Near the tail end of most of Jerry Krause’s phone calls these days, the former general manager of the Bulls steers the conversation toward the subject of family.
"How is everyone doing?" Krause will ask and then, after getting a favorable response, elaborate. "That’s good. That’s what’s most important."
If this sounds like an unfamiliar sentimental side to Krause, well, he has hidden it from public view well over the years. Plus, one month shy of his 77th birthday, Krause is battling persistent health issues.
He’s also retiring.
"It has been a hell of a ride," Krause said by phone this week from Arizona. "And now it’s over. It’s time. I’ve got no beefs. What the hell, a kid from Albany Park? It’s a long way from where I came."
The fact many likely were unaware he still drew a paycheck seems perfect for someone who once tried to compliment such behind-the-scenes contributors with his theory that organizations win championships, rankling Michael Jordan and others.
But this calendar year will mark the first time since 1961 that Krause won’t be in the employ of a basketball or baseball team. Granted, the osteomyelitis Krause has battled, among other significant issues, has prevented him from scouting as he did for baseball’s Diamondbacks the last two seasons.
But Krause, who still splits his time between Scottsdale, Ariz., and Chicago’s north suburbs, is unlikely to attend any sporting events in 2016. It’s a little like taking a fish out of water.
"Would I still be scouting if I was healthy? Yep. Would it be stupid to still be scouting at my age? Probably," Krause said. "But scouting is still fun. I just can’t do it anymore."
Make no mistake. Though his Hall of Fame credentials were established as the Bulls won six championships with him holding the title of general manager, Krause considers himself a scout at heart.
Val Mazzenga / Chicago Tribune Michael Jordan attends a press conference to announce a contract extension on Sept. 20, 1988 that will insure Jordan’s remaining a part of the Bulls organization for the next eight years. Michael Jordan attends a press conference to announce a contract extension on Sept. 20, 1988 that will insure Jordan’s remaining a part of the Bulls organization for the next eight years. (Val Mazzenga / Chicago Tribune)
It’s why he talks wistfully and reverentially of such mentors as legendary Yankees scout Freddy Hasselman, who let Krause tag along with him on trips to semipro and high school games throughout the small-town Midwest one summer Krause was home at Bradley.
It’s why there’s excitement in his voice as he remembers leaving Bradley to take a $65-per-week job as a glorified gopher for the Cubs in 1961. It’s why he recalls Bradley basketball coach Chuck Orsborn letting him chart plays and mentions draft picks like children, including Hall of Famers Earl Monroe, Jerry Sloan, Wes Unseld and Scottie Pippen.
It’s also why Krause never will say if he preferred working in basketball or baseball.
"Scouting is scouting," is his common refrain.
A born scout
Even his parents, who first ran a deli on Lawrence Avenue and later, for close to three decades, a shoe store on Northwest Highway, didn’t try to push him into the family business. They saw his love for sports bloom. Krause saw the long hours they put in and learned about work ethic, perseverance.
When Krause turned down a staff position at the defunct Chicago American, where he had worked as a copy boy and junior editor, he never looked back.
"I wanted to do something I was really good at," Krause said. "I thought, ‘I come here (to newspapers) and I’m going to be a hack.’ I knew I could scout. I just had a feel for it. I could see a shooter and if I saw him two years later and his shot had changed, I knew it right away and I knew how. I just really liked the idea of going to watch someone play and making a judgment."
This is why, in one of his only interviews since the Tribune followed him in 2012 bird-dogging the minor leagues and through locales from his Northwest Side upbringing, Krause occasionally pauses to compose himself.
He would scout until he died if he could. He just can’t.
"This has been a tough 2 1/2 years physically and mentally," Krause said. "It beats you up. You’re so weak."
Osteomyelitis is an infection of a bone, and Krause’s case has spread from one area to another and has eluded successful treatment despite two trips to the Mayo Clinic. He also has undergone two heart surgeries and prostate surgery, and he deals with sleep apnea.
