JIM Loscutoff, a 67-year-old retired day camp operator who lives in Andover, Mass., can only shake his head about the Women's National Basketball Association. Rodman just ‘ice cream’
for Jungle JimBig arenas, big crowds, big salaries.
When he was coaching the New England Gulls for less than one season (that's how long they lasted) in the Women's Professional Basketball League in 1978, he often had to take money out of his own pocket to feed his players on road trips.
That wasn't chicken feed for Loscutoff, who hammered the inside for the first seven world championship Boston Celtics teams.
Despite the fact that Loscutoff was a trailblazing NBA tough guy with an extraordinary number of championship rings and a jersey retired, his last annual salary was $12,000.
"Michael Jordan gets paid more for a minute than I got paid in my nine years," said "Loscy," still feisty, and still sounding like he means every syllable he utters.
I called him for the first time in about 16 years yesterday because I was curious to know: 1.) if he was still alive; 2.) what he thinks about this new Women's National Basketball Association, and 3.) what he thinks of "The Worm," a role player for whom he paved the way in the 1950s, according to a recent issue of Sports Illustrated.
I got the answer to my first question when Loscutoff's granddaughter called him to the phone.
As for question No. 2, Loscutoff said, "These (WNBA) players are more fundamentally sound and more experienced. We didn't have much talent."
Coaching the Gulls, he says, was his wife's idea.
"I didn't want to, but she said, 'Just try it and see what happens.' Well, I saw what happened. The guy who owned the team was a scumbag."
Loscutoff said he remembers getting to Chicago and finding there were no hotel reservations.
After a while, the players stopped getting paid and they refused to play.
"We played in the Superdome and about 400 people showed up," said Loscutoff, ruminating unwillingly about his unhappiest career. "They had probably 600 ushers."
LOSCUTOFF, who was the Celtics' first-round draft pick out of the University of Oregon in 1955, not only added scoring punch but also gave his club the muscle it needed. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder quickly earned the nickname, "Jungle Jim," for his uninhibited style of play under the basket. He was viewed as Boston's "enforcer," and opponents bloody well respected him as such.
But, to this day, he growls when he disclaims that role.
"I wasn't an enforcer, I just played the game hard, the way Rodman does."
With Hall of Famers Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Frank Ramsey, and Tom Heinsohn, he helped launch the Green Machine's dynasty (11 titles in 13 years).
SI listed Loscutoff as an early version of Dennis Rodman but that comparison doesn't sit well with him.
"Somebody told me about that but I didn't see it," he said.
A pause. And then the old enforcer pronounced in his still-deep and intimidating voice, "Dennis Rodman couldn't carry my lunch."
There was no chuckle, no indication that Loscutoff was anything but deadly serious.
"He would be ice cream today -- for me."
Of course, I wanted to know how he would've handled Rodman.
"I'm not gonna tell you," said Loscutoff, his words marching out in deliberate cadence. "Your people reading the column will have to figure it out. He would've been easy, that's all I'll say."
Well, OK.
That's coming from an old-time basketball ruffian who never posed in a