Al McGuire, 1977 Championship Team to Be Remembered at NCAA Final Four
2/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2007
MILWAUKEE - McGuire, Dick Enberg's one-man play about legendary Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire, will be presented in Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre during the Final Four weekend for three shows only. This year marks the 30th anniversary of McGuire's triumphant NCAA championship in Atlanta as head coach at Marquette. The show debuted on the Marquette campus in Milwaukee, Wis. in 2005 to a sell-out audience.
Those who saw Al McGuire lead the 1977 Marquette basketball team to the national championship knew him to be quite a character. Renowned sportscaster and multiple Emmy Award winner Enberg has written a deeply moving tribute to this sports legend. His play, McGuire, shares his memories of his long-time colleague and close friend.
All performances will be held at the Alliance Theatre. Performance times and dates are:
*Saturday, Mar. 31, at 1 p.m., pre-show talk with Enberg followed by a performance
*Sunday, Apr. 1, at 1 p.m. performance followed by post-show talk with Enberg, and 5 p.m. pre-show talk with Enberg followed by a performance.
This one-man play returns Al to center stage, where he loved to be. It revisits Al's inimitable wit and wisdom, as he reminisces about his life from the streets of Brooklyn to his days at Marquette and his travels as a sportscaster. Enberg's play depicts why the philosophy of this uncommonly funny and profound man had such an important and lasting impact on so many.
McGuire was a leader on and off the court, and the people of Milwaukee adopted the Brooklyn native as one of their own. McGuire's final game was March 28, 1977, the NCAA championship game in Atlanta in which Marquette beat North Carolina, 67-59. After a second career as a sportscaster for NBC and CBS, he died January 26, 2001 of a blood disorder at the age of 72.
Distinguished actor Cotter Smith will reprise his role as McGuire. Smith's New York theatre credits include the Broadway production of Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter, Lanford Wilson's Burn This and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive, as well as ten years as a member of the Circle Repertory Company. His numerous television and film credits range from his debut twenty-five years ago as Robert Kennedy in the mini-series Blood Feud to his more recent role as the President of the United States in the Twentieth Century Fox film X2: X-Men United. He is also the co-artistic director of the Cornerstone Theatre Company in Milwaukee. Heidi Mueller-Smith, director and co-founder of the company, directs her husband in the production.
Tickets are $25 and available online at www.alliancetheatre.org or by calling the Woodruff Arts Center box office at (404) 733-5000.
McGuire is presented by Marquette University's Department of Performing Arts and the Alliance Theatre and is made possible by a partnership with Cingular and the Atlanta Visitors & Convention Bureau.