By Bill Koch
Danny Fortson’s game was decidedly old school, which might be why I enjoyed watching him play so much during his three years at UC from 1994-1997.
At 6 feet 7 inches, 260 pounds, he was a classic low-post player. He wasn’t a great leaper, but because of his strength and soft shooting touch around the basket he was almost impossible for one defender to stop.
When Fortson left UC for the NBA after his junior season in 1997, he was the second-leading scorer in the school’s illustrious history behind Oscar Robertson, with 1,881 points. If he had stayed for his senior year and averaged 20 points over 30 games, he would have finished with 2,481 points, which would put him second on the career scoring list. He currently ranks fifth behind Robertson, Sean Kilpatrick, Steve Logan and Deonta Vaughn.
And yet Fortson’s No. 25 hasn’t been retired along with Robertson’s No. 12, Jack Twyman’s No. 27, and Kenyon Martin’s No. 4 at a school that has had more than its share of great players, but has chosen to recognize only three of them by hanging their jerseys in Fifth Third Arena.
Once Fortson caught the ball in the low post, more often than not he would either score or get fouled, or both. As he walked to the free throw line, he would push back his uniform jersey in a subtle display of disdain for whoever had the misfortune of being assigned to guard him.
“When you threw it in there you pretty much knew something good was going to happen,” former UC coach Bob Huggins told ESPN’s Andy Katz in a discussion of the best players he has coached.
Fortson averaged 15.1 points as a freshman, 20.1 as a sophomore and 21.3 as a junior. His career scoring average was 18.8. He ranks sixth in field goals (655), third in field goal percentage (56.5) and second in both free throws made (571) and free throws attempted (769). He led the Bearcats in rebounding in 1995-96 (9.6 per game) and 1996-97 (9.1). Since then, only Martin, who averaged 9.7 rebounds in 1999-00, averaged more rebounds in a single season than Fortson did in 1995-96.
Unlike Kilpatrick, Logan and Vaughn, all of whom made ample use of the 3-point shot, Fortson attempted only three 3-pointers in 100 games. (If you’re wondering, he didn’t make any.) He scored all of his points in just three seasons, compared with four for the three players directly ahead of him.
He always carried himself as if he believed he was the best player on the floor regardless of his opponent. During his senior year, he scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds against No. 1 Kansas at the Great Eight in Chicago in a 72-65 loss by the 4th-ranked Bearcats.
When I asked him during his junior year why he didn’t occasionally try to pass out of the low post when he was double-teamed, he said, “They didn’t bring me here to lead the team in assists.”
Fortson was at his best against crosstown rival Xavier on Jan. 17, 1996 when he scored 40 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in UC’s 99-90 victory. He made 14 of his 22 field goal attempts and was 12-for-17 from the free throw line in 38 minutes.
“I remember getting double-teamed,” Fortson told me when I talked to him for my book, “Inside the Crosstown Shootout. “But there’s a solution for that with (Huggins). He got crafty and he had me going off a couple of double screens, and by the time I got to the block the ball was already coming to me so they didn’t really have a chance to double-team me like they wanted to. I credit a lot of that to him.”
The firs time I asked J.O. Stright, who was Fortson’s AAU coach and became his legal guardian, he said simply, “He’ll cut your heart out.”
That’s exactly what Fortson did to UC opponents during his three years at UC when he led the Bearcats to a 77-24 record, with three Conference USA tournament titles, and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1996.
Fortson was a second-team AP All-American in 1996 and a first-team selection in 1997. Robertson and Ron Bonham are the only two other UC players to gain AP All-American recognition in at least two seasons. He was the Conference USA Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the start of the 1996-97 season when the Bearcats were ranked No. 1 in the country.
I grew close to Fortson during his time at UC. When he decided to leave after his junior year, he told me before he made the formal announcement. He was looking forward to a career in the NBA where he wouldn’t face the constant double-teaming that college teams were using to try to deny him the ball. He knew the NBA game was more physical than the college game, and was hoping that would mean he wouldn’t be in foul trouble like he was so often at UC.
Fortson was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 10th overall selection in 1997, and was traded to the Denver Nuggets. While I was in Denver to cover a Bengals game, I arranged to meet Fortson at a local health club where he regularly worked out before the start of his first NBA training camp. After I interviewed him, he asked me what I was going to do next. When I told him I was probably going back to my hotel room to write, he asked me to stay for lunch.
He proudly showed me the SUV he had purchased with his newfound wealth and talked over lunch about how hard it was to play for the demanding Huggins. When I got up to leave, he asked me not to write any of that he had said about Huggins. I didn’t intend to, but I wondered why he cared.
“What difference does it make now?” I asked him.
“You know how he is,” he said. “If he reads that stuff, he’ll call and make me feel bad.”
But he also acknowledged that if it weren’t for Huggins, he wouldn’t be where he was.
Fortson played 10 seasons in the NBA for Denver, Boston, Golden State, Dallas and Seattle before he retired in 2007. As his career evolved, he became more of a defensive standout and rebounder than a scorer. He finished his pro career with averages of 8.2 points and 7.2 rebounds.
But in his prime at UC, when the Bearcats needed a basket, he was as close to a sure thing as they’ve had since the Big O played at the old Armory-Fieldouse in the late 1950s.
Eighteen years after Fortson left UC, he was recognized as a member of the school’s James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame. Nine more years have gone by without his number being retired. Given all he accomplished during his three years at UC, that’s way too long.
