Joe Dean
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joe Dean (April 26, 1930 − November 17, 2013) is known as "Mr. String Music" and was the voice of Southeastern Conference basketball for most of the 1970-80s. In 2012, he was elected to the
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National ...
, as a contributor to the game.


Biography


Early life and playing career

Joe Dean was born in
Brazil, Indiana Brazil is a city in Clay County, Indiana, United States. The population was 7,912 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Clay County. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area. The current chief executive of Brazil ...
and was raised in
New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 t ...
, in a one-bedroom home with his parents, Cyril and Thelma, as well as his older sister Louise. His full name was Robert Joe Dean, and he went by "Bob Joe" early in life. However, it was on the basketball courts in his hometown where he was tagged with the name, "Jojo," that he would be known by those closest to him throughout his life. Dean was a starter on his high school team at New Albany High School, including a stint as the team's captain during his senior year. Dean was extremely close to his high school coach Gordon Raney, who influenced by him to go to
LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
, where he thought Dean would receive more playing time. In 2007, Dean became an inductee into the inaugural class of the New Albany High School Hall of Fame. Dean played at LSU from 1949 through 1952. His first two seasons, he led the team in scoring with 10.8 points/game (1949–50) and 15.2 points/game (1950–51). The 15.2 points/game was a school record at the time. He left LSU ranked as the school's second all-time leading scorer (1,072 points) and first in points/game (14.7). In his three years, Dean was a two-time All-SEC performer. He was also a three-time member of the SEC All-Tournament Team, the only player to earn such distinction prior to the tournament's suspension in 1953 (it was later resumed in 1979). Dean was the first LSU player to be selected in the NBA draft, taken fourth overall by the
Indianapolis Olympians The Indianapolis Olympians were a founding National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded in 1949 and folded in 1953. Their home arena was Butler Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University--now known as Hin ...
in the
1952 NBA Draft The 1952 NBA draft was the sixth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 26, 1952, before the 1952–53 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basket ...
. He instead chose to play for the
Bartlesville Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an ...
of the
National Industrial Basketball League The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) be ...
. In 1956, the U.S. Olympic Trials was a four-team tournament. The winning team named its five starters to the Olympic squad, and five other players from the tournament were also named. The four competing teams were the AAU champions and runner up, an Armed Forces all-star squad and a college all-star squad. Dean's Phillips 66ers won the tournament and were awarded five players to the U.S. Olympic Team. Dean, despite being fourth on the team in scoring in the tournament and starting a majority of the games, was not one of the five choices. He was subsequently named an alternate to the team. In 1958, he was an NIBL All-Star. In the Spring of 2008, Dean was voted on to the LSU All-Decade Team for the 1950s in an online vote by fans at the school's official website. The next year, he was voted onto the LSU All-Century Team. Other members include former teammate Bob Pettit, Pete Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Jackson.


Broadcasting career

Dean is most famous for his work as a
color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...
for Southeastern Conference basketball games, which he covered for 20 years. He coined the phrase "String Music" and is also known for other phrases such as, "Stufferino in Lexington, KY", "tickling the twine" and "string music in Music City". During his run, he worked with
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, TBS,
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, TVS,
Lorimar Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisio ...
and Jefferson Pilot.


As athletic director at LSU

Dean gave up announcing in April 1987, when he took over the athletic director post at his alma mater, LSU. He served from April 1987 through the end of the 2000 calendar year, with the LSU's
2000 Peach Bowl The 2000 Peach Bowl was the 33rd Peach Bowl game and featured the LSU Tigers, and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. LSU scored first on a 32-yard John Corbello field goal to take a 3–0 lead. Georgia Tech responded with a 32-yard Joe Burns touc ...
victory over
Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
being his last official event as athletic director. During his tenure, Dean oversaw arguably the greatest athletic era in school history. The LSU baseball team won five national championships (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000) while the men's and women's track teams accounted for 22 national championships combined, including a record 11-consecutive NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships by the women's team. At the time of his retirement, the 27 national championships under Dean's guidance were an SEC record. The LSU football team won one SEC Championship (1988), two SEC Western Division Championships (1996, 1997) and four bowl victories (1995, 1996, 1997, 2000) in his 14 years. Among Dean's final major decisions at the helm of the athletic department was to hire
Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...
as head football coach. Saban led LSU to SEC Championships in 2001 and 2003 as well as the school's first national championship in 45 years in 2003. Brady guided LSU to the 2000 SEC Championship and 2006 Final Four before being fired during the 2008 season. After Dean's 14 years, he was succeeded in 2001 by former baseball coach
Skip Bertman Stanley "Skip" Bertman (born May 23, 1938) is a former college baseball coach and athletic director at Louisiana State University (LSU). He led the LSU Tigers baseball team to five College World Series championships and seven Southeastern Confere ...
.


Awards and honors

In the Summer of 2007, Dean was named the 18th most influential person in the history of the SEC by the
Birmingham News ''The Birmingham News'' is the principal newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The paper is owned by Advance Publications and was a daily newspaper from its founding through September 30, 2012. After that day, the ''News'' and its two ...
. He was also chosen as one of the top voices in the history of the conference, placing seventh according to the Birmingham News. The lists were created in honor of the league's 75th Anniversary. Dean is a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is a sports museum and hall of fame in New Castle, Indiana. While it honors men and women associated with high school, college, and professional basketball in Indiana, an emphasis is placed on the athlete's high ...
, the NABC Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Hall of Fame and the LSU Hall of Fame.


Dixie Basketball Camp

In 1966, Dean began a basketball camp just outside Baton Rouge, La., at Lake Side Oaks. Later, in 1974, he moved the camp to Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Miss., where the camp has been held each July ever since. It is believed to be the longest running basketball camp in the United States. The camp will be in its 52nd year in 2017 with Joe Dean, Jr., serving as the camp director. Camp motto: "I Love Sweat!" The camp is a legacy for Dean that lives on through its characters and traditions. Multiple Division I coaches have gone through the ranks at Dixie, including Final Four coach John Brady, Kermit Davis and many others. Previous camp participants include SEC all-time assist leader Sean Touhy, NFL all-time great Peyton Manning and current NBA player Garrett Temple.


Personal life

Dean married the former Doris Kernan Hall of Marksville, La., in 1952 and the two were together for 50 years before she passed. They were parents to three children, Joe Jr., Mardi and Mark. Joe Dean, Jr., played college basketball at Mississippi State; he was the head coach for the
UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I F ...
for four seasons (1989-90 - 1992–93) as well as the former athletic director at Birmingham-Southern College in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
. Mark played college basketball at UL-Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana).


Death

On November 17, 2013, Dean died from complications of a heart-related illness in his Baton Rouge residence. He was 83.


References


External links


Abstract of interviews with Joe Dean, LSU Oral History Collection Joe Dean profile, The Draft Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Joe 1930 births 2013 deaths Basketball players from Indiana College basketball announcers in the United States Indianapolis Olympians draft picks LSU Tigers basketball players LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Phillips 66ers players People from Brazil, Indiana People from New Albany, Indiana New Albany High School (Indiana) alumni