Kerr Relives His Palisades Hoop Days

Sometimes we need to look back in order to get direction forward. That was the message delivered by emcee Sam Lagana before he introduced Steve Kerr as the guest speaker at last Wednesday’s Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce General Membership Breakfast at the Aldersgate Retreat Center.

Kerr grew up in the Palisades, attending Paul Revere Middle School and Palisades High before getting a basketball scholarship to the University of Arizona and going on to win five NBA championships (three with the Chicago Bulls and two with the San Antonio Spurs).
“I had a wonderful upbringing,” he said. “This is where my life was formed. I first became interested in basketball because my dad taught political science at UCLA during the John Wooden years, which was a great time to be a fan. I was a ball boy in the mid-’70s and played in Herb Furth’s league at PaliHi on Sundays. They had a mentoring program and Chip Engelland took me under his wing. Chip’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen — he averaged 30 points a game at PaliHi — and he became my shooting coach in the NBA.”
Asked what Palisades Pony Baseball Association teams he played on, Kerr recalls that at the time baseball was the cool sport to play in town.
“That’s one of the best memories of my life,” said Kerr, now 48. “I was on the Tigers and played for the District all-stars. I have fond memories of the Pancake Breakfast and this was before the gym was built so we shot baskets outside.”
Kerr then shared stories about his playing days at PaliHi under Jerry Marvin, saying “We were good but we always lost to Crenshaw,” and how the gathering spot was Mort’s Deli. He walked to school from his house on Chautauqua (where his mother Ann still lives) until he finally got a Moped, which he described as the “greatest gift ever.”
After graduating from PaliHi in 1983, Kerr was at a basketball exhibition at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he met new Arizona head coach Lute Olsen: “I wanted to walk on somewhere but he offered me a spot in July and school started in August.”
Kerr then shared the tragic story of his dad’s death in the 1983 bombings at American University in Beirut and how Arizona fans chanted “Steve Kerr!” when he was announced before a game at McKale Center. “It was a horrible time but I was fortunate to be where I was,” he said. “It felt really good to hear that.”
“Lucky” is the word Kerr used when talking about playing for three Hall of Fame coaches in the NBA (Lenny Wilkens, Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich). He was then asked what it was like playing with Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan.
“Dennis was brought to the team because Phil knew he could handle him — Dennis was a rebel and while other coaches tried to discipline him, Phil embraced his personality,” Kerr said. “One time Phil asked me and a teammate to accompany Dennis to Atlantic City and we said ‘We’re the guys for the job.’ Dennis gambled all night and when we finally got back to the hotel he said ‘I’m going to sleep, have fun at practice.’”
As for Jordan, he eventually learned to trust shooters like John Paxson and Kerr and he was tough on his teammates at practice… “but if you couldn’t handle the pressure he put on you then you couldn’t handle the pressure in the finals.”
Kerr concluded by talking about his experiences as President and General Manager of the Phoenix Suns, how he kept his house in San Diego and commuted back and forth whenever he could, and his job as a TV analyst.
“Leadership is a balance between ‘we’re all in it together’ and ‘I’m going to make the hard decisions,’” Kerr said. “It’s all about a human connection. Expertise leads to respect from employees.”
Asked what his favorite day of the year was growing up he said it was the Fourth of July. He was then presented with a Class of ‘83 yearbook and shown his senior class photo on Page 27 — next to a DeLorean sports car and two guys with surfboards.
“That’s how we rolled way back when.”