Kenny Rogers, the white in his beard indistinguishable the colour of his jersey, took the go on the left elbow. The well-known nation singer, enjoying on his house courtroom at his farm related Athens, Ga., squared and appeared on the basket. He noticed what used to be coming.
A 25-year-old Michael Jordan leaped to restrain the shot, his proper hand prolonged prime. Rogers pulled again. “A fake!” famed broadcaster Chick Hearn stated at the telecast. “Kenny Rogers puts Jordan in the popcorn machine.” Rogers took a step to his left and swished a 21-foot jumper.
The Gambler had simply roasted MJ.
The public erupted. Rogers smiled. Teammate Dominique Wilkins on a tight schedule over to slap 5. Thirty-six years then, this rest essentially the most frequent spotlight from an match seldom duplicated.
For 3 years, Rogers hosted the “Kenny Rogers Classic Weekend” at Beaver Dam Farms. He invited 15 sports activities stars and tv celebrities for a weekend pageant of basketball, golfing, tennis and bass fishing. And NBC televised it.
Jordan used to be there. Larry Hen used to be there. Julius Erving, Isiah Thomas and Charles Barkley participated at other instances. Tennis legends John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Golfing professionals Raymond Floyd and Payne Stewart. Actors Mark Harmon and James Caan, in addition to R&B and soul singer Smokey Robinson.
In 1989, Woody Harrelson, who performed the affable bartender at the sitcom “Cheers,” skipped the Emmy’s — when he used to be nominated for easiest supporting actor in a comedy layout (and received!) — to wait the Rogers match.
“There wasn’t a lot of thought that went into it,” Harrelson stated on the moment. “I wanted to play some hoops with my boys.”
A part of it used to be the setup. This used to be a first class match with weighty sponsors. Rogers despatched a helicopter to pick out up the celebrities from the Atlanta airport. Everybody stayed on his 1,200-acre ranch, which featured an 18-hole golfing path, two clay tennis courts and a number of other stocked lakes.
Kenny Rogers with Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Larry Hen and Michael Jordan. (Courtesy of Kelly Junkermann)
And a part of it used to be the camaraderie. A anticipation to hold with stars from other arenas. Next competing all through the past, everybody frolicked at night time. Rogers had a sit-down dinner. He carried out. Robinson carried out. Dolly Parton and Gladys Knight got here in and carried out. One 12 months, Harrelson were given on level and sang “Jailhouse Rock.” McEnroe jammed at the guitar.
Professional athletes are old to weighty occasions. This used to be other.
“One morning I went up to Kenny’s house for breakfast and it was me, Michael Jordan and Smokey Robinson sitting there eating breakfast together,’’ golfer Tim Simpson said. “And I’m like, ‘This is pretty damn cool right here.’ ”
“One night, we went out to the golf range at 2 a.m. and watched Jerry Pate hit golf balls off beer bottles,” stated tennis professional Mikael Pernfors, relating to the golfer who received the 1976 U.S. Evident. “He cleaned those babies like you wouldn’t believe. There was not a bottle broken until the rest of us tried.”
Harrelson made a putt to clinch a victory for his workforce and known as it “the single most exciting event in my entire life.”
Hen used to be no-nonsense, at all times intense. Or perhaps frustrated. It used to be crispy to inform.
“I had just won the British Open and I kind of thought I was a little bit of a big deal,” golfer Mark Calcavecchia stated. “I was in the kitchen looking in the refrigerator for something to eat and Larry Bird walked around the corner. I’m a big fan of his. I said, ‘Hey, Larry. Mark Calcavecchia.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, whatever,’ and kind of pushed me out of the way. That was my first introduction to Larry Bird.”
And, in fact, everybody used to be in surprise of Jordan, now not only for what he did within the basketball pageant but additionally within the alternative sports activities (and the aspect bets he made with Barkley). MJ used to be simply getting into his high.
“That was one of the cooler events I’ve done just because of the type of event it was,” stated Wilkins, the nine-time NBA All-Megastar and basketball Corridor of Famer. “To be there with stars in different professions, that was cool because you never saw anything like that. It was special.”
The speculation sprouted now not lengthy then Rogers had moved from Southern California to Georgia. Along with his making a song and performing careers, Rogers, who died 4 years in the past at 81, additionally were a sports activities nut.
Rogers used to be so excited about tennis that he had a professional named Kelly Junkermann progress with him pace he used to be on excursion. At each and every cancel, he and Junkermann would consult with a membership and play games doubles in opposition to the membership professional and his workman. 8 instances out of 10 they might win.
