SINGULAR HONOR
NORTHWESTERN MAKES WINNER-IN-LIFE MCKINNEY ITS FIRST ATHLETE TO HAVE NUMBER RETIRED
Aside from being the first general manager in Minnesota Timberwolves history, a 30-plus-year veteran of NBA front offices, the current mayor of his hometown, an ever-improving radio broadcaster and a lover of languages who speaks Italian and French and has studied Spanish on Duolingo every day for nearly two years running, Billy McKinney really isn’t any more interesting than the next guy.
Well, he did spend the last of his seven NBA seasons as a player, in 1985-86, with Michael Jordan on the Bulls.
And he did scout Scottie Pippen after hanging up his high-tops and going to work for Bulls general manager Jerry Krause. Much later, he also was the eagle-eyed talent evaluator who led Giannis Antetokounmpo from Greece to the Bucks.
Oh, and then there’s this: On Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, McKinney, 68, will be the first Northwestern athlete in any sport to have their jersey retired by the school.
Into the rafters, the No. 30 will go. Interesting? Maybe a little, right? “I appreciate that,” McKinney said while walking his chocolate lab, Murphy, whom he rescued nearly six years ago, along the Robert McClary bike trail in Zion, which he does three times a day — no matter how cold it gets — as long as his schedule allows it.
McKinney will be honored during the Wildcats’ late-afternoon game against Iowa.
“I am very excited about it,” he said, “though I’ve been trying to temper my emotions. I think it’s going to be quite an emotional day because it’s such a huge honor.”
With all due respect to John Shurna and Drew Crawford, the first two Northwestern players to top McKinney’s 1,900 career points, and to current star Boo Buie — the Wildcats’ all-time scoring leader with 2,062 and counting — McKinney remains unsurpassed.
He was Northwestern’s leading scorer and best player four seasons in a row, from 1973 to 1977, and averaged 18.6 points — far more than Shurna’s 15.7, Buie’s 14.4 and Crawford’s 13.4 — before the three-point line and before the greatest Big Ten players were leaving early for the NBA. Barely 6-feet and 160 pounds, McKinney went at vastly more talented teams led by the likes of Campy Russell, Rickey Green and Phill Hubbard; Scott May, Kent Benson and Quinn Buckner; Mychal Thompson, Walter Jordan, Terry Furlow, Greg Kelser.
McKinney’s career spanned a mere 102 games — 41 fewer than Buie has played — and he tasted victory only 36 times in all.
“But I loved playing those games no matter what,” he said. “Every year, every day, I still continued to believe we could win. I never gave up, regardless of what the record was.
“As a result of that, it has helped me to succeed in life. Losses represent some adversity and being able to overcome it. And as you know, each aspect of life after you get out of college [involves] facing adversity and hurdles.”
Before being honored, McKinney will have to slip off the headset he wears as radio analyst on Wildcats games for WGN. He’s in his third season in that role and in his fifth year as mayor of Zion, a gratifying combo after nearly 40 years in the NBA.
“I’m loving it,” he said. “Doing games is such a different way to end the day from my mayoral responsibilities, talking about basketball after talking about infrastructure repair and code violations and hearing citizens’ concerns.”
He’ll be surrounded by a stellar crew there to support him on his big day. It will include his teammate and best friend from Zion-Benton High School, Brian Colbert, and their coach, Mo Tharpe. Northwestern teammate Tim Teasley and their assistant coaches — Rich Falk, Dan Davis, Walt Perrin — will be on hand for the festivities, along with current coach Chris Collins and others.
Bet the over on McKinney tears. “I’m going to try [not to cry],” he said. “That’s why I’ve tried not to think about it too much.”
He gets emotional sometimes just watching this season’s Wildcats play. They’re 20-8 overall and in third place in the Big Ten at 11-6, an NCAA Tournament-bound squad for the second year in a row. The level of success in Evanston is unprecedented.
“To see these student-athletes every night, I’m living vicariously through them,” he said. “Sometimes I think about how fun it would be to play with them, to just be part of them. These guys have so much heart they play with, man, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to compete with these guys. And I would have fit in. I would have sacrificed every point to have played in the NCAA Tournament.”
Leaving the NBA behind and coming home again was such a good thing to do. McKinney doesn’t miss the empty talk in the NBA about “family” and “teamwork.” Trades and personal agendas tend to speak louder, he says. But in college — at least at Northwestern — it all feels so sincere and real. “It’s keeping me young,” he said.
For old No. 30, it’s going to last forever.