It took his wife, Kathryn, to finally take pen to paper and write the story which she titled, proudly and completely accurately..."One of A Kind." Not only was it very entertaining, from a sports fan's view but it was a first hand account of an extremely talented young man and his (eventual) wife as they journeyed through life in the major leagues. And, to add to the "uniqueness" of the story, it was told from the perspective of a courageous young lady who, most certainly, changed and enriched the life of the man she loved. (I'll let you read the rest of the story in the book, which can be bought on Amazon.com. It's not only a great sports story but also very inspirational. You'll see.
As a kid I liked to collect autographs of the athletes and got Gene's more than once. He not only signed but would then take the time to chat with the kids. He has this great mid-western accent and a slow, easy manner (along with a great, constant smile and chuckle in his voice) that makes you feel like you're sitting on the back porch yakking away with an old friend. And he's still that way today completely oblivious to his place in the history of American sports lore.
As an adult I became acquainted with him about 1979 at a Boston Braves annual reunion which was held at Boston University auditorium. (B.U. had bought the old Brave's Field) When I went over to him for an autograph I started to tell him about the first time I got his autograph and he gave out with that famous grin of his and shook my hand then started to tell a story of that (it was his) first year in the major leagues. (The Braves moved to Milwaukee the following year). To say it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship is more than just accurate because I've known Gene, and shared stories with him, ever since.
Johnny Most and I did a sports show (about a year before Johnny died) and I used to arrange a segment where I got a former Celtic who played with Bill Russell to do a short interview with Johnny. It was supposed to be 15 minutes but the very first guy I called was Gene and, if you ever spoke with him you know, it's so much fun you can't stop at just 15 mnutes. That first call lasted the entire hour and everyone who heard it said, "15 minutes is just not long enough." If you remember Johnny Most you recall he had a way of bringing out the best interviews you ever heard.
One of the highlights was the story of Gene having to ride to Maine with Red Auerbach driving. Red was known to be a bad driver with a heavy foot and nobody wanted to drive with him. Since it was Gene's first year with the Celtics he had to drive with Red. Along the way they were listening to the first game of the world series with the White Sox playing the Dodgers. Early Wynn, the star pitcher for Chicago was the starter. The Sox scored nine runs in the top of the first and Red said, "This is the perfect time to take him out and let him start tomorrow's game." Gene told him you couldn't do that because Wynn wouldn't get credit for the win if he didn't go five innings. Naturally Red said, "Who cares about who gets the win, it's the series that counts." But, naturally Wynn stayed in. Then came the fifth and the Sox are still 9-0. Red said, "NOW take him out." Gene said, "You can't, he's got a shutout going." By now Red's steaming at the stupidity of the White Sox manager. Then the Dodger's scored a run and Red said, "NOW yank him." Gene reminded him he wouldn't get credit for a COMPLETE GAME if they did. By now Gene's chuckling as he tells Johnny and I the story and you can just see the smoke coming out of Red"s ears. Red never could stand stupidity, especially when it was due to somebody's own personal stats. He always felt the TEAM was what mattered most and of course he was right. To further prove his point was correct...Early Wynn developed a sore shoulder and didn't pitch another game in the series...which the Dodgers won, 4 games to 1.
My favorite story with Gene was at the first Boston Brave's annual reunion. Manager Tommy Holmes, who had been an all-star right fielder with the Braves and my personal favorite on the team, told of Gene's rookie year. He had a great spring training but, after Kathy went back home (they weren't yet married), Gene started to fade. After a couple of weeks Tommy went to the youngster and asked what was the problem. When Tommy finally figured out Gene was just "lovesick" and missed Kathy so much he asked Gene how much do you need to get her here and get married. Gene told him $350. Tommy pulled out his wallet and peeled off the money. Kathy came back east, they got married and...read the book, she put it all in there magnificently.
Gene's career picked up and the rest is history. After the event I talked with Gene who then introduced me to my boyhood hero, Tommy Holmes (next to Ted Williams) and we struck up a conversation. Along the way I asked Tommy how long it took for Gene to pay him back. Suddenly Gene got "that look" on his face as he realized he hadn't paid back the loan. Tommy played along for a minute then said to Gene, "Remember that $1,150 bonus you got at the end of the year?" Gene said that he did and Tommy chuckled at him and said, "It was really a $1,500 bonus. I knew you had forgotten about it and I just didn't want to get you bogged down with details." And we all had a big chuckle. That's when I realized Tommy Holmes could talk forever and had tons of stories of his own
which I'll pass on to readers of this site. Anyone remember, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain?"
Those reunions were among my favorite sports memories of all time and you'll read many of them in Gene's book as well as on this site. Gene Conley was very close with some of the biggest stars in baseball and basketball history and is just too interesting a character to get all of his good stories in one edition so.....stay tuned