RIP Jud Heathcote

[Starman]

Grouchy but very funny.

 

[MileHigh]

 

[TwoGloves]

Covered a George Perles weekly press conference one year late in the season and with basketball about to start, they had Heathcote say a few words. He gets up and thanks MSU for letting him speak and then says "For those of you expecting to hear from George, this is a real treat for you!"

 

[Starman]

Heathcote was funny. Perles was just an asshole.

 

[D-3 Fan]

Growing up in Iowa, in the heart of Big Ten country, Heathcote will always, to me, be associated with good ol' Jenison Fieldhouse. That place was a house of horror for conference foes.

Heathcote was a curmudegon comedian. He would slap his head when things went wrong, and have you fall out laughing in a presser.

One of the iconic coaches in the B1G for me.

 

[Bronco77]

Recruited and coached Magic Johnson, won a national title at Michigan State and was a master of the matchup zone defense. And then there was the sense of humor.

Covered a Big Ten basketball preseason media day as a young sportswriter in the early '80s and still get a laugh out of his line about Bill Frieder: "When Frieder was a kid, he climbed to the top of an ugly tree, fell off it and hit every branch on the way down." Even Frieder thought it was funny. I think Heathcote used that line again a few times throughout his career.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Sports Illustrated did a feature during his final year. Headline: The Last Harrumph

 

[Starman]

God needed someone to show him how to pound himself in the head with his fists.