Illinois basketball radio broadcaster and all-time leading scorer Deon Thomas, also a former Lewis & Clark men's basketball head coach, appeared as a guest Friday on the "Spiegel & Holmes Show" on WSCR-AM 670. The topic of TBS broadcaster Bruce Pearl came up.
Pearl's actions as an Iowa Hawkeyes assistant coach led to Thomas being forced to sit out his freshman year during 1989-90 at Illinois and tainted the Illinois basketball program, former head coach Lou Henson, and former assistant coach Jimmy Collins with a reputation for cheating, though no evidence of impropriety ever surfaced.
Thomas, a member of the Illinois program from 1989-94, said Friday that Pearl's actions were "very hurtful."
"When you are going through what I went through as a 17-year-old, having someone tell mistruths about you, even though you know what your character is and who you are, it was very hurtful in certain ways to have my character questioned in that way," Thomas said. "But to be quite honest, I knew I did not do anything wrong. I knew Jimmy Collins did not do anything wrong. So what seriously affected me and really hurt me was the fact that I did not get to play with Kendall Gill, Steve Bardo, and the rest of those guys from that '89 (Final Four) team. I think if we play, we're right back in the Final Four. So that was one thing that was crushing to me."
Collins was the lead recruiter for Illinois in its pursuit of Thomas, and Pearl alleged to the NCAA that Thomas was given a Chevy...
Illinois basketball radio broadcaster and all-time leading scorer Deon Thomas, also a former Lewis & Clark men's basketball head coach, appeared as a guest Friday on the "Spiegel & Holmes ...