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articles : Boone: The Super Chief
 Boone: The Super Chief
Ron Boone cannot remember the last basketball game he missed, and with good reason - he has not missed one in some 15 years - going back to grade school.
Not a bad record for a guy who was a seventh round draft choice from little-heralded Idaho State and played as a reserve for two seasons in the pros.
"I never missed a game in high school and I played more than 100 straight games in college," says the muscular 6-2 guard who played quite a bit of forward earlier in his pro career with first Dallas and then Utah.
Boone's streak in the pros is more phenomenal. He has never missed a game - regular season, playoff or pre-season - in seven-plus seasons. That covers 584 regular season games and 76 playoff games entering this season, and he has played in 21 thus far this season with first Utah and now with the Spirits.
The pro record for regular season is held by Johnny Kerr at 844.
"I've been lucky," admits Boone, a native of Oklahoma City, who grew up in Omaha, Neb. "I've had only one injury, a minor shoulder separation in my rookie year. I just strapped it down and played."
There was one other time he came close to missing a game, in the championship series against New York in 1973-74. That's when his fist managed to collide with Brian Taylor's mouth and teeth, and Boone's hand became infected and badly swollen. But he bandaged it up and still played.
"The only time I've been sick was my first year in college when I got the flu after taking a flu shot," he recalls. "I still practiced, but I've never taken another shot."
"I just hope all this talk doesn't bring something down on me."
Not nearly as much as the Spirits. In only a few weeks with the team, the Booner has become an important part of the club, averaging more than 20 points a game in six outings. He also is shooting about 55 per cent from the field and 82 per cent from the free throw line along with almost four rebounds and five assists a game.
But those are the kind of figures the Spirits expect from Boone, who has become one of the finest guards in all of basketball. Last season, he averaged 25.2 points a game for Utah to rank third in the league, and this season he was popping in more than 26 points a game for the Stars before they folded, raising his career average to more than 18 a game.
Boone, with tremendous accuracy with his jump shot, has shot better than 50 per cent from the floor the past three years - while hitting better than 86 per cent of his free throws.
Previously, Boone had been a reserve with the Stars after coming from Dallas with Glen Combs for Donnie Freeman and Wayne Hightower in mid-season of 1971. He immediately became a favorite with the Stars, coming off the bench as an exciting forward who ignited the offense. They nicknamed him "Instant Offense," to go with another nickname, "Chief," because of his part Indian ancestry.
He really turned on the crowds with his great leaping ability and incredible shot-making from unusual angles.
"People in Utah would tell me that I was the most exciting player they had ever seen," he remembers. "I didn't try to be that way. It was just that I was only 5-8 in high school and junior college and when I drove against those big guys. I had to handle the ball and shift it in the air. At 6-2 in the pros, I still had to, particularly as a small forward."
He finally took over as a starter when Combs was injured, and has been a fixture ever since.
At guard now, Boone admits his game has toned down a bit, but he still has a flair for the spectacular as St. Louis fans will soon learn.
(This article appeared originally in a Spirits of St. Louis Official Program, December 19, 1975. Boone was acquired by St. Louis from Utah, along with Moses Malone, Randy Denton, and Steve Green, Dec. 1975)
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