Back to the Future Day may not be for another three weeks on October 21 but the Suns figured out a way to time travel without the assistance of a DeLorean or a crazy white-haired doctor. Although a white-haired athletic trainer was in attendance.
About 15 minutes prior to tip of the annual Suns intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday night, Coach Jeff Hornacek exited the locker room and went to take the floor with his team. It’s a moment that happens before every game but this time was special. That’s because he was exiting from a locker room he called home for the first six years of his playing career and he was wearing the warmups he last wore at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the early 1990s. As he ducked behind the curtain that separated the staging area from the court, the back of his jacket emblazoned with his surname came into focus, as did a sign promoting the scrimmage.
“The evening had more big names than in the credits for movie The Departed”
It was a moment that encapsulated exactly what the Madhouse on McDowell Scrimmage meant as the new We Are PHX logo hovered just off to the side and above the classic western font of his warm up. It was a celebration of why we’re all Suns fans. It provided a look back at how it all began and a look forward at who will help carry on the illustrious history moving forward.
The Valley’s first superstar, Connie Hawkins, made a rare public appearance, taking the time to sign autographs for almost all of the almost 8,000 fans in attendance. The Suns' all-time leading scorer, the "Man with the Velvet Touch," Walter Davis was there too and received the loudest ovation when he was introduced by legendary Suns voice Al McCoy during a halftime ceremony. Former owner and one-time coach and general manager, Jerry Colangelo, returned to a building he helped put on the map and watched the scrimmage courtside. "Magic Fingers," Joe Proski and his signature beard were in attendance too, as were the "Oklahoma Kid," Alvan Adams and "EJ," Eddie Johnson. And of course, the Gorilla was on hand and pulled out all the stops as he popped out of one of the tiles in the saddle shaped roof of the Coliseum in his classic original uniform and repelled to the floor.
Even the two coaches in the Suns' Ring of Honor, John MacLeod and the late Cotton Fitzsimmons, were represented, as the two teams were named after them. Cotton’s wife Joanne was in attendance, as well.
In other words, the evening had more big names than in the credits for movie The Departed.
The scrimmage marked the first time the Suns had played at the Coliseum since the 1992 NBA Playoffs, but two of its stars wouldn’t have been old enough to remember the last time the team took the court there. Eric Bledsoe was just 2-years-old when the Suns played their final game at the Madhouse, but he looked like he was right at home as he scored 15 points, including the game-winning layup for Team MacLeod. Devin Booker was born more than four years after the Suns closed the doors at the Coliseum behind them, but the rookie guard added in 15 points of his own in his debut. New Suns center and anointed veteran leader Tyson Chandler cleaned more glass than a window washer as he grabbed 14 rebounds.
For one special night though, the on-court performance took a back seat to something special off it. Saturday night, the Suns and their fans showed what it means to have civic pride. They celebrated what purple and orange has meant to our great city and what it will continue to mean. The group went back and forward in time in one night and did it without going 88 MPH. Jeff Hornacek and his 1991-92 warmups embodied it. The man entrusted with the team’s future celebrated its, and his own, past along with 8,000 fans coming together to show what "We Are PHX" is all about.