saying something."

Even with the Van Arsdale twins, who both became collegiate and professional stars, playing alongside him, McGlocklin earned all-Big Ten Conference honors twice while playing for the IU Hoosiers.

He began his National Basketball Association career with the Cincinnati Royals and played two seasons with them before going to the San Diego Rockets in the 1967 expansion draft. He entered another expansion draft the following year, at his request, and became an original member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

"The first thing I remember about coming to Milwaukee was driving down I-94 and smelling the hops and not knowing what they were," McGlocklin recalled. "It's difficult to compare San Diego and Milwaukee, but because we were so excited about the team, we were happy with everthing."

The rest, as the say, is history.

In his first season with the Bucks, he led the club in scoring with an average of 19.6 points per game and became the franchise's first NBA All-Star in its inaugural season. He represented the Bucks in the 1969 All-Star game in Baltimore, Md.

In eight seasons with the Bucks, McGlocklin averaged 12.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. His teams advanced to the NBA Playoffs in six of those eight years, and he was the starting shooting guard on Milwaukee's 1971 World Championship club that won 66 regular-season games, roared through the playoffs with a 12-2 record and swept the Baltimore Bullets, four games to none, in the NBA Finals. McGlocklin contributed 14.9 points per game in the 14 playoff tilts.

He was recognized league-wide as one of the purest shooters in the game, and many still consider him one of the best marksmen they have ever seen.

"It's just too bad that they didn't have the 3-point shot when Jon played, because he would have enjoyed a lot more success, although he was very successful," legengary former Bucks announcer Eddie Doucette said. "His strength was his range. He was a form shooter -- very clinical. If you got him a screen, he could hit the shots all night."

There was much more to McGlocklin's game than "rainbow jumpers," though. He gave everything he had in every game he played, and he was a student of the game.

"A strong facet of his game was that he was an intelligent player who knew the offense and knew how it worked," Doucette said. "He understood his role as a player."

"I was considered a complete ballplayer in both high school and college because I didn't have any glaring weaknesses," McGlocklin said. "But when I got to the pros and especially Milwaukee, I became very aware of my strength, and that was outside shooting. It (shooting) was a great attribute, and I probably ranked in the top one percent in the league at the time. I had a strong work ethic, and gave it my best at all times."

McGlocklin, who was just recently named to the Bucks' 20-man 40th anniverary team, still ranks among the franchise's all-time leaders in points (7,505, 12th), free-throw percentage (.860, sixth) games played (595, fourth) and minutes (17,008, 10th). He is among the playoff leaders in points (577, 13th), games (51, T-ninth), minutes (1,462, eighth) and free throw percentage (.820, sixth).

He is the only player to wear No. 14 for the Bucks, and he was the second player in team history to have his number retired, on Dec. 10, 1976. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983 and into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998 as a "Friend of Basketball."

McGlocklin joined the Bucks' front office following his playing career, and is now in his 32nd season as analyst for the team's television broadcasts. For many years after his last NBA game, he was the star attraction at the Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Camps, leaving countless youngsters spellbound with his uncanny shooting demonstrations. And he did that, like he has done everything else in his life, with sheer class.

No professional sports organization has ever had a better or classier front man.

The special bond McGlocklin has enjoyed with Milwaukee for the past 40 years extends far beyond the basketball court, though. He will always be remembered as one of Wisconsin's greatest humanitarians.

In 1976, he and Doucette co-founded the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) Fund. With McGlocklin serving as president, the fund financed construction of the MACC Fund Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin and has contributed $30 million to the fight against childhood cancer. In June 2004, McGlocklin was named a trustee emeritus of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

While continuing his devoted commitment to the MACC Fund, McGlocklin joined the State Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, helped found the Bando-McGlocklin Capital Corporation in 1980, and served as president and owner of Healy Awards, Inc.

Jon and his wife, Pam, made their home in Greendale for many years and have since relocated to Hartland. Their son, Shannon, and daughter, Megan, still live in the Metro Milwaukee area and have blessed Jon and Pam with three granddaughters.

Jon knows he will be both thrilled and humbled by Friday's ceremony.

"It's been such a privilege to be part of this team, this organization and this city for the past 40 years," he said. "And people here have always treated me here so well. Having my jersey number retired here is probably the single greatest honor I've had. It's a different realm ... rare air.

"You're being recognized as one of the greatest players in an organization's 40-year history, and nobody can take that away from you."

For old times' sake, Jon sometimes drives past the house in which he lived as a boy back in Franklin, Indiana. The house has been for sale a number of times, and during one of the sales, it was advertised in the paper as "the boyhood home of Jon McGlocklin."

There really is no place like home, especially if you were a high school basketball player in the state of Indiana -- one who went on to become a professional basketball player, a world champion, and found a home every bit as special in Milwaukee.