T. Harry
Williams Center for Oral History Collection
INTERVIEWEE
NAME:
Joe Dean COLLECTION: 4700.0527
IDENTIFICATION: Former LSU
Basketball player 1948-1952, current LSU Director of Athletics
INTERVIEWER: Fred Demarest
PROJECT: LSU History
DATES: January 30,
1995 and February 17, 1997. FOCUS
DATES: 1948-1997
ABSTRACT:
T
764
Dean's
place of date and place of birth;
Dean's parents names and occupations; early education; early involvement
with basketball; highschool basketball; choosing LSU; first impression of LSU;
ROTC; freshman friends; campus life and social activities; being homesick;
Dean's major; memorable teachers including T. Harry Williams and Dr. Kent;
extracurricular activities that Dean was involved in Sigma Chi and the L Club
or Letterman's club; hazing activities by the L club; How Dean met his wife
Doris; view of the 1950's; difference between basketball and football in
Louisiana; the use of assistant football coaches to coach basketball; playing
in substandard situations; basketball in the South; low crowd numbers; his
performance during his junior year; memories of Bob Petit former LSU basketball
player who went on to become a famous professional players; remembering the
1952 basketball team members; Dean's final college game playing Kentucky;
winning a thousand points; how the team would travel and the impact on player
closeness; Ned Clark former LSU basketball player; being drafted in to the army
after finishing college; playing for the Phillips 66 Oilers as part of the
National Industrial Basketball League on the west coast; Grady Lewis former
members of the Phillips 66 Oilers and former sales manager for Converse;
getting a job with Converse; working for Converse singing athletic celebrities
for Converse.
T
765
Dean's
high school coach and his impact on Dean's life; experience as a high school
player in Indiana; the importance of Basketball in Indiana; the basketball
system; memories of high points of playing high school basketball; encouraging
other basketball players to attend LSU; recruitment for professional basketball
after college, choosing the Phillips 66 Oilers; getting a job with Converse;
responsibilities at converse; traveling
as part of work; negotiating with sports agents; working as a television color
announcer for college basketball; the change in the popularity of college
basketball; working for NBC; Dean's opinion on the best player he ever saw; how
the term “string music” developed; what
is involved in being LSU's Athletic Director; relationship with Dale Brown
current LSU basketball coach; view on LSU basketball.
TAPES:
764,
765 TOTAL
PLAYING TIME: approx. 2 hours and 20 min
#
PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 94
OTHER
MATERIALS: Interviewee
Release Form; interviewer notes to tapes 764 and 765; Correspondence.
RESTRICTIONS: None.