In 1982, the McDonald’s All-American Game, then in its sixth year of existence, came to the Chicago area for the first time (and the only time until 2011).
The rosters were loaded with future NBA players — big men Brad Daugherty, Wayman Tisdale, Benoit Benjamin and Brad Lohaus and other major talents including Kenny Walker, Dell Curry, Johnny Dawkins and Billy Thompson.
But the game’s MVP would be the star of stars from the Chicago Public League, King’s Efrem Winters, a sensational 6-9 leaper bound for the University of Illinois.
There were two Illini recruits in that game, the other a point guard from Quincy named Bruce Douglas. The pair of them would become All-Big Ten first-teamers in 1984, electrifying fans en route to a conference championship and the Elite Eight with their ahead-of-its-time alley-oop connection. They met for the first time at practice for the McDonald’s game at the Rosemont Horizon.
That day, Winters took off on one side of the rim, threw down a dunk on the other and made everyone in the building stop cold.
“That’s my teammate!” Douglas shouted, breaking the silence.
A man of few words, Winters looked at Douglas, smiled warmly and said, “I can’t wait.”
Winters died Monday at 61 after a lengthy illness. He was retired from Pepper Construction in Chicago and living in Aurora, having left indelible marks here and in Champaign, where he ushered in a golden era of basketball as a forerunner to the Flying Illini of the late 1980s.
“We were great friends,” Douglas said. “He was like a brother to me. Very humble, very generous and very loving. That’s how he showed up to our locker room, and that’s how he was until the end. You could always count on Big E.”
Winters started 120 games at Illinois, a record that stood for 16 years, and finished his career as the school’s all-time rebounding leader and No. 3 scorer. As sophomores, he, Douglas and Peoria’s Doug Altenberger powered the Illini to their first Big Ten title in 21 years. Their run ended in the Elite Eight at top-seeded Kentucky in the last NCAA Tournament game played at a home site. With Winters struggling on a badly sprained ankle, the Illini fell 54-51, thanks in part to some questionable officiating at the end.
Winters was invited to try out for the 1984 Summer Olympics team but didn’t make the cut; Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Sam Perkins, Steve Alford, Alvin Robertson, Tisdale and the rest of an immensely talented squad would go on to win gold without him. The Atlanta Hawks drafted Winters in the fourth round in 1986; he didn’t make the team and didn’t spend much time after that pursuing a pro career.
“We were both from big families, mother’s boys, and Efrem liked being at home,” Douglas said. “He was a father, a grandfather, husband, went to work every day, worked hard, loved life, always tried to do the right thing.”
He was good to younger players from Chicago, among them King’s Marcus Liberty, who was several years behind Winters and one of the city’s top recruits of the era. Liberty watched Illinois games on TV because of Winters and says Simeon’s Nick Anderson, his future running mate at Illinois, did the same.
“If we’re not watching him throwing down backwards dunks from Bruce Douglas, maybe there wouldn’t be a Marcus Liberty or a Nick Anderson attending the university,” Liberty said. “I told people all the time, ‘That guy went to my high school.’ It just made me so proud.”
At an Illinois recruiting camp, Winters gave Liberty a pair of his Converse shoes along with thoughtful advice and encouraging words about the school. Back in Chicago, Liberty would look for Winters at summer runs but rarely find him.
“People would say, ‘Why isn’t he playing?’ ” Liberty said. “Big E left basketball for basketball season. He was always hanging out with his family in the summer. He was just a gentle giant, real soft-spoken and the nicest guy you could ever meet. He never big-timed anybody — unless they were on that court with him. …
“I know people don’t talk a lot about Efrem Winters and that ’84 team because of what came after with our group, but they were a great team.”
Altenberger became emotional remembering a phone call he received from Winters last summer. They’d always stayed in touch, but this conversation lasted over an hour and was special.
“I got to really talk to him,” Altenberger said. “We talked about his family. I got to tell him what a great guy he was. We talked about the old days. He was in a good place. That makes me feel good.”
Altenberger liked to tease Winters that those alley-oops never would’ve happened without his screens freeing the big fella to go up and get the ball.
“Bruce would throw it up,” he said, “and Efrem would grab it above the box on the backboard. Just amazing. He was one of the top players not only in Chicago but the whole country, and we got him. We called him Big E or Easy E, and he came in with a lot of pressure, but I never heard him get negative about anything, not ever. He was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”
Winters’ Illini teammates have had a group text going for years, sometimes on, sometimes off, as with all friends. This week, the texts aren’t stopping.
Big feelings. Easy memories.
And so it goes.