Rogers additionally loved golfing and known as himself “obsessive-compulsive.” As soon as he attempted one thing, he couldn’t cancel till achieving a good stage. At Beaver Dam Farms, he had an 18-hole golfing path constructed, making it as tricky as conceivable.
One past, Rogers requested Junkermann: “How well do you think a professional golfer would enjoy this course?”
“I don’t know,” Junkermann stated, a scene captured in Rogers’ memoir, “Luck or Something Like It.”
Junkermann instructed having a “Gambler’s Invitational,” homogeneous to what they’d achieved when Rogers had lived in Beverly Hills.
For that tennis event match, Rogers invited communicate demonstrate host Johnny Carson, who lived 3 properties indisposed, musician/singer Lionel Richie, game-show host Bert Convy, actor Robert Duvall and previous Olympian Bruce Jenner, in conjunction with their accompanying professionals. Each and every particular person publish $500 in a winner-take-all layout.
Junkermann stated they might increase the concept that at Beaver Dam Farms.
“Remember when we were all kids?” Junkermann stated. “Every kid was good at something, right? One kid was good at basketball. One kid was good at tennis. One kid became a singer. So, I said, ‘What we’ll do, we’ll all be kids. But everybody has to play everybody else’s sport.’ ”
Let’s do it, Rogers stated.
Steve Wynn, the on line casino magnate, publish $500,000. Prize cash used to be eager at $400,000. Price ticket costs ranged from $40 to $75 with proceeds moving to the development of a homeless refuge.
Junkermann stated the primary name going to Jordan, hoping the golfing side would attraction to him.
“Back then you could call an athlete and have an athlete call you back,” Junkermann stated.
Jordan stated he used to be in. The nearest name going to McEnroe. He stated he used to be in. Hen, a weighty Rogers fan, stated he would come.
“You know the only guy we didn’t get?” Junkermann stated. “We had the big three, right? We had Jordan. We had Bird. We had Isiah Thomas, who had just won the NBA title. It was Magic (Johnson). Magic was the one guy — he was like too big.”
As soon as the celebrities and celebs arrived at Rogers’ ranch, they have been floored. Beaver Dam Farms used to be implausible.
“I was absolutely gobsmacked,’’ tennis pro Kevin Curren said. “Kenny was obviously making a lot of money in those days. The place that we stayed, we thought it was a spectacular home. They said, ‘No, no. That’s just one of like three or four places on the estate.’ And the fact that he had this horse barn that was for very high-end horses, and he could put a basketball floor and the whole thing in there with stands, it was phenomenal.”
Particularly the golfing path.
“The primary tee, while you stepped out of Kenny’s kitchen door, I ruthless, actually proper beside his desk, while you stepped out his door you stepped onto the primary tee,’’ Simpson stated. “I’m like, ‘Kenny, you could not have made this any more convenient.’ ’’
A poster for Kenny Rogers’ 1989 match. (Courtesy of Kelly Junkermann)
Earlier than the competitions started, the athletes and celebs — the 15 invitees in conjunction with Rogers — have been divided into 4 groups. Outdoor of bass fishing, the alternative 3 sports activities have been arrange in order that the megastar in that recreation may now not dominate. For instance, in basketball, the professionals may ranking best 12 issues in a competition to 22.
At the basketball courtroom, tennis professional Roscoe Tanner used to be matched up in opposition to Calcavecchia. Tanner comfortable and idea: “He’s a golfer. I can handle this.”
However next the ball moved and the tennis professional discovered himself matched in opposition to Hen.
“He looks down at me and starts laughing,” stated Tanner, who received the 1977 Australian Evident. “I felt like a little kid guarding their dad.”
Tanner performed off the Celtics legend and dared him to kill.
“No, no. I’m waiting for you,” Hen stated.
So Tanner on a tight schedule out, grabbed Hen’s gymnasium shorts and stated: “If you shoot, your shorts are coming down.”
“Not a problem,’’ Bird said.
“He stood dead still,” Tanner stated. “Shot a 3-pointer, made it and looked at me like, ‘What an idiot.’ ’’
McEnroe, the tennis Hall of Famer, grew up in New York. He could hoop. Harrelson had game. Calcavecchia and fellow golfer Lanny Wadkins weren’t bad. Most everyone else was just trying to survive against NBA stars. It wasn’t easy.
Calcavecchia thought he would set a screen on Jordan — a legit basketball play. Jordan responded with an elbow to the golfer’s abdomen. “Right where it knocks the wind out of you,” Calcavecchia stated. “On the old VHS I had of (the event), you could hear me go ‘WHOOYA,’ right when he elbowed me. The whole crowd heard it. I could barely move after that.”