Danny Fortson’s game was decidedly old school, which might be why I enjoyed watching him play so much during his three years at UC from 1994-1997.
At 6 feet 7 inches, 260 pounds, he was a classic low-post player. He wasn’t a great leaper, but because of his strength and soft shooting touch around the basket he was almost impossible for one defender to stop.
When Fortson left UC for the NBA after his junior season in 1997, he was the second-leading scorer in the school’s illustrious history behind Oscar Robertson, with 1,881 points. If he had stayed for his senior year and averaged 20 points over 30 games, he would have finished with 2,481 points, which would put him second on the career scoring list. He currently ranks fifth behind Robertson, Sean Kilpatrick, Steve Logan and Deonta Vaughn.
And yet Fortson’s No. 25 hasn’t been retired along with Robertson’s No. 12, Jack Twyman’s No. 27, and Kenyon Martin’s No. 4 at a school that has had more than its share of great players, but has chosen to recognize only three of them by hanging their jerseys in Fifth Third Arena.
Once Fortson caught the ball in the low post, more often than not he would either score or get fouled, or both. As he walked to the free throw line, he would push back his uniform jersey in a subtle display of disdain for whoever had the misfortune of being assigned to guard him.
“When you threw it in there you pretty much knew something good was going to happen,” former UC coach Bob Huggins told ESPN’s Andy Katz in a discussion of the best players he has coached.
Fortson averaged 15.1 points as a freshman, 20.1 as a sophomore and 21.3 as a junior. His career scoring average was 18.8. He ranks sixth in field goals (655), third in field goal percentage (56.5) and second in both free throws made (571) and free throws attempted (769). He led the Bearcats in rebounding in 1995-96 (9.6 per game) and 1996-97 (9.1). Since then, only Martin, who averaged 9.7 rebounds in 1999-00, averaged more rebounds in a single season than Fortson did in 1995-96.
Unlike Kilpatrick, Logan and Vaughn, all of whom made ample use of the 3-point shot, Fortson attempted only three 3-pointers in 100 games. (If you’re wondering, he didn’t make any.) He scored all of his points in just three seasons, compared with four for the three players directly ahead of him.
He always carried himself as if he believed he was the best player on the floor regardless of his opponent. During his senior year, he scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds against No. 1 Kansas at the Great Eight in Chicago in a 72-65 loss by the 4th-ranked Bearcats.
When I asked him during his junior year why he didn’t occasionally try to pass out of the low post when he was double-teamed, he said, “They didn’t bring me here to lead the team in assists.”
Fortson was at his best against crosstown rival Xavier on Jan. 17, 1996 when he scored 40 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in UC’s 99-90 victory. He made 14 of his 22 field goal attempts and was 12-for-17 from the free throw line in 38 minutes.
“I remember getting double-teamed,” Fortson told me when I talked to him for my book, “Inside the Crosstown Shootout. “But there’s a solution for that with (Huggins). He got crafty and he had me going off a couple of double screens, and by the time I got to the block the ball was already coming to me so they didn’t really have a chance to double-team me like they wanted to. I credit a lot of that to him.”
The firs time I asked J.O. Stright, who was Fortson’s AAU coach and became his legal guardian, he said simply, “He’ll cut your heart out.”
That’s exactly what Fortson did to UC opponents during his three years at UC when he led the Bearcats to a 77-24 record, with three Conference USA tournament titles, and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1996.
Fortson was a second-team AP All-American in 1996 and a first-team selection in 1997. Robertson and Ron Bonham are the only two other UC players to gain AP All-American recognition in at least two seasons. He was the Conference USA Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the start of the 1996-97 season when the Bearcats were ranked No. 1 in the country.
I grew close to Fortson during his time at UC. When he decided to leave after his junior year, he told me before he made the formal announcement. He was looking forward to a career in the NBA where he wouldn’t face the constant double-teaming that college teams were using to try to deny him the ball. He knew the NBA game was more physical than the college game, and was hoping that would mean he wouldn’t be in foul trouble like he was so often at UC.
Fortson was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 10th overall selection in 1997, and was traded to the Denver Nuggets. While I was in Denver to cover a Bengals game, I arranged to meet Fortson at a local health club where he regularly worked out before the start of his first NBA training camp. After I interviewed him, he asked me what I was going to do next. When I told him I was probably going back to my hotel room to write, he asked me to stay for lunch.
He proudly showed me the SUV he had purchased with his newfound wealth and talked over lunch about how hard it was to play for the demanding Huggins. When I got up to leave, he asked me not to write any of that he had said about Huggins. I didn’t intend to, but I wondered why he cared.
“What difference does it make now?” I asked him.
“You know how he is,” he said. “If he reads that stuff, he’ll call and make me feel bad.”
But he also acknowledged that if it weren’t for Huggins, he wouldn’t be where he was.
Fortson played 10 seasons in the NBA for Denver, Boston, Golden State, Dallas and Seattle before he retired in 2007. As his career evolved, he became more of a defensive standout and rebounder than a scorer. He finished his pro career with averages of 8.2 points and 7.2 rebounds.
But in his prime at UC, when the Bearcats needed a basket, he was as close to a sure thing as they’ve had since the Big O played at the old Armory-Fieldouse in the late 1950s.
Eighteen years after Fortson left UC, he was recognized as a member of the school’s James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame. Nine more years have gone by without his number being retired. Given all he accomplished during his three years at UC, that’s way too long.
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