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Viking Champions: Keith French
CHICAGO, IL (June 6, 2003) - When Keith French took his first trip to North Park
College in 1977 he never arrived - he was headed to a Vikings game and to
check out the school on a recruiting visit, but got into a car accident and
never made it to the school.
The second time French had a chance to go to North Park, he made it to the
school without incident and the Vikings were glad he did. French
transferred from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, after his
sophomore year and was a key reserve on the 1979-80 national basketball
championship squads at North Park.
A Chicago native, French was drafted by the National Basketball
Association's Phoenix Suns after his senior year. His personal highlights
included a 37-point game against Carroll College and an All-Tournament
performance in the 1980 Division III Final Four. French scored the winning
basket and blocked the potential game-tying shot in a 57-55 win over
Longwood College in the 1980 semifinals. He also fondly remembers his
contributions in a 1979 Division III semifinal win over Franklin and
Marshall College of Pennsylvania.
French had played high school basketball at Bowen High School in Chicago
under Keith McDonald, one of the best players in North Park history.
McDonald convinced French to transfer and he has no regrets about his
decision.
"They were good, honest to goodness," said French on his first impression
of North Park's basketball team. "The first person I had to guard at North
Park was Jim Clausen and he was quick and tall and a good passer. When I
saw him I thought, 'This is going to be a step up.' And when you also had
guys like Michael Harper, who was 6-foot-11 and could jump out of the gym,
you knew you were going to be good."
French often replaced Clausen at forward as sixth man, although Clausen,
French, Modzel "Bud" Greer and Grant Grastorf (another transfer on the
1979-80 title teams) were similar in size and served as interchangeable
parts on a well-oiled machine.
"Harper was truly one of the keys to our ability to 'de-motivate' our
opponents because no one had any strategy to contain him," French said. "He
was tall, but he had good athletic ability and a great shot. He had a
turnaround jumper where he'd be shooting down on the basket and there was
nothing he could do about that.
Jimmy (Clausen) was sort of an extension of point guard Michael Thomas
because he knew how to get you the ball from the high post," French
continued. "And Bud (Greer) was just a tremendous shooter - from close
range, long range, and driving to the basket. We made it tough on
opponents. On one side you could have Jimmy, Thomas and Bud ready to score.
And on the other side you had Harper and Grant (Grastorf), who was a sure
shot from 15 feet out."
French and Thomas became good friends at North Park and French (now in
marketing with a pharmaceutical company in Philadelphia) continues to stay
in touch while Thomas serves the U.S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. While the
three-time All-America center Harper had the most basketball success after
college, eventually playing for the Portland Trailblazers, French said that
Thomas might have been most responsible for the team's overall success.
"Michael Thomas completely controlled our team," French continued. "He knew
how to play off the strength of every player in a game so that we could
execute. He knew how to get the ball to players where they could score. For
example, he knew that I could jump well and that I'd be hard to contain
when I was close to the basket. Our favorite play was the lob and he knew
how to communicate with me without moving a muscle. He made the lob an art.
I think Michael Thomas got me drafted because he exploited my strengths.
"We never wanted to be on the receiving end of coach McCarrell's comments
because we respected him," French continued. "But Thomas was the
quarterback during the games. You never wanted to do something wrong. He
was someone people feared. Not everybody can come in and have that court
sense and how to help others develop their strengths in a manner that
allows a team to win. And he's exactly the same now, still in a leadership
role, still a competitor."
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