On an Iowa men’s basketball team loaded with NBA-caliber talent, one of the biggest stars spent most of the game at the end of the bench.
On an Iowa men’s basketball team loaded with NBA-caliber talent, one of the biggest stars spent most of the game at the end of the bench.
After B.J. Armstrong, Ed Horton and Roy Marble gave the mid-1980s Hawkeyes a comfortable lead against an overmatched foe, it was Bart Casey Time. And the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena would go bananas.
“That’s pretty much how it went,” Casey said. “They’d start chanting at some point. Each time I touched the ball, they’d yell, ‘Shoot!’ It was pretty nerve-wracking for the first year or so. But that was my career.”
Fans loved Casey, partly because he graduated from Iowa City Regina and partly because his entrance into the game meant another victory for a loaded team. Iowa finished 30-5 in 1986-87 and came within an eyelash of the Final Four.
“Off our 1987 team, I think there were about 10 guys drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft,” Casey said. “Lot of fun, lot of success. Great travel. Saw all parts of the world – Hawaii, Alaska, China, Hong kong.”
Casey, now 44, scored 20 points in 29 games over three seasons. An injury prevented him from playing in 1987-88, so he was an “undergrad grad assistant” for Tom Davis.
It took Casey two years to convince security that he should be allowed in the player entrance at Carver.
A lifelong Iowa City resident, Casey has a daughter in college and two sons at Iowa City High. He has worked in the insurance industry for 21 years.
Much of Casey’s time is spent with his kids’ activities. His daughter is a swimmer and the boys are heavily involved with soccer. Casey enjoys fishing and golfing in Northwoods Wisconsin.
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Article source: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110709/SPORTS13/107100329/1003/
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