A good day is if Krause gets five to six hours of sleep and is able to satisfy his voracious reading habit. Good days occur infrequently.
"Thel has been through this with me," Krause said of his wife, Thelma. "It has been tough."
Krause’s voice brightens when he moves down memory lane, even when acknowledging mistakes or low points. Then-Chairman Arthur Wirtz’s firing him as Bulls director of player personnel at age 37 likely marked the lowest, particularly because shortly after that he dealt with the grief of a boyhood friend dying from a heart attack at age 38.
Now it’s over. It’s time. I’ve got no beefs. What the hell, a kid from Albany Park? It’s a long way from where I came. — Jerry Krause
Nine years later, revived after suggesting the Lakers draft Norm Nixon and returning home when White Sox owner Bill Veeck hired him in a two-sport career that wouldn’t be possible today, Krause landed his dream job again.
Jerry Reinsdorf led an investing group that purchased a controlling interest and took over the Bulls in March 1985. Having seen Krause’s work with the White Sox because he had teamed with Eddie Einhorn to form a group previously to buy that franchise from Veeck, Reinsdorf replaced Rod Thorn as general manager with Krause.
"You can’t work for a better person," Krause said of Reinsdorf, who let him go from the Bulls in 2003 under the softening guise of health issues. "People who don’t know him don’t appreciate his kindness and who he is as a person."
Said Reinsdorf of Krause: "He’s relentless. He works very hard. He comes before the games. He wants to see what players do during batting practice or warmup drills. He seeks out information, talks to a lot of people. And then he keeps everything to himself."
Nicknamed "The Sleuth," Krause’s second stint leading the Bulls didn’t start promisingly either despite inheriting Jordan, whom Thorn had drafted.
In Stan Albeck, he whiffed on his first coaching hire. And Jordan broke a bone in his left foot in the third game of the 1985-86 season, leading to the first of many spats between him and Krause when Jordan wanted to play sooner than he was ready. Krause, Reinsdorf and doctors ordered a more conservative approach.
"Do I regret that I had not a great relationship with him? You know what? We won a lot of (expletive) games," Krause said. "Right or wrong, when I took that job I thought the worst thing I could do is kiss that guy’s (rear). We’d argue. But I remember about two years after I traded Charles (Oakley) for Bill (Cartwright). He and Charles were as tight as can be. He called over to me at practice and said, ‘That trade you made was a pretty damn good trade.’ I just looked at him and said, ‘Thank you.’"
Krause replaced Albeck with Doug Collins, a surprising hire given Collins had no coaching experience. It worked, and, augmented by the dominant 1987 draft that netted Pippen and Horace Grant, the Bulls kept knocking on the Pistons’ door.
The right stuff
When they lost to Detroit in six games in the 1989 Eastern Conference finals, Krause and Reinsdorf stunningly replaced Collins with Phil Jackson. Krause had hired Jackson as an assistant coach — one of his two Hall of Fame coaching hires along with Tex Winter — out of relative obscurity from the Continental Basketball Association.
"Everyone thought I was nuts," Krause said. "I had a feeling about Phil. He has an amazing ability to relate to players."
Jackson’s first season produced more heartbreak, a seven-game loss to the Pistons in the 1990 Eastern finals. Two days later, Krause said he walked into the Berto Center and almost the entire team was there, working with strength and conditioning coach Al Vermeil.
"I knew right then that we weren’t going to lose to the Pistons again," Krause said.
Jerry Krause put Jerry Reinsdorf’s basketball ‘vision’ into action K.C. Johnson
When Jerry Reinsdorf became chairman of the Bulls in 1985, he knew Jerry Krause as a scout for the White Sox and not much else.
That changed after Krause, who had worked in basketball before, called and requested a meeting.
“He told me he wanted to be the general manager of the Bulls,” Reinsdorf…
When Jerry Reinsdorf became chairman of the Bulls in 1985, he knew Jerry Krause as a scout for the White Sox and not much else.
