Edited by Jim Vickers; Katie Dragga, David Hansen, Christina Ipavec, Jason Lloyd, Jeannie Roberts, David Searls, Colleen Smitek, Wendy J. Sotos, Lynne Thompson, Shawn A. Turner & Matt Tullis
You remember The Shot, of course you do, and so does Craig Ehlo. He’s reminded of it all the time.
Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan launched his team into the second round of the 1989 NBA playoffs by making a game-winning shot over Ehlo, normally a good defender who had been slowed a bit that day by a foot injury. Still, up to that point, he’d had a pretty good game, too, with 24 points.
Ehlo says he doesn’t resent that the moment is what he’s remembered for most by Clevelanders.
“I really don’t mind,” he insists. He says he is satisfied with his 14-year NBA career, especially with the seven years he spent here. During his time with the Cavs, Ehlo scored 5,103 points, grabbed 2,267 rebounds and tossed out 1,803 assists.
“My teammates were great, we had good teams, and the city loved us,” he remembers.
Today, Craig Ehlo is 48 years old, and he couldn’t be happier. He’s in a place he loves (Spokane, Wash.) with people he loves (his wife and three children) doing something he loves (watching basketball for a living). A color analyst on Fox Sports Network, he’s in his fourth year covering Gonzaga basketball. He previously covered the Seattle Sonics.
“The coaches are all good friends of mine,” Ehlo says. “It’s a perfect situation.”
Ehlo and Jani, his wife of 24 years, still have two of their three children at home. Erica, 21, plays volleyball at Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in Phoenix; 18-year-old Austin is a senior in high school; and 13-year-old Gavin — “my caboose,” Ehlo calls him — is a seventh-grader.
Ehlo doesn’t get back to Cleveland much, but he likes that the city has a team it can love again. “Danny Ferry was a teammate of mine, and he’s done a great job there,” he says. “We played in Richfield, and I lived in Akron, so I don’t know the city of Cleveland all that well. But the city really supported us then, so it would be nice to come back and say thanks now.”
I have the official NBA score book sheets of the : SHOT: May 9, 1989
Saturday, August 28, 2010 10:08:54 AM by Anonymous
At least he never knifed us in the back and took his talents to South Beach.
Monday, November 15, 2010 9:59:18 PM by Anonymous
He is the dumbest announcer I have ever heard. He makes Gonzaga games sickening to watch. Why is it that idiots constantly run their mouth?
Friday, December 31, 2010 2:50:52 AM by Derik Stewart
Hello! I'm looking for a nice maybe 500x500 jpg of this Michael Jordan The Shot Black and White photo for my Jordan archived pics from, that game. Is there anyway someone there could send me a bigger jpg photo of it? If so, please contact me at: cropdustdair@yahoo.com. It's a fantastic photo! Thanks again, Derik
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 11:46:51 PM by Ken Kleinschmidt
WE will always love Craig and the rest of that Team (Mark Price especially)...if we needed to lose by a "shot", at least it took the greatest player of all time to beat us.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 8:23:17 PM by susan
I bought an old houston rockets silver NBA players ring with C.E. stamped in the inside at a garage sale in houston Sat. 2/10/12 wish I knew how to contact him. I'm not out for money, just thought he might want it back.
Wednesday, January 09, 2013 4:05:31 PM by Anonymous
Craig Ehlo was the best player alive.
Long live the Ehlo.
