There to watch Trey play in the NBA

Memphis is 8 hours away, but the drive flew by Wednesday for NSU basketball coaches Mike McConathy, Mark Slessinger and Jeff Moore.

They made the 16-hour round trip to be there as their former player Trey Gilder broke the glass ceiling and made his first steps into the NBA.

Gilder played more than 4 minutes, made his only shot (about a 17-footer on the left wing), had a rebound and a steal. It came at the end of a thumping of the home team by the Detroit Pistons, but the Grizzlies announcers on Fox Sports South were very complementary of Gilder and his emergence from the NBA Developmental League.

Trey shot 63 percent for the Grizzlies' Vegas Summer League team, turning heads, and he didn't disappoint in preseason camp to make the team's 12-man active roster. NBA teams now keep 15 players overall during the season; three are inactive.

Hall of Fame Vignette

Of the many functions that I attend throughout the year as Athletic Director, one of my favorites is the NSU Athletics/Graduate N-Club Hall of Fame ceremony. To hear the inductees so humbly acknowledge the impact that NSU has had on their lives, not to mention the coaches, family members, and others whose influence they also credit for putting them in a position to be so successful, is wonderful. Also, as a true sports enthusiast, I really enjoy hearing the "war stories" that inevitably are told as part of the ceremony. Perhaps my favorite this past Saturday was the one baseball/football inductee Steve Graf told about a practice tackling drill in which each player was to select a partner. He talked about looking for the skinniest teammate he could find and thus chose a defensive back named Darrell Toussaint. As Steve recalled, it took one tackle for him to realize that he made a bad decision and that he quickly learned why Toussaint, who was inducted into the NSU Hall of Fame a few years ago, was commonly known as "The Blade." "He just cut right through me," recalled Graf. Track/football standout Al Edwards' touching tribute to his grandmother, softball great Kellie Shotwell's enduring regret - with a chuckle - that Coach Rickey McCalister never let her hit because she was too valuable as a pitcher (NSU only gave four total scholarships for softball at that time and she was the recipient of one of them), and golf All-American Bob Konsdorf's comments about his business career and about how it has seems as if every phase of his business life has in some way been tied back to golf are among the highlights that stand out in my mind. One final thought - I encourage all Demon and Lady Demon fans to put this event on their calendars in the future - it will be well worth your time!

Greg Burke, Athletic Director