The Golden Age of Basketball

"Dear Fosse:

Unconsciously, it's been almost a year since I came to Gonzaga University. I never expected we'd still be exchanging letters, with so much left to say to one another.

In your last letter, I read that you got the offer from the University of Portland. I'm truly happy for you. Our distance has shortened a bit, with only an hour's flight from Portland to Spokane.

This summer, I don't plan to return to San Francisco. Most of my time will be spent in Spokane, participating in the school's basketball training camp to prepare for the new season.

Looking back now, it was the right decision to follow Fitzgerald's and my father's advice not to play in my first year and instead focus on academics, striving to get my degree early.

Last week, I passed Professor Slattich's marketing course exam and earned enough credits. This means I only need to get 12 more credits next academic year to fulfill all the requirements for my degree, making me eligible for a bachelor's degree.

This means I don't need to complete four years to receive my diploma; if possible, I could enter the NBA earlier.

Earning a college degree is my dad's expectation of me, which I think I'll soon achieve. Then, I can move on to meet my own expectations of playing on the court.

Going a whole year without participating in an official game has been tough, but thankfully you are there, and I've also set up imaginary rivals for myself.

A year ago, Coach Fitzgerald mentioned a University of Houston player named Hakeem Olajuwon, who didn't play in his first year but shined in the second.

This March, they made it to the NCAA finals. I told Fitzgerald I would definitely be better than this guy.

By the way, I measured my height yesterday at Coach Steve Delong's: I've grown to 6-foot-10. In centimeters, I'm 209—more than 208.

Coach Delong said, with my height, I could claim to be 6-foot-11 for the NBA draft, because you usually can't tell when standing on the court anyway.

Last week, I also attended Father Bagen's speech class. I gave a presentation and demonstration on how to prepare a table of delicious Chinese dishes. Father Bagen expressed that he really wanted to try them.

In the past year, in addition to learning academic knowledge, I've memorized at least three hundred basketball plays. But a few days ago, Coach Beelman approached me, saying that it would be best to forget all those tactics to become stronger.

Lately, Coach Beelman has been a bit scatterbrained, especially after the 1983 finals ended, and the Philadelphia 76ers won the championship effortlessly.

Apparently, Mr. Beelman has a friend named Gus who works as an economic analyst in New York, but who loves basketball and made an accurate prediction for this year's championship.

However, after looking through several newspapers and magazines, I haven't seen any news about Beelman's friend—they all seem uninterested in computer analytics.

You chose a computer-related major in college, which I think is great—it's a promising field with a bright future. I'm looking forward to you making remarkable achievements as well.

In a little over half a month, Spokane will welcome what they call 'Sunny Gan Memorial Day.' They're preparing a warm-up game in the gymnasium.

To be honest, this memorial day makes me anxious. The mayor even said there would be events in the city square. I feel a lot of pressure, especially since I haven't played in an official game yet.

Thankfully, I'm very confident about my condition. Not only have I grown taller, but my muscle mass has also increased. Last time during practice in the gym, I accidentally shattered the backboard.

Instead of scolding me, Coach Fitzgerald happily cleared up the glass, then had Coach Delong install a new backboard.

Recently, I discovered something about my teammate, John Stockton—his girlfriend Nada has an identical twin sister. They look exactly the same.

It was a shock when I saw Stockton's girlfriend with another man at the school. I hurried to tell Stockton, who calmly explained to me that it was Nada's sister, Laura.

It turned out that John knew Laura first, and when he found out she had a boyfriend, he started dating Nada.

He kept this secret from me for so long; he's as reserved as he looks.

Let's end the letter here for now. There's one more thing I want to tell you: We're going to Los Angeles for a warm-up game in July. I hope we can meet then.

Gan Guoyang, June 1983."

Gan Guoyang stuffed the completed letter into the mailbox next to his dormitory and then headed to the school gym carrying his sports bag for training.

Following Fitzgerald's advice, Gan Guoyang didn't participate in official games in his first year, which allowed him to escape the busy schedule of away games and game preparations, investing more effort into his academics to complete his credits early and have more flexibility in planning for the future.

Although reluctant at the time, Gan was eager to play in NCAA games, and Gonzaga University respected his wishes. If he wanted to play as a freshman, that would have been better than great.

But ultimately, Gan respected his father Gan Youwei's idea, opting to take a sabbatical from sports for the sake of academics for a year. There were many precedents like this in the NCAA, and Gan felt that focused training for a year would be more beneficial.

Many events happened throughout the year. In September 1982, Moses Malone was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, strengthening their final weak point.

In October 1982, Bernard King signed with the New York Knicks, and Warriors owner Mi Ouli's stand-up act made King very angry.

In November 1982, Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" was released, creating a sensation across America with groundbreaking MTVs, marking the official entrance of the Michael Jackson era.

In March 1983, the University of Houston unexpectedly lost to NC State in the NCAA finals, with Olajuwon making the All-America team and Ralph Sampson deciding to declare for the draft.

In April 1983, the NBA and the Players Union reached an agreement to set a cap on player salaries, implementing a salary cap system starting in the 1984-1985 season.