That changed after Krause, who had worked in basketball before, called and requested a meeting.
“He told me he wanted to be the general manager of the Bulls,” Reinsdorf…
(K.C. Johnson)
The Bulls didn’t. Six championships in eight seasons and worldwide recognition for Jordan and the franchise followed. The 1995-96 team set the NBA record with a 72-10 mark that this season’s Warriors are chasing.
Even Jordan’s 17-month hiatus playing minor-league baseball after his stunning first retirement in 1993 produced high points.
"That year we didn’t win after Michael left might’ve been the most fun," Krause said. "We won 55 games. We ran the triangle so, so well. Guys just busted their humps. It was a special group."
Krause’s career has been built on analyzing talent and forming opinions. In that process, his tendency to hyperbolize and his seeking of acceptance has alienated some.
"He’s not very political or diplomatic," Reinsdorf said. "He does have a way of rubbing people the wrong way. And he holds grudges. But he’s a good person with a good heart. His problems with Michael arose out of Michael’s broken foot."
Jordan wanted to play more minutes than the doctors recommended and he and Krause didn’t see the matter in the same light.
"Something was said by Jerry that alienated Michael and Michael never got over it. But it was the right thing to do. The doctors were telling us that it made no sense for Michael to try to play. I don’t understand the Phil thing."
Ah, yes, the Phil thing.
By dynasty’s end, the two struggled to co-exist. It didn’t help that Krause made no effort to hide his friendship with Jackson’s eventual successor, Tim Floyd. And though Reinsdorf did offer Jackson a contract to continue in 1998, the strain exhausted all parties.
Talk about strain: At 1997 training camp, Krause got quoted as saying "players and coaches don’t win championships; organizations win championships."
Krause still seethes about the omitted word.
"I said players and coaches alone don’t win championships," Krause said. "In Michael’s and Phil’s mind, I’m sure that still raises a stink.
"But when I said organizations win championships, I meant that yesterday, today and every day. We built an organization. Jerry is the best owner you could have, let me do what I needed to do. We hired the right people. Al Vermeil was hugely important. How many games did our guys miss during the title years? People like (administrator) Karen (Stack) were instrumental. I was only trying to get some of those behind-the-scenes people credit when I said that.
"Did I make a mistake with Tim Floyd? I gave Tim a bad team. He didn’t have much chance, really. He wasn’t mentally ready either."
A disastrous rebuilding effort featured 17- and 15-win seasons, draft misses like Marcus Fizer and Dalibor Bagaric and a polarizing Elton Brand-for-Tyson Chandler trade. After leaving the Bulls in 2003, Krause returned to baseball, working for the Yankees, Mets, White Sox and Diamondbacks.
Bill Kostroun / Associated Press
Jerry Krause reacts at the 1999 NBA draft Lottery in Seacaucus, N.J., as NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik announces the Bulls will get the first pick in the upcoming draft.
Jerry Krause reacts at the 1999 NBA draft Lottery in Seacaucus, N.J., as NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik announces the Bulls will get the first pick in the upcoming draft.
(Bill Kostroun / Associated Press) Where credit is due
When Jackson became Knicks president in March 2014, he acknowledged Krause at his introductory news conference.
"Jerry Krause, his attitude toward doing this job I’m charged with doing is the map for me," Jackson said. "He was very thorough, very comfortable and very committed to finding out information about players that would help create teams that could win."
It’s a challenging, demanding job being a team executive. Krause is a finalist for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor this April 4, just days before his birthday.
He would love the honor for his family. But this scout at heart doesn’t need it for validation.
"I’ve been around a lot of great people," Krause said. "I was blessed learning from Veeck, working for Reinsdorf and getting support from so many others. The parade is over. There were many who said a little guy from Albany Park couldn’t. But I did."
kcjohnson@tribpub.com
Twitter @kcjhoop
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