From the Back Court to the Front Office: The Isiah Thomas Story

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THE

ISIAH THOMAS STORY FROM THE BACK COURT TO THE FRONT OFFICE

PAUL CHALLEN

ECW Press

Copyright © Paul Challen, 2004 Published by ECW Press 2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Challen, Paul, 1967From the back court to the front office : The Isiah Thomas story. Previously published under the title: The book of Isiah. ISBN 1-55022-662-2 1. Thomas, Isiah, 1961- 2. Basketball players—United States— Biography. I. Challen, Paul, 1967- . II. Title. GV.884.T47C42 2004

796.323*092

C2004-902549-X

Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan Cover Photo: © Mike Segar/Reuters Newmedia Inc/Corbis/MAGMA Typesetting: Wiesia Kolasinska Printing: St. Joseph's Print Group This book is set in Minion and Eurostile. DISTRIBUTION

CANADA: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Ave., Georgetown, ON LJG 554 USA: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610 PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA

ECW PRESS ecwpress.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the following people: Jack David and Bob Pipe of ECW PRESS; John Kernaghan of the Hamilton Spectator, Chris Young of the Toronto Star, Bradley D. Cook of the Indiana University Archives; Jon Churchill and Kim Pickett of the Serials Department, Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University; Rose Ann McKean of the Detroit Free Press Photo Reprint Sales Department; the staff of the Media Relations Office, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Indiana University; Mrs. J. Bradshaw of the Toronto Star Photo Syndicate; Tor Lukasik-Foss for his advice; the Challen and Belzak families for their support; and most of all, my wife Janine Belzak and our son Sam for their patience and guidance. In the photo section, top photo on p. i by K. Berty, courtesy of the Toronto Star, Indiana University photos on pp. 1-2 courtesy of Hoosier Basketball; Detroit Piston photos on p. 3 by William Archie, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press; photo of Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas on p. 4 by Ron Brenne, courtesy of The Bettmann Archive; bottom photo on p. 4 by D. Lock, courtesy of the Toronto Star, top photo on p. 5 by B. Spremo, courtesy of the Toronto Star, bottom photo on p. 5 by M. Stuparyk, courtesy of the Toronto Star, top photo on p. 6 by R. Eglinton, courtesy of the Toronto Star, bottom photo on p. 6 by T. Bock, courtesy of the Toronto Star, top photo on p. 7 by Veronica Henri, courtesy of Canada Wide Feature Services; bottom photo on p. 7 by Craig Robertson, courtesy of Canada Wide Feature Services; top photo on p. 8 by R. Lautens, courtesy of the Toronto Star, bottom photo on p. 8 by Veronica Henri, courtesy of Canada Wide Feature Services.

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