By BRUCE CAMPBELL
Enid News & Eagle Staff
7/7/00
Denny Price, co-head coach of the Oklahoma Storm and father of NBA players Mark and Brent Price, died Friday afternoon while playing in a pickup basketball game with his sons at the Enid Family YMCA.
Price's funeral will be 2 p.m. Monday at Emmanuel Baptist Church, with burial
at Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements are being handled by Ladusau-Evans
Funeral Home.
Price, according to witnesses, was stricken while going for a rebound. YMCA
executive director Ken Rapp performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until paramedics
arrived.
Price
on the sidelines.
"When I saw the guys praying I thought there was hope for him,'' Rapp said. "We really felt if we could continue to keep his blood circulating and lungs ventilated we could keep him alive until the emergency people came.''
Price, according to witnesses, had been playing with the intensity he was known for both as a player and a coach. He had been playing for only a few minutes but already had dished
a pass to Mark for a three-pointer and to Brent for a jump shot.
"He was having fun with Mark and Brent,'' said one player. "He
didn't do anything halfway. He was going all out ... it was just a helpless
feeling at the moment. They did everything they could.''
Price suffered a heart attack in the late 1980s while coaching at Phillips
University but came back to coach later that season after undergoing bypass
surgery.
Price had just helped led the first-year Storm to the championship game of the United States Basketball League Postseason Tournament, where they lost to the Dodge City Legend Sunday.
"Denny touched every one of our players in different ways,'' said fellow Storm co-head coach Bryan Gates. "Denny is one of those guys that when you're around him, you feel better.''
Price was best known for being the father of NBA players Mark, who played
for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors and
Orlando Magic; and Brent, who plays for the Vancouver Grizzlies. Middle son
Matt played at Appalachian State and Phillips after starting three years at
Enid High.
His own career was impressive.
As a high school player, he led Norman to the 1955 state championship. He scored a record 42 points against Bartlesville in the state tournament. His record was matched by Mark, playing for Enid High in the 1982 state semifinals against Jenks. Denny went on to play both baseball and basketball at the University of Oklahoma (1957-60). Price was a two-time All-American for the Phillips 66ers of the National Industrial Basketball League and was invited to the 1964 Olympic Trials.
Price began his coaching career at Shawnee High School. He went on to assist
John MacLeod at both OU and with the NBA's Phoenix Suns. Price then coached
four years at Sam Houston State. He left coaching in the summer of 1979 to
enter the oil business in Enid. He returned to athletics as the men's basketball
coach
and athletic director at Phillips in the summer of 1986.
He coached the men's team for seven years before retiring from coaching, but didn't stay on the sidelines for long as he returned to coach the PU women's team to a No. 2 national ranking in 1998.
Price and his family started the Price Family Basketball Camp, which emphasized Christian values. After PU closed he coached players on an individual basis.
This spring he was named the associate head coach and assistant general manager
of the Storm. When head coach Ron Ekker resigned the day before the season
opener, Price and Bryan Gates were named the team's co-head coaches. The Storm
started out 3-11 but won 11 of their next 16 games. They beat No. 2 seed Pennsylvania
and No. 3 seed New Jersey in the Postseason Tournament before falling to Dodge
City.
Price and his sons sang together as the Price Family Singers with his wife,
Ann, on the piano. He was a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church.