“They took it pretty seriously,’’ said former University of Georgia basketball coach Hugh Durham, who officiated the basketball games. “Michael drove in one time and he says, ‘That guy fouled me.’ I said, ‘You’re the best player in the world. Just think what that guy’s got to think for the rest of his life.’ And Michael said, ‘We’re playing for a lot of money!’ ’’
On the tennis court, Jordan made up for his inexperience with athletic ability. (And confidence. One year, Curren, the tennis pro, remembered Jordan and Barkley arguing over who was the better athlete. They decided to play a set of tennis for $10,000. Jordan won easily.)
“It was the absolute dream to play basketball with Jordan, and then I played tennis with him,” stated Curren, who received doubles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Evident. “That was even more fascinating to witness his movement on the court.
“As a tennis player, you can see when a shot is hit, before it’s hit, how it’s developing. They would do a drop shot and I would have like a two-step start on him. Next thing I would see this guy coming past me and his steps are like three times the size of my steps.”
The one park Jordan’s explosiveness didn’t translate — the fishing pageant. Each and every workforce had a bass boat in conjunction with a fishing information. Jordan had refuse hobby. The H2O made him frightened. Alternatively, golfer Raymond Floyd put the basketball megastar’s thoughts at vacay.
“Michael, if you fall overboard, just stand up,’’ he said. “It’s only 5-feet deep. You’ll be fine.”
Because it became out, Jordan stuck the largest bass his first 12 months, which netted him $5,000. Consistent with Rogers’ memoir, the sector’s biggest basketball participant introduced Floyd part of the prize cash to speed the fish off the hook.
The 1989 match got here all the way down to Harrelson. In lieu of attending the forty first Primetime Emmy Awards, the “Cheers” megastar stood over a 5-foot putt, desiring to sink it to provide his workforce, which incorporated Jordan, the development championship.
Over the years, the Rogers weekend featured bright moments. In his memoir, Rogers wrote about taking pictures cube with Thomas and shedding $1,000 in about 3 mins. Simpson stated his 8-year-old son Chris slipped a frog throughout the area of Barkley’s exercise pants.
“And I tell you what, Charles lost it,” Simpson stated. “I mean, you would’ve thought he put a rattlesnake in his pocket. It was hilarious.”
One 12 months, Tanner overlooked a putt, costing his workforce $10,000, and then-wife Charlotte stormed over and hurled his putter into a close-by pool.
However this used to be critical.
Simpson watched Harrelson order up the putt. It used to be all improper.
“He’s lining up a foot and a half to the right, and it’s a dead straight putt,’’ Simpson said. “And I said, ‘Ho, ho, ho.’ I squatted down behind him and said, ‘I’m going to line up the putter’. And it was just like the movie “Caddyshack.” Larry Hen and my good friend Payne Stewart are over there pronouncing, ‘Miss it! Miss it! Miss it!’ I instructed Woody: ‘Now take one look and hit it.’ ”
Along with his blue hat pulled backward, Harrelson holed the putt. He raised his fingers and yelled. Jordan, Calcavecchia and Curren on a tight schedule over and embraced him.
“They’re jumping around like they had just won the NBA championship,” Junkermann stated.
To this past, Simpson has a photograph of the Harrelson putt displayed in his basement. Curren nonetheless has the little trophies he received. Tanner stated it used to be one of the crucial easiest weekends he’s ever had. Which begs the query: May just one thing like this occur lately?
Famous person golfing tournaments are usual, however occasions just like the Rogers Weekend don’t seem to be. Years in the past, Junkermann thought to be a homogeneous match with nation megastar Garth Brooks however the concept didn’t get a long way. With out Beaver Dam Farms, which Rogers offered in 2003, location used to be a subject.
“Yeah, there’s probably no way,’’ Wadkins said. “The money has gone up so high. They probably wouldn’t do something like this and in a lot of ways jeopardize their career by doing something out of the norm for a pretty small amount of money compared to what people get paid today.”
Others deny.
“Basketball players, I know they have contracts and things that kind of prohibit them from doing things where they might get hurt,” Calcavecchia stated. “But a little half-court game and golf, fishing and tennis, the odds of getting hurt are pretty slim, quite honestly. Basketball’s probably the most risky of the four. But you could even throw bowling in there. I know (basketball star) Chris Paul loves to bowl and he has a celebrity tournament.”
Perhaps in the future the entirety will order up once more. The timing. The host. The celebrities. The site. Till next, the Rogers match will survive via reminiscences.
“It was a blast,” Wadkins stated. “It really was. Just a one-of-a-kind thing.”
(Picture representation: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; footage courtesy Kelly Junkermann)
