Passed away of a heart attack. I watched many a UT game at the drum with Goodner, Baxter, Krivacs, Moore and Branyan. The '78 NIT Champions were one of the best college basketball TEAMS that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing.
The guy who elevated the high post to a spot about 35 feet from the basket to hand off to a guard. One of my favorite memories of UT basketball is him actually driving from that spot for a basket in MSG in the NIT that year. Now if only I could remember if it was against Rutgers in the semis or NC State in the finals. A shame to see him go. Edit: No disrespect intended. Goodner was great on that team in anchoring the middle of the defense. He just wasn't asked to do a lot on the offensive end, and the one biggest memory I have of him playing is that surprise drive in the NIT.
I think he did a couple of those drives v. NC St. That team was my sophomore yeaar at UT-watched them as frosh at Gregory, opened the Drum, then the NIT. Definitely a fun team to watch. Used to go to "lunch w/ the coach" at the Union to hear Abe explain basketball. I remember asking him about playing Goodnner so high and he explained it patiently to me. Hard to believe Goodner has passed.
He was the first Texas player I can remember dunking. Gregory Gym in 1976, the dunk was illegal for about 10 years because of Alcindor.
The memory of Gary I have was as a kid listening to the games on the radio with Bill Little doing play-by-play from gregory. Gary was so bad at free throws, that in one game when they were trailing by a few points and needed every point they could get, he went to the line after being fouled and actually tried a jump shot from the line. Bricked it of course and UT lost. Great memory though. RIP.
Goodner was the anchor on one of my all-time favorite Texas teams. RIP. Re the NIT - it's easy to forget now, but for many, many years the NIT was on a par with the NCAAs. In fact, originally (going way, way back) it was THE tourney. In '78 the NIT was in the beginning stages of what is still a painful transition to basketball relevance, but that was without question a signature win over NC State. I think a lot of kids now don't fully understand that.
The 1977-78 team played a road game at Oklahoma State. The game was a blowout; many locals had come to see Abe's return to Oklahoma. Had the tournament not still been 32 teams then, that ball club was a real Final Four contender. The players bought so much into Abe and his style, it was like having 5 Abe's on the floor getting yelled at by the real thing on the sidelines. While Gary is no longer with us, he and Abe are together. Bet they have some stories to tell. RIP. Prayers for the family.
