Seattle — Tom Izzo and his Michigan State team were on hallowed ground for practice in the lead-up to Saturday’s 80-63 win at Washington. Ancestral ground, even, and not just for the six indigenous tribes whose land the university was built on.
Izzo and his team got to practice on a court dedicated to Marv Harshman, who in a way is Izzo’s coaching tree grandfather.
Harshman was a longtime coach at Washington State from 1958 to 1971, where from 1964 on he mentored a young assistant named Jud Heathcote. Heathcote then went to Montana and then Michigan State, where he coached the Magic Johnson-led 1979 national championship team and was a two-time Big Ten coach of the year. He also mentored another young assistant named Tom Izzo, who worked for him from 1983 until he handed him the reins to his team in 1995.
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All these years later, Izzo — a national champion whose long list of accolades include the Big Ten’s all-time wins record with 366 and counting — still shares frequent memories of his mentor Heathcote. That was fresh on his mind this weekend.
“There’s a lot of good things about here, mostly because of Jud and all the stories he told me about Washington,” Izzo said.
Back in East Lansing, Heathcote used to bring a retired Harshman into practices in the fall. He’d send Izzo into a classroom to learn from the source of his own coaching lessons.
“Jud would tell me, ‘Go talk to Marv. You’ll learn more basketball in an afternoon,’” Izzo said. “And I’d go in that room, and Marv would take the chalkboard and it was covered with stuff. And then Jud came in and he said, ‘Did you screw up my assistant?’ And I loved Marv Harshman. I absolutely loved him. I thought he was a brilliant mind at 80-something.”
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Harshman died in 2013, but before then he got to see the Washington practice court dedicated in his honor in 2008. After Washington State let him walk in 1971, Harshman went across the state to Seattle and coached the Huskies from then until his retirement in 1985, when he was immediately inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Heathcote died in 2017 at the age of 90.
Izzo said he brought Harshman’s son, Dave, in to speak with his team Friday after practice.
“I’ll always have a soft spot for the Harshman family,” Izzo said, “… and a lot of that’s because of Jud.”
In the MSU-Washington series, the Spartans notched their first win in Seattle on Saturday. The last time they met at Washington was Dec. 30, 1957. The Huskies won that one, 71-69.
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The Spartans are 6-2 against Washington all-time, though none of those games pitted the Spartans against Harshman’s squads.
Multiple agencies in Washington are reporting that the state’s 911 service provider is currently experiencing technical difficulties. As a result, callers may encounter delays and/or issues with location information when contacting 911.
In this provided photo, Michelle Stewart and her husband, Bryan Stewart, pose for a photo during her retirement ceremony as Chief of Staff at the Arlington National Cemetery on July 25, 2014. Both Michelle and Bryan Stewart retired with the rank of colonel after a combined nearly 60 years of service in the U.S. Army. They currently live in Battle Ground, Wash.
Courtesy Col. Keith Joseph
In just a few weeks, millions of Americans will celebrate the Fourth of July with their families and friends at barbecues, parades and outdoor concerts under fireworks. This year’s celebrations will take on added significance as our nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of its independence.
As we approach this historic milestone, “Think Out Loud” hears from guests whose life experiences and personal histories illuminate different aspects of what it means to be an American.
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We start by hearing from Bryan and Michelle Stewart, a married couple in Battle Ground, Wash. Bryan and Michelle retired as colonels in the U.S. Army after nearly 60 years of combined service at military bases in the U.S and abroad. They both served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bryan was also deployed to the NATO headquarters in Belgium. Michelle worked in Bosnia, where she helped identify mass grave sites and assisted with the U.S.-led effort to end the war. She also served as the Chief of Staff at Arlington National Cemetery.
Michelle and Bryan Stewart join us to talk about how their military service has shaped their views on patriotism, sacrifice and our country’s founding ideals.
“Think Out Loud®” broadcasts live at noon every day and rebroadcasts at 8 p.m.
If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983.
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WASHINGTON (7News) — With thousands of spectators expected to attend the UFC fights at The White House, fans had to fight the weather while awaiting the much-anticipated event.
Fight night on Sunday was preceded by excitement in the hours leading up to the first bout.
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“Everywhere you walk, people have American flags; they’re excited about the fights,” said David Klimek.
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The heat and humidity blanketed the nation’s capital throughout the day.
Event staff handed out free water bottles along the path leading to the security screening area.
“We’re probably just going to find a bar or a watch party, maybe get out of the heat a little bit. They were giving out free waters. That was cool. I wasn’t expecting that,” said Nathan Willingham.
Klimek echoed this sentiment, telling 7News, “It’s just too hot out here. We try to have water, but you’re standing in the sun, so we did the best we can.”
It wasn’t just the heat that played a role on Sunday.
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The possibility of storms also had fans making plans in case they had to find cover.
“We planned to just wait it out right in the rain. But for the lightning, we were just going to follow the crowd, see where people go. I heard they were going to come back when it’s over, so we just trusted the organizers to keep us safe,” Klimek said.
Ethan Ragland told 7News, “I think we’re just going to go to a bar, just watch the fight there if that happens. That’s the ‘plan B,’ I guess.”
In the days leading up to the fights, public safety officials ramped up security measures.
That included road closures all around the National Mall.
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“I think they did a really good job of setting up all of the infrastructure. They got a lot of police. It seems like it’s pretty safe,” Willingham said. “I was worried about the possibility of some dangerous stuff, but it seems like it’s very, very secure.”
Many roads will remain closed through Monday evening.
