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Ronnie Lester

Sukes21

All-Conference
Sep 16, 2004
323
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I've heard a lot about Ronnie Lester and how great he was but I've never really seen a whole lot of video on him. Has anyone ever made a highlight reel from his Iowa days? I've searched YouTube to no avail. Anyone aware of anything out there? I would like to learn more and see anything to see what kind of a player this guy was. All I've ever seen up to this point was photos.
 
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I hope you can find one! Easily my favorite Hawkeye and was so much fun to watch. Hurts me to this day that he blew out his knee. Special player on a special team that could have gone all the way. Damn Dr. Dunkenstein!
 
Unless the team kept game tapes and could release them, probably not a lot to find. Ronnie would not wow you most of the time, but the more you watched him, the more you realized just how effective he was at making his team better.
 
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He was in control, and you didn't realize how quick or skilled he was, until you saw him shift into another gear when challenged by another quick, skilled player. He made Lute's job pretty easy.
 
It's fun to hear stuff like this for sure. I'm in my mid 40's and sadly all I know of Ronnie is the superlatives layed on me by guys just a tad bit older than me. I'm surprised there was never anything done(some sort of video tribute) by the university about him. Like a 10, 20, or 30 minute documentary or something. Wish something like that could get put together.
 
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What I remember most about Ronnie Lester was his ability to consistently get into the lane. He had a great floater shot and he was GREAT at finding the open guy when he was in the lane. He was very very quick and very fluid. He was a natural and a joy to watch.
 
Someone on another thread made a great comment that I think encapsulates what RL could do when not hobbled. Paraphrasing slightly, "He could get anywhere on the court whenever he wanted."
 
It was a thrill watching Lester go against Magic Johnson.
The games against MSU were close, very tense, and mostly not what young people might expect, hearing about Ronnie and Magic. It was generally deliberate, half-court basketball. Heathcoate usually played a tightly packed zone against Iowa, mostly because they only had a 6/7 man rotation, but also because he didn't have the speed on the perimeter to match Iowa. MSU had tremendous speed and athleticism at the wings, but not at the point. Iowa finished in a 3-way tie with MSU and Purdue, the year MSU won a national championship (Ronnie's jr year).

The games that might have been the most fun for me to watch with Ronnie were when Iowa played OSU, which had an outstanding roster (Kelvin Ransey, Herb Williams, Clark Kellogg, Carter Scott, and Jim Smith were the starters) but never achieved was expected of them. Ronnie was at his best playing against Ransey and Scott, and they had some games that were really fun to watch.

The year after MSU's national championship, Heathcoate was so short on bodies that he refused to come out of a really packed zone, so Lute just held the ball most of the first half (no shot clock). I think the score was either 8-6 or 6-4 at half. Not an exciting game to be in the stands.

Great memories. Been a while since Iowa BB teams have given us many of those...
 
Ronnie was never a great shooter, but he was a great scorer. But, if you needed him to hit jumpers, he did.

Best pure point guard the Hawks ever had, with a nod to Andre Woolridge at #2. He had unbelievable ball skills - dribbling, passing, leading the team with the ball in his hands. Made all the important FT's. Very special guy at a time when Lute was building a terrific program.

I will never forget when Ronnie got hurt in the FF. Devastating. Scored the Hawks first 10 points - everyone else on the Hawks seemed nervous and out of sync. Not Ronnie.
 
Ronnie was never a great shooter, but he was a great scorer. But, if you needed him to hit jumpers, he did.

Best pure point guard the Hawks ever had, with a nod to Andre Woolridge at #2. He had unbelievable ball skills - dribbling, passing, leading the team with the ball in his hands. Made all the important FT's. Very special guy at a time when Lute was building a terrific program.

I will never forget when Ronnie got hurt in the FF. Devastating. Scored the Hawks first 10 points - everyone else on the Hawks seemed nervous and out of sync. Not Ronnie.
 
Coach Ros had a picture of Ronnie in his office at Arizona. When the Arizona players came in to see him, he would often ask who was the best point guard ever or that he and Lute coached. They would name others off and he would just point to Ronnie’s picture and say it was Ronnie. He would then explain to them about Ronnie. Great story
 
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Magic Johnson, who towered over Lester, to this day says Ronnie was the best guard he ever played against in college. Lester was smooth as silk in everything he did, and he was a quiet leader. Ronnie, like all great point guards, made everyone else better.

Few people doubt that Iowa would have won the national title in 1980 with a healthy Lester. That Ronnie was injured early in the semi-finals is just one more example of the rotten luck that seems to follow the Hawkeyes. How many other teams have lost their All-American point guard in the Final Four?

BTW: When Lester came to Iowa from Chicago, he was a 16-year-old freshman.
 
Magic Johnson, who towered over Lester, to this day says Ronnie was the best guard he ever played against in college. Lester was smooth as silk in everything he did, and he was a quiet leader. Ronnie, like all great point guards, made everyone else better.

Few people doubt that Iowa would have won the national title in 1980 with a healthy Lester. That Ronnie was injured early in the semi-finals is just one more example of the rotten luck that seems to follow the Hawkeyes. How many other teams have lost their All-American point guard in the Final Four?

BTW: When Lester came to Iowa from Chicago, he was a 16-year-old freshman.

16? WOW, IDNKT!
 
I am sure I watched that game 1980, but gee! I can't believe how many blocked shots and missed bunnies for both teams!
 
If you watch the final 4 game you can tell Ronnie wasn't 100% before going down.....and still scored the first 10 pts for the Hawks.
 
