Lavell Edwards said he would rather lose and live in Provo than win and live in Laramie. Rick Majerus said losing 10 pounds over the summer was like tossing a deck chair off the Queen Mary. Frank Layden said he didn't exercise because he wanted to be old and sick, not young and healthy, when he died.
All were funny lines that received widespread national attention.
But the most famous line ever from a coach with Utah ties? That's easy: "The opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."
Twenty-three years after uttering those words during the NBA Playoffs, Dick Motta has retired as the ranking quote champion. At 70, he splits time between homes in Fish Haven, Idaho, and Scottsdale, Ariz. The Fort Union native returns to Salt Lake City on Saturday to be inducted into the Utah Basketball Hall of Fame.
In a perfect scenario, the Utah Opera would sing at the ceremony.
Although Motta produced dozens of other good quotes in his career, none received as much attention. That alone would make him notable in the annals of Utah sports history, even if he didn't have 935 NBA coaching wins. It ranks with "It ain't over 'til it's over" and "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," among most-repeated sports idioms.
Motta wasn't the originator of the phrase. Some researchers say it was coined by San Antonio Express-News columnist Dan Cook. According to one book, it was an extrapolation of the Southern adage, "Church ain't out 'til the fat lady sings." Another expert says Cook came up with the quote while watching a football game. One sports writer said, "The rodeo isn't over 'til the bull riders ride," to which Cook replied . . . well, you know.
The phrase didn't reach the masses, though, until Motta and the 1978 Washington Bullets landed in the playoffs. In the process, the Bullets, who finished second in their division, flirted with elimination. When they did, their coach uttered his famous line and the media ate it up. Amid the banality of one-game-at-a-time and let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may, Motta was a fresh and colorful voice.
Almost 25 years later, writers still can't resist. A check of a national newspaper and magazine database shows the phrase "fat lady sings" appeared in print no fewer than 267 times in the past two years alone.
That's a long opera.
To those who have known Motta, it was no surprise one of his quotes would go far. He was never particularly careful about what he said. That probably explains why from 1970-1999 he led the NBA in technicals (398).
He said whatever he felt, wherever he felt like saying it. He coached five different NBA teams (Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Sacramento and Denver), including two stops in Dallas. He was so plain-spoken that he even tried to talk his way out of his first NBA job. When he was coaching at Weber State, the Bulls came calling. But Motta said flatly that he wasn't interested. That made the Bulls want him even more, so they persisted. Finally, he finally agreed out of curiosity.
In typical candid style, he later admitted he only took the job in order to leverage a better college job.
He quit at least one NBA job because he didn't like being told he couldn't listen to other offers. He bought a general store in Fish Haven, he said, so he could tell his NBA bosses where to go and how fast to get there, if needed.
When he thought an opponent was dumping games in order to get a better draft pick or playoff position, he said so. He became the first-ever coach to be suspended, thanks to a tirade one night in Seattle. In his first six games as an NBA coach, he picked up seven technicals.
Along the way, he coached his way to hundreds of wins and losses. He became the first Utah native to coach an NBA team to a world championship, was named NBA Coach of the Year (1971) and ranks fifth on the all-time wins list. His pro teams went to the playoffs 14 times. He went 120-33 in six years at Weber State.
For someone who was cut from his team at Jordan High, it was a long journey. He failed to land the head job at Twin Falls High in Idaho, so he took a job at Grace Junior High in Idaho, then became the high school coach.
From there the opera unfolded.
It's possible Motta misses the game, after all those years of coaching. On the bright side, there are no more officials showing up to ruin his day.
But the best part of retirement? From here on out, all he has to do is sit back and listen to lady sing.
E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com