Al McGuire, a New York City, college-basketball and TV-sportscasting legend — and a character’s character — is seriously ill with a blood disorder.
At a press gathering held by CBS yesterday to bang the drums for its NCAA Tournament coverage, word circulated — and was confirmed by CBS Sports staffers — that the 72-year-old McGuire will not work the tournament due to a weakened condition and that he’s extremely ill, suffering from what CBS officially would only classify as anemia.
McGuire’s blood disorder prevents the body from manufacturing enough red blood cells and gets progressively worse.
CBS sources noted that McGuire’s condition is such that long-time friend and courtside TV partner Billy Packer broke down yesterday when addressing CBS Sports production crews on McGuire’s illness.
“Today was a tough day,” Packer said last night. “It was the close of a chapter of basketball and my association with Al that’s been very special. It was hard to face that.”
A weakening McGuire, who last worked Sunday on CBS’ Indiana-Wisconsin telecast, lately has often been relegated to a wheelchair.
“Al has had anemia all his life,” said broadcast partner Dick Enberg. “Because of this condition, he felt like he was holding people up instead of being the leader out in front like he always has been.”
McGuire, born and raised in New York, played for St. John’s, then, beginning in 1951, for three seasons with the Knicks.
But he found national fame as a countrified urban philosopher while coaching at Marquette, which he led to a national championship in 1977. His legend was sustained — and likely grew — when he joined NBC as a college basketball analyst the season after that championship. Sometimes ditzy, sometimes poignant, McGuire’s TV appeal lied in his unpredictable take on matters big and small. He spoke his own language and always marched to the beat of his own drummer.
“He’s the most brilliant person other than my wife in terms of insight into people and insight into basic things about life,” Packer said. “You know that [Peter Sellers] movie ‘Being There’? He really was a fool but everybody thought he was a genius. Al is just the opposite. He’s a genius that everybody thinks is a fool.”
James Worthy will replace McGuire as Enberg’s partner during the tournament.