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Former Guard George Pomey Was Defensive Stopper For 1965 National Runner Ups
By Chris Balas
Chalk up another one to the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. After adorning the cover of the popular weekly magazine some 37 years ago, former U-M guard George Pomey — one of the starters on coach Dave S track's legendary teams that included the likes of Cazzie Russell and Bill Buntin — became a victim only a few short weeks later. One of the defensive stoppers on Strack's NCAA runner-up team in 1964-65, Pomey drew (he unenviable task of guarding two of the nation's best on consecutive days — Princeton's Bill Bradley and UCLA's Gail Goodrich.
"Was anybody really guarding them? Pomey chuckled when asked about his assignment, "I gave up over 70 points in the semifinal and final games. Bradley was very patterned as far as what he liked to do. We played him in the [Holiday Festival in Madison Square] Garden, and in watching film on him there were certain things he liked to do that were a little predictable — 4 little different than Goodrich."
Bradley put up 29 points in the semifinal against U-M in Michigan's 93-76 win, while Goodrich racked up 42 in one of the finest performances in NCAA finals history. Michigan started fast and held a 20-13 lead barely seven minutes into the game, but a stifling UCLA press propelled the Bruins to a 47-34 halftime lead. UCLA would go on to win 91-80.
It was a heartbreaking finish to an otherwise magical 24-4 season, Pomey recalled.
"There was a lot of disappointment in not being able to win it all because we started off so well," he said.
"Against UCLA, people said we were so much slower and everything, and talked about the speed of UCLA. It would have been interesting to see what would have materialized if it was more than a one-game set You get that far, and anything can happen. They had some guys play well off the bench."
Though he was one of several victimized in the championship game — his last in a Michigan uniform — Pomey is well remembered as one of the fiercest competitors of his era on the defensive end of the floor. He also averaged a career-high 7.9 points per game in the 1964-65 season and grabbed 104 rebounds as a 6-4 guard, something he specialized in during his playing days at Mt. Prospect (Ill.) High.
After spending four years as a U-M assistant coach (1966-69), Pomey began his own State Farm Insurance agency, one that has thrived in Ann Arbor for over 30 years, and today he remains active and popular in the community. Having been a basketball season ticket holder since his coaching days at U-M, Pomey has remained close to the program, even serving as an analyst on radio and TV broadcasts in the 1990s.
Strack brought Pomey to Ann Arbor in 1961 as part of a three-man class that included Michigan scoring machine Bill Buntin and workhorse Larry Tregoning, a trio regarded as the kick-start to U-M's success in the mid-'60s. When Cazzie Russell, Oliver Darden and company were added to the mix a few years later, the pieces were in place for some of the most memorable teams in Michigan history.
"We were so fortunate," said Pomey of the experience. "Tregoning and Buntin and I were in the first wave. Then they followed it up with one of the best recruiting classes ... Jimmy Myers, John Clawson, who played in the Olympics, John Thompson ... six or seven kids who were great. One of the reasons we were so good is we played against better competition in practice sometimes than we faced in games."
Pomey said he didn't realize until years later another factor that made those teams so special
"When I got into the coaching business I would try to figure out why our team was successful. Was it the makeup of the people, was it the coaches ... what was it that made that team win all those one-point games instead of losing them all?" he said. "One of the things that helped was while we were teammates, we also were all good friends. About a half dozen of us were in the Same fraternity and we knew where everybody else lived. That closeness really went a long way."
Pomey's ties to the Ann Arbor area were vital in his decision to stop coaching after the 1969 season. Though he'd earned his master's degree at Michigan in guidance counseling and envisioned himself a counselor and coach somewhere, uprooting his family for a coaching job at a smaller school wasn't as appealing after spending nearly a decade at Michigan.
During his time in Ann Arbor, Pomey has become one of the local authorities on Michigan basketball; the first guy local sportswriters will call for a quote on the basketball program, or just about anything else U-M related. When Bo Schembechler announced his retirement in 1989, sure enough there was a quote from Pomey, an active athletics department booster.
After Tommy Amaker was hired to "right the ship" last year, Pomey and his wife were invited by U-M athletics director Bill Martin to have dinner with the Amakers. U-M's new
head coach left Pomey feeling the program was in good hands. "Tommy and
Stephanie were kind of alone, so we had the opportunity to join them. It was
interesting to meet him right off the bat," said Pomey. "I think he's
said all the right things, and hopefully he'll follow through on that."
So far, so good, said Pomey, who is impressed with the level of talent Amaker has brought to Michigan and even more impressed with the recruits' non-basketball credentials.
I have good feelings about the type of kids he’s bringing in — tremendous," said Pomey. “I think it’s good that he’s recruiting they type person you don’t have to wait until ‘zero hour’ to fund out if they’re going to qualify or not. He’s not only concerned about good talent, he's concerned about the academic part for those kids. That wasn’t always the case recently, and I think that was one of the things that hurt the program a little bit."
Pomey pointed out that several of the kids under U-M's former staffs didn't ;hag around long enough to build a program Having quality character kids is a necessity to building a foundation, he noted.
"When you do run into problems, that carries you a long way," said Pomey. "The soundness of the kids makes all the difference."
Pomey and his own teammates remain close, reconvening often for reunions in Ann Arbor. Strack is among those who always make it back, though he now lives thousands of miles away in Arizona, where he served as athletics director at the University of Arizona in the 1980s.
Dave Strack is so proud of all the players who played for him,” said Pomey. "Everybody would tell him the Fab Five was the best team ever, and of course his answer to that is, 'If they'd have played back when we played, they would never have made it into the national tournament, because you had to win the Big Ten to make the tournament.'"
Pomey still harbors fond memories of his career at Michigan. Though the basketball team no longer plays at old Yost Fieldhouse, which rocked with enthusiasm thanks to the legacy he helped build, a tribute to their memory still exists in the Crisler Arena concourse. It was one of Michigan basketball's finest eras, and one Pomey will never forget.
"I was fortunate at my age to be at an outstanding institution with a great basketball program," said Pomey. "That's one of the reasons I made a career decision to stay here. We've always loved Ann Arbor and wanted to raise our kids here. There is so much here, not just sports, but culture. There are a lot of positives."
Taken from the December 2002 issue of The Wolverine