Bill Walton's Al McGuire tribute

To know Al McGuire was to love him. To witness Dick Enberg’s one-man play about Al, played exquisitely by Cotter Smith, is to have Al back for one more round.

Enberg, the master story teller of our time, has produced a phenomenal treasure of art, history and life itself in “McGuire.” And the magical pairing of Enberg and Smith brings the mercurial and effervescent McGuire back for a must-see curtain call.

With the unfettered access of being Al’s best friend for decades and the remarkable memory of someone who was actually there for most of the incredible journey of Al’s lifetime, Dick Enberg has captured flawlessly one of the most important, inspirational and interesting personalities our world has ever known.

Fast paced and hard hitting, just like Al himself, this extravaganza of hope, fun, pain, joy, sadness, laughter, sorrow and love is really a kaleidoscope of what we would all jealously like our own lives to be. But there is only one Al McGuire, could only be one -- or so I thought.

Cotter Smith’s performance here is nothing short of brilliant…He is able to portray Al McGuire, the man and his life, so eloquently that by the end, with the crowd roaring it’s approval and chanting for more, you are convinced that Cotter really is Al. From the mannerisms, to the accent; from the humor, to the anger; from the love, to the passion.

The pacing, the gestures, the style, the stance ... the wit, the wisdom, the craziness ... the morality, the edge, the truth ... it’s all here, perfectly staged and complemented by the three basic elements of Al’s surrealistic life -- his chair, his basketball court and his bar -- backed by a historical slide show that magnificently accentuates and supports the ever-changing and amazing storyline that is the life and times of Al McGuire -- as fine a man as I’ve ever known.

With MCGUIRE, Dick Enberg and Cotter Smith do so much more than justice to the cause -- they do perfection. Al Lives!!!!! Al Lives !!!!!!

MCGUIRE is beyond description -- was he ever really gone at all? This show and the story it tells leaves us all spellbound. And you end up asking yourselves, “How can all this be true, they must be making it up.”

We all confirmed after a life with Al McGuire that truth does indeed strangle fiction. Only the unparralled talents of Dick Enberg and Cotter Smith enable us to fully believe it.

You have been suitably warned; miss this at your own peril.

-- BILL WALTON