And in June 1983, the Philadelphia 76ers swept the Lakers to win the championship effortlessly, with Moses Malone taking the Finals MVP.

During his year off, Gan Guoyang vanished from America's media, as if he had been forgotten.

Throughout the year, Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi's correspondence became more frequent and deepened their emotional bond. In the cold northern region, far from familiar surroundings, the letters served as comfort for the soul.

However, so far there had been no substantial progress between the two.

At Gonzaga University, the handsome and tall Gan Guoyang was quite popular with the girls, but he always kept his distance from the opposite sex, harboring little expectation or fantasy about love and women.

This might have had something to do with his upbringing in the welfare institute.

Upon arriving at the gymnasium, Coach Steve Delong was leading Stockton, Dave Clement, and others in strength training.

Stockton was straining hard to push the barbell upward, his features contorted as if exerting every ounce of strength he had.

Gan Guoyang watched Stockton train with interest, and when Stockton stepped away from the equipment, Guoyang approached and warmed up with two sets using the same weight.

Stockton, hands on his hips and panting heavily, said, "Gan, next time I'll wait for you to finish your training before I start. Why do you play basketball? I think you should be competing in weightlifting competitions. Gonzaga's NCAA could use a weightlifting gold medal."

"Weightlifting would affect my growth. Actually, Fitz suggested I try out for football. I performed well during the trials, but I still want to focus on basketball."

After a year together, Stockton and Gan Guoyang had become very close friends.

Stockton was a typical "Gonzagan" who grew up in Spokane, attended Gonzaga Preparatory School, and was destined to study at Gonzaga from an early age.

As his senior, Stockton helped Gan Guoyang get acquainted with the environment and solved many problems for him, both academically and in daily life.

In basketball training, Guoyang, who lacked tactically, learned a lot from Stockton.

Of those more than 300 tactics, at least 200 were discussed with Stockton to understand their essence.

Stockton watched as Gan Guoyang easily did the 300-pound bench presses and pulled himself up for pull-ups with ease and admired the beast before him.

When Stockton first started strength training with Coach Delong, he couldn't even bench press 100 pounds, nor could he do a single pull-up.

Latterly, he only managed to increase his bench press to 135 pounds for 10 reps.

"What a monster," thought Stockton.

Gan Guoyang's natural talent in basketball had impressed the entire Gonzaga Bulldogs team, and they were all eagerly anticipating how his official inclusion in the team this year would improve and change the Bulldogs.

Last season, 1982-1983, Gonzaga University had a mediocre regular-season record of 11 wins and 12 losses, 6-6 within the West Coast Conference, missing the NCAA National Tournament and not even qualifying for the NIT, as usual, yielding little success.

This year, with the addition of Gan Guoyang, there was an ambition throughout the team to achieve something big.

Still, the most they hoped for was to get a top-three finish in the West Coast Conference, make an appearance in the NCAA wildcard game, or even participating in the NIT would be quite good.

After all, the West Coast Conference was so weak that it didn't even have a direct NCAA tournament bid and had to compete for wildcard spots with other conferences.

In the blink of an eye, several weeks had passed, and school was out for summer vacation. Right on the official vacation day, on "Sunny Gan Memorial Day," the day Guoyang arrived at Gonzaga last year, he would make his official debut for Gonzaga University in a warm-up match against the University of California, Irving, at the concrete box-like Kennedy Gymnasium.

The Kennedy Gymnasium, which resembled a sci-fi building from the 60s, hosted not only basketball matches but also many rock shows during the 60s and 70s, including performances by famous bands like Led Zeppelin and the Eagles.

And on "Sunny Gan Memorial Day," Kennedy Gymnasium, although the school was on vacation, was packed full, even more lively than when Led Zeppelin performed.

Wearing Gonzaga Bulldogs' number 11 jersey, Gan Guoyang stood at the center of the court, ready for his first official game with Gonzaga University.

He was taller and stronger than during his time at Beiqiao High School, with new AVIA shoes on his feet since the old pair no longer fit after a growth spurt; he had treasured those and set them aside.

Coach Belman, Fitzgerald, Delong, and others were all sitting on the substitute bench. Their nerves were probably even more on edge than Gan Guoyang's.

On the other side, in the main grandstand, were Spokane's local mayor, council members, and the leaders of Gonzaga University.

"Bobby, can we rely on Gan? I'm so scared. If he messes up, I might want to run headfirst into a wall."

"Relax, if he were that easy to mess up, I'd have hanged myself already. Trust him, he's going to perform well today."

After the warm-up and player introductions ended, Gan Guoyang stood at the center circle, ready for the tip-off against the Anteaters' center, Bob Sulton.

Before the tip-off, Guoyang said to Sulton, "You're Bob? It's nice to meet you. I apologize in advance and deeply sympathize with your upcoming ordeal."

Bob, puzzled, asked, "You're Gan? What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."

Gan Guoyang responded, "You'll know soon enough. I'm afraid I'll be too involved in the game to find time to talk."

At that moment, the referee blew the whistle indicating readiness and tossed the ball into the air.