The drive and the score.
That Danny Ainge play against Notre Dame 26 years ago remains among the most famous finishes in college basketball history, and seeing the former Cougar all-American in the Marriott Center this week at the Cougar Holiday Classic, one can't help think of that mad-dash dagger flung at the Fighting Irish in the Omni in Atlanta.
Ainge, whose No. 22 jersey hangs in the rafters of the Marriott Center, watched his oldest son, Austin, score BYU's final five points, a total of 16 coming off the bench, in the Cougars' 77-68 win Saturday over Seton Hall.
Ainge says folks continue to come up and comment on the play, rated by ESPN as the No. 6 greatest finish in college history.
"People either love or hate Notre Dame, and they'll come up and congratulate me if they hate them and say 'Why did you have to do that to us' if they love them," Ainge said.
One person who was courtside that night in Atlanta is professional photographer Doug Martin of Provo, who was also courtside with Danny Ainge on Saturday night.
Back in the day, BYU's athletic department wasn't sophisticated enough to send a still photographer along with the Cougars to the NCAA tournament. Today, they have an award-winning photographer, Mark Philbrick (hired in 1976), who has chronicled big BYU plays the past two decades, including the definitive "Answered Prayer" reception by Jonny Harline to end the BYU-Utah game last month.
But just out of college a few years, Martin, a prolific freelance journalist, caught that Ainge dribble and score with his motor-driven Cannon. It was a thrilling moment and series of shots he continues to receive requests for reprints to this very day.
Martin, who helps do statistics for BYU football and basketball, has had his photographs published in Germany's Bunte, Paris Match, Star, US, People, Business Week, The Enquirer and all major worldwide wire services. His most famous photos were exclusives of kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst before she turned herself into federal authorities. When Jimmy Carter pardoned Hearst for her role in a bank robbery, Martin's exclusives were purchased again and recycled across the world because they are the only pictures taken of her and her fiance bodyguard at the time.
If you've seen the poster of Ty Detmer in a tuxedo, spinning a football with the Heisman Trophy, that's Martin's studio setup shot.
Back when Ainge outscored UCLA's entire team in the first half of the 1981 NCAA first round win at Providence, R.I., Martin called then-BYU sports information director Dave Schulthess and asked if BYU was sending Philbrick to Atlanta for BYU's NCAA appearance. The answer was no. So, Martin asked if he could get credentials and he'd pay his own airfare, hotel and meals to shoot the game for the university.
Schulthess told Martin to pack his film.
Martin had no idea he'd run into one of the biggest plays in school history, one that has been aired on award shows and highlight parades ever since. Martin's five motor-frame shots of the Ainge drive and score in the closing minutes of the Sweet 16 win over Notre Dame are the only photographs taken by a photographer from Utah. A Sports Illustrated photographer sitting by Martin at that game used a strobe, which limited him to just one still shot of the play.
Martin caught the key series of Ainge's moves and the finishing shot, his finger-roll layup over Orlando Woolridge.
"Woolridge mistimed his jump too late or he'd have blocked the shot," Martin said. "But Woolridge also hit the net and could have been called for goaltending."
Said Martin: "After Ainge made it, I saw him celebrate for a second and then he had the savvy to know there was still time on the clock and he sprinted down to play defense as the buzzer sounded."
As BYU's bench erupted and players ran on the floor, Martin raced in position to get the celebration, and Ainge ran right past him off the court and into the locker room.
"I don't remember that, but I guess I did," Ainge said. "I usually did that."
Five years ago, Sports Illustrated called Martin and purchased his shots for their "Rogaine Hair Raising Finishes." A few months later, one of the officials who refereed that BYU-Notre Dame game saw Martin's photos on that ESPN show and wanted to order some copies. He'd seen himself in the background frame.
Last spring, ESPN called Martin and bought the photos to go with their video segment on the Top 20 All-Time Basketball Finishes, where the Ainge shot was rated No. 6, according to Martin.
Needless to say, Ainge went on to win the John Wooden Award as the college player of the year. Martin has since recouped the expenses he paid out of pocket to go to Atlanta that second week of March in 1981.
"Yeah, it was a tidy little sum," Martin said.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com