The Commercial Appeal

Penny reflects on 25th anniversar­y of ‘Blue Chips’

- Drew Hill Memphis Commercial Appeal USA TODAY NETWORK - TENNESSEE

Former Western basketball star Butch Mcrae stood in the dim hallows of CFE Arena in Orlando, Fla., with an empty look on his face.

The 47-year-old coach, now roaming the sidelines for the Memphis Tigers, had just suffered another crushing defeat in a city he used to call home.

He paced to the entrance of the media workplace, maintainin­g the same presence of dissatisfa­ction, before opening the door to a bright room full of reporters with a formal introducti­on.

“This is Memphis coach Penny Hardaway. He’ll start with an opening statement and then we’ll take questions,” Memphis sports informatio­n director Phil Stukenborg said.

Stukenborg did not make a mistake; Butch Mcrae is Penny Hardaway, of course.

It was fitting that just two days before Monday’s 25th anniversar­y of the movie “Blue Chips,” Hardaway was back in the place where his acting role as Mcrae helped him land.

“Blue Chips” was released on Feb. 18, 1994, with Hardaway playing a charismati­c recruit from the inner city of Chicago whose family received impermissi­ble benefits in exchange for him attending college.

The acting opportunit­y was originally presented by his agent, Carl Poston, and was filmed between the end of his final season at Memphis State and the 1993 NBA draft.

“(Poston) got a call from the director because I had this young face and they wanted to do real basketball scenes, so they couldn’t really find an actor that could do it on that level and it all just blended,” Hardaway said in December. “Being in the race for basketball player of the year, and going to the NBA, things of that nature, so it just worked and I looked the part.”

Alongside Hardaway as the “blue chip” recruits in the film were Orlando

“It was a great basketball movie. I really liked that they just allowed us to play basketball. It wasn’t much acting. It was playing ball.” Penny Hardaway Butch Mcrae in the 1994 movie “Blue Chips”

Magic star Shaquille O’neal as Neon Boudeaux and overseas player Matt Nover as Ricky Roe. Other familiar basketball names in the movie included Rick Pitino, Bob Knight, Jim Boeheim, Nolan Richardson, Bob Cousy, Larry Bird, Jerry Tarkanian, Matt Painter, Allan Houston and Dick Vitale.

But it was O’neal who stood out among that group because, during filming, Hardaway had the chance to play real basketball with the NBA superstar.

“I was smart enough to pass him the ball every time,” Hardaway said after Saturday’s 79-72 loss to Central Florida.

The relationsh­ip on set eventually led to O’neal asking his Orlando team to acquire Hardaway in the 1993 NBA draft, which they accomplish­ed through a trade with the Golden State Warriors.

“That was so much fun for me to do coming right out of college but before I was in the NBA – to be able to do a movie and to do it with Shaq,” Hardaway said.

Starring in a movie was something Hardaway said he always dreamed of as a child, making the experience everything that he had hoped.

“I feel like I got snubbed for an Academy Award,” Hardaway joked. “I really do.”

Blue Chips debuted at No. 3 at the box office in 1994.

“It was a good movie,” Hardaway said. “Not just because I was in it – it was a great basketball movie. I really liked that they just allowed us to play basketball. It wasn’t much acting. It was playing ball.”

Nowadays, it’s Hardaway doing the recruiting of blue chip-level prospects. His second recruiting class at Memphis is set to feature the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect – the very definition of a bluechip recruit – James Wiseman.

“It’s a great movie,” Wiseman said. “I’ve watched it probably three times.”

And just like his past and future coach, Wiseman can picture himself in a basketball movie one day.

“Oh yeah,” Wiseman said laughing. “I think I could make for a pretty good actor.”

Perhaps Hardaway could offer the Tigers’ top signee a few acting pointers, too.

“Everybody is different. You just have to be you,” Hardaway said. “They allowed me to be me, so hopefully they can get a role that allows them to not do too much hard acting.”

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