Editor’s note: In the Colorado Classics series, The Denver Post takes a weekly look at individuals who made their mark on the Colorado sports landscape and what they are doing now.
Even with six seasons in the NBA, four with the Nuggets, and a championship while playing in Europe, Glen Gondrezick still wonders how far he could have gone if he had continued in baseball.
He thinks back to the early 1970s when he was at Boulder High School. He had played football, basketball and baseball growing up and was good enough to probably excel in any of the three. After being idle in baseball for several years, Gondrezick decided to play it again his senior year.
“A lot of people say I was a much better baseball player than a basketball player,” Gondrezick said.
His mother, Eunice, thought so, too, and reminds him to this day that he should have chosen the diamond over the hardwood. Gondrezick was a shortstop and pitcher in baseball, but a 6-foot-6 guard in basketball.
“I had a very good fastball and a curve that I could use as a changeup,” Gondrezick said. “I could throw sidearm if I wanted, and being tall gave me some advantages as a pitcher.”
It wasn’t that basketball was an easier and less eventful path. There were obstacles as well, but Gondrezick has stayed in or around the game. His connection now is with Nevada-Las Vegas, his college alma mater, as the analyst on Runnin’ Rebels radio broadcasts.
Gondrezick’s next radio assignment is this week when UNLV plays in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
“I was the analyst a couple of times when I was hurt and couldn’t play when I was with the Nuggets,” Gondrezick said. “It was all right, but I didn’t think I would pursue it.”
In a way, the job pursued him. After his NBA playing days, he returned to Las Vegas. A member of the athletic department asked if he would work on the basketball radio broadcasts.
“I thought I’d try it for a year,” Gondrezick said. “I’ve been doing it now for 15 years.”
Gondrezick was teamed with Ken Korach, who has since become the baseball voice of the Oakland A’s. The matchup was good.
“He taught me the ropes,” Gondrezick said. “I learned the TV end of it, too. He taught me how to interview and how to recognize situations.”
At 51, Gondrezick looks back at his time in basketball as a connection to some of the giants of the game. His college basketball coach was Jerry Tarkanian, known as “Tark the Shark.” His time in the NBA was in the days of Walt Frazier, Spencer Haywood, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
His teammates with the Nuggets from 1979-83 included Alex English, Dan Issel, David Thompson and Kiki Vandeweghe.
When he arrived in Denver from the New York Knicks for the 1979-80 season, Donnie Walsh was the coach. However, Doug Moe took over midway through the next season.
“The biggest mistake the Nuggets ever made was hiring Doug Moe,” Gondrezick said in keeping with his facetious dialogue with Moe.
Gondrezick’s role with the Nuggets was being the sixth man and in many cases doing the dirty work.
“My job was to rebound, play good defense and get the ball into the right hands on offense,” Gondrezick said.
The right hands belonged to English and Vandeweghe, two of the NBA’s top scorers.
Gondrezick frequently found his defensive assignment could be the likes of Abdul-Jabbar, Bird, Larry Nance or Johnson. His best season was 1981-82, when he played in 80 games, averaged 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds, had 152 assists, 92 steals and 36 blocked shots.
Gondrezick played in the postseason three times, once with the Knicks and twice with the Nuggets.
After leaving the NBA after the 1982-83 season, Gondrezick played in Europe. He competed in Italy his first year abroad and for a team in Vienna the second year. The Vienna team won the European Cup.
“All they wanted me to do was shoot and score points,” Gondrezick said. “It was the most fun I ever had playing basketball.”
Gondrezick’s path in basketball wasn’t without obstacles. At times he wondered if he had made the right choice. He almost gave up basketball as a sophomore in high school when he didn’t get playing time. But the next year, Kent Smith became Boulder’s coach and told Gondrezick he expected him to be on the floor when practice began.
He originally thought he was going to Oregon, but the Pac-10 school hedged on a scholarship offer. But Gondrezick’s spirits were lifted soon after when he saw Tarkanian sitting at the kitchen table with a scholarship offer in hand.
Gondrezick grew up watching the Denver teams in the American Basketball Association. He even dreamed of playing for Denver. Maybe basketball wasn’t such a poor choice after all.
“Maybe I took it for granted,” Gondrezick said. “I should have cherished the years I was playing a whole lot more.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
