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ISHBIA WAS 23 years old, working in a windowless closet. It was 2003, and instead of taking a job on the men's basketball staff at Cleveland State, he joined his father's mortgage company. It was a side gig for his father, Jeffrey, a lawyer who founded it in 1985, and it remained a small operation: Ishbia was its 12th employee. He made $18,000 in his first year, largely grabbing faxes off a machine and taking them to mortgage underwriters. The company's first office was 1,200 square feet. They upgraded to a vacant grocery store, and loans were written in what was once a frozen foods aisle. This same year, 2003, Gilbert sat atop an empire nearly two decades in the making. Starting in 1985, when he was 22 and, thanks to $5,000 he saved delivering pizzas in college, Gilbert founded a brick-and-mortar Michigan mortgage company that would eventually become a pioneer of online lending and one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country. In 1998, it closed about $2.3 billion in residential loans and had about 600 employees. In 1999, the software giant Intuit bought it for $370 million. Just three years later, Gilbert and a group of investors bought it back for $64 million, with Intuit retaining a 12.5% equity stake. In 2005, Gilbert paid $375 million for the Cavaliers.
Even though Geriot is now in the G League, getting an opportunity to run a team for the first time while learning day-to-day head-coaching responsibilities, he will still work closely with the Cavs. On July 26, the G league affiliate was officially announced as the Cleveland Charge -- and they will work out of the Cleveland Clinic Courts practice facility while playing home games at Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center. Following the abbreviated 2020-21 season where the Charge played in the Orlando G League bubble due to COVID-19 protocols, the Cavaliers chose not to renew their lease with the Canton Memorial Civic Center, relocating the Charge downtown.
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But Kevin Mackey, the former Cleveland State coach who brought the 7-foot-7 Bol to the United States from the Sudan in the mid-1980s, tells a different story. “I gave him his birthday because they didn’t know how old he was,” Mackey, now a scout with the Indiana Pacers, told ZAGSBLOG.
“The immigration people were in the office [at Cleveland State] and they thought it was great. They loved it. And they were big fans of Cleveland State, they used to come to all our games. They wanted to cover themselves because Manute was starting to get so much publicity. His picture was in the paper. He was on the 6 o’clock news because he was a such a different looking guy than everyone else. At that time, no one had ever seen anything like it.” So at that point, Mackey worked with the local immigration office to come up with a birthday for Bol, Oct. 16, 1962 “It was in October, I wanted to make it after Sept. 1,” Mackey said. “I wanted to make sure he was young enough because he didn’t have an age. I think he was [in his 40s], I really do. But there’s no way of ever really knowing.”
Norris Cole (6-2, 175) is experiencing lower back discomfort and is listed as day-to-day. The Cleveland State product has appeared in 45 games (23 starts), averaging 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
Norris Cole, one of the most decorated players in Cleveland State history, had his No. 30 jersey retired at the Wolstein Center Saturday afternoon before the Vikings took on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. A number of Cole’s New Orleans Pelicans teammates were on hand to support him, as was his former Miami Heat teammate, LeBron James. Cole’s number was the third retired by the CSU men’s basketball program, joining Franklin Edwards (No. 14, 1977-81) and Ken “Mouse” McFadden (No. 10, 1985-1989). Head coach Gary Waters and school president Ronald Berkman led Saturday’s festivities. “Norris, who is known for his work ethic and his ability to lead a team, is truly deserving of this honor,” Waters said. “It’s not often that a number is retired, but this is a well-deserved honor and achievement for one of the most well-rounded players I have ever coached.”
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Sam Amico: Pelicans G Norris Cole will have his No. 30 retired by Cleveland State prior to home game Saturday vs. Oakland, school announces.
After being named Israeli Coach of the Year four times and Russian SuperLeague Coach of the Year, Blatt said the NBA adjustment was more about living in the USA. He had been to Cleveland just once, in 1989 for a Maccabi Tel Aviv exhibition against Cleveland State. “It wasn’t culture shock, I’m an American, born and raised,’’ Blatt said. “But it’s different from Israel, Europe. I had to adjust back to being an American and it’s been great fun doing it. “I never really had such an overwhelming desire to move. It was really only after last year’s Euroleague title. I felt I had done everything.’’
I didn’t see him, but the sharp eyes of ESPN’s Dave McMenamin spotted free agent to be point guard Norris Cole in attendance tonight. Cole, of course, is a former Cleveland State product and a fellow Klutch client. The Cavs tried acquiring Cole at February’s trade deadline. Who could imagine then what a pivotal role Delly would be playing in this postseason?
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