No million $, but got to meet Dave
Kate Crenshaw
Paola Boivin
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 20, 2005 12:00 AM
Failed shot at $1 million resonates a decade later
He was a kid.
Sixteen. Hopeful. Full of dreams about paying for college. About thanking
his parents in a way most 16-year-olds can't, by buying them a retirement
home in Florida.
He was a winner.
He walked into a Foot Locker store near his Strongsville, Ohio, home, and
filled out a player selection ballot for the 1995 NBA All-Star Game in
Phoenix.
Weeks later, he received this call: "Mike Hoban? Your ballot was selected
out of 6,254,427 All-Star ballots. You will have the opportunity to take a
three-point shot during All-Star festivities in Phoenix in three weeks. Make
it and you win a million dollars."
He was an instant celebrity.
The NBA appointed Suns guard Dan Majerle to be his shooting coach. David
Letterman invited him to appear on his late-night show. National
publications wrote about him.
In the week leading up to the event, he felt an inkling of the pressure he
was about to endure when he woke up several times in the middle of the night
in a cold sweat.
But only an inkling.
He was a guinea pig.
The NBA never tried a million dollar shot as part of All-Star weekend
before. A buzz circulated around Phoenix. A sellout crowd of 19,023 filled
America West Arena to watch the Saturday festivities. The buildup for
Hoban's attempt was so compelling that TNT's ratings jumped a half percent
during halftime of the rookie game, which is when the try came.
"It's the event of the night," Jerry Canning, Foot Locker's vice president
of sports marketing, told me at the time.
"I remember the media scrutiny it got, because it was literally a one-shot
deal," Ski Austin, the NBA's senior vice president for events and
attractions, said Saturday. "I remember the pressure."
Hoban waited in a pathway for the first half of the rookie game to end. He
was told to wait some more as officials cleared the floor. As they watched
him walk between purple velvet ropes onto the court, fans offered a standing
ovation.
He went to his spot, overwhelmed by the sea of TV cameras. A Foot Locker
official had promised him there would be only one. He looked up to see a
boom microphone. His heart sank. His typical shot was high-arcing. This one
would have to be flatter.
Majerle leaned over and whispered, "Relax, trust your shot and let it go."
Inside, Majerle was thinking something else.
" 'Holy cow, this is pretty intimidating,' " Majerle recalled Saturday. "I
wasn't even prepared for it."
Hoban shot and missed by a foot. He fell into his parents' arms.
His mother, Marilyn, told him, "You're worth more than a million dollars."
Majerle said, "I would have missed worse with a million dollars on the line.
You were interviewed on Letterman. I've tried to get on for seven years."
TNT cameras showed an emotionally spent Hoban in a room afterward. He told
reporters, "When I shot the ball, it felt as if my arm fell off. I was just
overwhelmed."
The shot was replayed repeatedly on national television. Sports Illustrated
ran a picture of the moment, and wouldn't you know it, it happened to be in
the swimsuit issue.
Foot Locker made a judgment error by failing to tell him, until days later,
that he would still take home $10,000. Had he known, the pressure might not
have been as bad.
For the next three years, the NBA ran a similar contest. The competitors all
knew of the $10,000 beforehand. Still, none made the shot.
Hoban was a target.
"Many people were tough on him," Marilyn Hoban said. "But I always remember
the kindness of the Phoenix fans afterward."
It was a tough time for Hoban, so tough that 10 years later, he won't agree
to an interview. He still can't watch the tape. He doesn't want anyone to
feel sorry for him, but he can't help but wonder sometimes if it was too
much for a 16-year-old who wasn't adequately prepared for the attention.
For years afterward, people would drive by his home and yell "air ball." As
a junior varsity basketball player, he was taunted by opposing fans each
time he touched the ball. He was even beat up over it.
It was a big deal. The late Yinka Dare earned the nickname "the Mike Hoban
of the NBA" by fans and teammates of the New Jersey Nets after the center
attempted one shot in the '94-95 season, an air ball.
Dare walked away with $920,000 that season.
Hoban, 26, now a happy, newly married graduate of Ohio State on the 10-year
anniversary of that All-Star weekend, walked away with more than a few life
lessons.
Clement Ross
> Failed shot at $1 million resonates a decade later
Slow news day in Arizona.
Clem.
Keith Rose
> http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0220boivin0220.html#
>
> Hoban, 26, now a happy, newly married graduate of Ohio State on the 10-year
THE Ohio State University. ...now a happy, newly married graduate of THE
Ohio Statue University...
--
Keith Rose (Remove all "x" characters from my email address for replies.)
Ken McM.
>
> On 2005-02-21, Kate Crenshaw <Kat...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0220boivin0220.html#
> >
> > Hoban, 26, now a happy, newly married graduate of Ohio State on the 10-year
>
> THE Ohio State University. ...now a happy, newly married graduate of THE
> Ohio Statue University...
>
Ahem - Statue? - renamed because all those presidents from Ohio? :)
Tom Costello
A reference perhaps influenced by James Hoban, architect of the White House?
--
Tom2; Bathtub of William Howard Taft (Ohio):
http://www.wellswooster.com/phototaft.htm
Keith Rose
> Ken wrote:
>> Keith Rose wrote:
>>>
>>> On 2005-02-21, Kate Crenshaw <Kat...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Hoban, 26, now a happy, newly married graduate of Ohio State on the
>>> > 10-year
>>>
>>> THE Ohio State University. ...now a happy, newly married graduate of THE
>>> Ohio Statue University...
>>
>> Ahem - Statue? - renamed because all those presidents from Ohio? :)
>
> A reference perhaps influenced by James Hoban, architect of the White House?
I *hate* it when I do that. Which is a lot.