And he knew them as both a player and an assistant coach.

Guydon, 64,died last week in Columbia, S.C., and his funeral was held today at the Edisto Fork United Methodist Church in Orangeburg, S.C. He had been hospitalized at the Dorn Veterans Administration Hospital in Columbia since December.

"There’s no question Gus is considered one of the top 10 basketball players in Drake history," said Drake historian Paul Morrison today.

"He was a super guy and one of the most soft-spoken guys I ever knew. Gus was always willing to go an extra step to help anyone."

Said Dolph Pulliam, a standout Drake player when Guydon was on Maury John’s coaching staff there:

"Gus was a good friend of mine. He was the main reason that Willie McCarter and myself came to Drake because we all attended the same high school—Roosevelt in Gary, Ind. He was a good inspiration and model for us to follow."

Although Guydon played for the Bulldogs before I began covering games in my previous writing life in Des Moines, I recall him as a smooth shooter and a furious rebounder.

Guydon was a two-time first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference player on teams coached by John in 1959-60 and 1960-61. He scored 1,277 points in 75 games.

Guydon scored a career-high 35 points Feb. 6, 1961 when Drake ended Bradley’s 46-game home-court winning streak with an 86-76 victory.

That team went on to have a 19-7 record overall and a 7-5 mark in the Valley.

The Bulldogs (26-5) reeled off 12 consecutive victories from Feb. 1 through March 15, won the Midwest Regional in Manhattan, Kan., and went to the NCAA Final Four in Louisville, Ky. They narrowly missed upsetting UCLA on the first night of the tournament.

Coach John Wooden’s Bruins survived, 85-82, but Drake went on to finish third in the tournament by rolling past Dean Smith’s North Carolina team, 104-84.

Guydon was a member of John’s staff that coached Drake teams into the NCAA tournament the next two seasons. Those teams had records of 22-7 and 21-8.

John took the Iowa State coaching job in 1971-72, and Guydon went with him as an assistant. He served as interim head coach with the Cyclones when John became ill during the 1973-74 season.

Guydon later was the head coach at Wichita State and had other coaching stops before becoming athletic director and basketball coach at Claflin University in South Carolina.

Morgan has been the recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach since joining Iowa’s staff in 2000. He takes over the responsibilities of Joe Philbin, who left the Hawkeyes’ staff to take a job with the Green Bay Packers.

"While we were sorry to see Joe leave Iowa, we are happy for the tremendous opportunity he has earned," Ferentz said. "Joe has done a great job with our line, and I know he will be a strong addition to the Green Bay Packer organization.

"Reese Morgan has done a fantastic job in all areas since joining our staff. He is an outstanding football coach, a strong teacher and communicator. I have every confidence that Reese will do a splendid job with this new assignment."

Morgan came to Iowa after spending eight years as the coach at West High School in Iowa City, where he had a 67-20 record and won three state championships.

Ferentz hopes to have the search for another offensive assistant coach completed within the next 10 days.

However, whenever I see Rickord, I tell him he’s more of a promoter than a publisher.

Take the project he’s got going this weekend—the first Pride of Iowa Sports Carnival at the Seven Flag Events Center in Clive. Rickord said the reason for the carnival is that it’s the fifth anniversary of The Local Sports Connection.

Rickord said among those scheduled to appear are NFL players Billy Cundiff, Jared DeVries, Eddie Berlin, J. J. Moses and Sage Rosenfels. Also scheduled are boxer Jimmy Crawford and wrestling champion Cael Sanderson.

Rickord said numerous other former collegiate athletes will be on hand to sign autographs and put on clinics.

Maybe you recall the e-mail sent to me by the former newspaper guy who said he’d like to sneak into the Register newsroom and steal the "I" key off of columnist Rob Borsellino’s computer.

The guy said Borsellino wouldn’t be able to write a column without the "I" key.

A few hours after that column of mine appeared, in came an e-mail from another veteran of the newspaper wars.

He wrote:

"I think your e-mailer is right. Without the ‘I’ key, Borsellino’s incredibly soft touch (what happened in Florida to the bite he had before heading south?) would be absent from the paper. I was one of his biggest fans before, but I think he’s lost it.

"Rekha? Sigh I just can’t put up with her."

[Rekha Basu, Borsellino’s wife, is another Register columnist].

"Now to Eustachy. I suppose after the comeback Saturday afternoon, everyone will be talking about what a genius he is. I think he’s a loser who is milking ISU dry. Loser in more ways than one.

"Don’t get me started on Alford. He’s another one who took someone else’s recruits and did well—for a while! I still miss Dr. Tom. He was (is) a class act.

"And I’m no fan of Keeler, either. (Wow, I’m really negative today!"}

[The e-mailer touched all his bases. First, he was referring to Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy, second to Iowa coach Steve Alford and third to Sean Keeler, sports columnist at the local paper].

"First, college basketball, Iowa style. The Iowa teams are struggling and the highly-paid coaches are not as super as their salaries should demand. However, the great thing about sports is that it keeps coming around each and every year.

"These guys that get paid the big money lose jobs at the blink of an eye, and are replaced with better or worse. My philosophy is enjoy the good and forget the bad. There are plenty of experts out there to call the talk shows and tell me what is right or wrong. The next thing is for me to listen to the shows.

"Not being a life-long native of Des Moines, I have not read the Register forever, but anyone who has been here for a while, with no more than a sixth-grade education, has seen the decline. We are in the area of bigger is better, and all the biggies are buying up the little guys. Is this for a better product? I think not. It is called corporate profits.

"A large corporation in my industry—trucking—sent a letter to its employees decrying their financial woes. They are out of money. Could it be from buying out a lot of little companies and mismanaging the corporate empire? The letter pointed out that if each truck driver would complete his run 15 or 20 minutes earlier, they could save the company. Hmmmm. Enough already. I remain Alive in Clive."