Yeah Kenny Arnold is #30. Ronnie DNP in this game. Kenny was quite good as well.
 
Ronnie was never a great shooter, but he was a great scorer. But, if you needed him to hit jumpers, he did.

Best pure point guard the Hawks ever had, with a nod to Andre Woolridge at #2. He had unbelievable ball skills - dribbling, passing, leading the team with the ball in his hands. Made all the important FT's. Very special guy at a time when Lute was building a terrific program.

I will never forget when Ronnie got hurt in the FF. Devastating. Scored the Hawks first 10 points - everyone else on the Hawks seemed nervous and out of sync. Not Ronnie.
I don't at all disagree with Ronnie and Andre's status as all time great point guards at Iowa. Just wondering where you would put Downtown Freddie Brown who averaged 25 points per game and led Iowa to undefeated Big Ten season on a team that averaged over 100 points per game? He directed that team. I'd put Fred right up there.
 
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Pretty sure Ronnie didn’t play in this game, Kenny Arnold is playing the point. Ronnie missed 15 games and I don’t think he returned until the final 2 Big Ten games.
Yep. According to Wikipedia, Ronnie didn't return until the final Big 10 game of the season, then led us to the Final Four, scored 10 points in the first eight minutes of the semifinal against Louisville, then reinjured the knee. The Hawks went 15-1 with Ronnie and 8-9 without him that year. He is the best Hawkeye I have seen since I started following the hoops team in 1973. He wasn't flashy, just consistently good and made everyone else better. The knee injury kept recurring and messed up his NBA career as well. Too bad.

And here are some highlights from the Louisville game, showing a bit of Ronnie in action--and, unfortunately, the play during which he reinjured the knee.

 
I don't at all disagree with Ronnie and Andre's status as all time great point guards at Iowa. Just wondering where you would put Downtown Freddie Brown who averaged 25 points per game and led Iowa to undefeated Big Ten season on a team that averaged over 100 points per game? He directed that team. I'd put Fred right up there.

Huge Fred Brown fan. But, I thought Chad Calabria was the point guard on that team - no?

If he was primarily a PG, then he's in the Top 3 for sure - maybe should be #1.
 
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The games against MSU were close, very tense, and mostly not what young people might expect, hearing about Ronnie and Magic. It was generally deliberate, half-court basketball. Heathcoate usually played a tightly packed zone against Iowa, mostly because they only had a 6/7 man rotation, but also because he didn't have the speed on the perimeter to match Iowa. MSU had tremendous speed and athleticism at the wings, but not at the point. Iowa finished in a 3-way tie with MSU and Purdue, the year MSU won a national championship (Ronnie's jr year).

The games that might have been the most fun for me to watch with Ronnie were when Iowa played OSU, which had an outstanding roster (Kelvin Ransey, Herb Williams, Clark Kellogg, Carter Scott, and Jim Smith were the starters) but never achieved was expected of them. Ronnie was at his best playing against Ransey and Scott, and they had some games that were really fun to watch.

The year after MSU's national championship, Heathcoate was so short on bodies that he refused to come out of a really packed zone, so Lute just held the ball most of the first half (no shot clock). I think the score was either 8-6 or 6-4 at half. Not an exciting game to be in the stands.

Great memories. Been a while since Iowa BB teams have given us many of those...
God, I remember that 8-6 halftime game! Certainly one of the games that contributed to installing a shot clock in college ball.
 
I don't at all disagree with Ronnie and Andre's status as all time great point guards at Iowa. Just wondering where you would put Downtown Freddie Brown who averaged 25 points per game and led Iowa to undefeated Big Ten season on a team that averaged over 100 points per game? He directed that team. I'd put Fred right up there.
I didn't follow Iowa BB until the mid 70s, so I didn't see Freddie Brown at Iowa. I did see him play in the pros, twice live, including a game where he put on the best shooting display I have ever personally seen. I think of FB as more of a shooting or combo guard, and don't know what his position was at Iowa. Clearly, Freddie Brown is one of the top 10, probably top 5 players, to ever play for the Hawks. He would be my first-team shooting guard.
 
I didn't follow Iowa BB until the mid 70s, so I didn't see Freddie Brown at Iowa. I did see him play in the pros, twice live, including a game where he put on the best shooting display I have ever personally seen. I think of FB as more of a shooting or combo guard, and don't know what his position was at Iowa. Clearly, Freddie Brown is one of the top 10, probably top 5 players, to ever play for the Hawks. He would be my first-team shooting guard.
Freddy could fill it up, and then he had JJ on the other wing. I think both averaged over 25 a game, (before the 3 pt shot), in 1970, the year that Iowa went 14-0 in the BIG, and averaged 100pts a game. Both guys had very nice careers in the league, for Seattle I think.....
 
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Freddy could fill it up, and then he had JJ on the other wing. I think both averaged over 25 a game, (before the 3 pt shot), in 1970, the year that Iowa went 14-0 in the BIG, and averaged 100pts a game. Both guys had very nice careers in the league, for Seattle I think.....

No 3 pt. line. Think about that for a second. Seems almost impossible.
 
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Pretty sure Ronnie didn’t play in this game, Kenny Arnold is playing the point. Ronnie missed 15 games and I don’t think he returned until the final 2 Big Ten games.
Yeah I am not seeing #12 in there.
 
things were a little different in 1970 from the 'point guard' definition standpoint. Fred handled the ball (therefore was the point) much more than Chad. Chad was not THE "PG". Now when they were off & running...one could say they had multiple "point guards." JJ was one of the best passing wing players Iowa has ever had.
 
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