Enshrined: Basketball Still a Vital Part of Life for Palacio
Playing career led to his time on the sidelines
Mike Brohard
For some, there is no escape.
For Milt Palacio, he wouldn’t leave basketball behind for anything.
“No. I think it’s in my blood,” he said. “Even working my son out, that’s one of the best things. He played in Belize last year. He had an up-and-down season, but it was fun for him. Training and helping him is fun, because I didn’t really coach my kids when they were younger because I wanted them to have fun. I always knew the politics and hard work of it, the different elements of being a pro, so I wanted them to just have fun.”
Basketball has always been his path. It was to college, where he strung together an all-conference career at Colorado State. A team leader in his time as a Ram, he still ranks in the top five in assists for a career and per game.
What followed was a seven-year run in the NBA, a path which began as an undrafted free agent. He would then spend six additional years playing professionally overseas, and when he was finished on the court, he moved to the sidelines.
He will be part of a nine-person class recognized during the annual All-Sports Reunion weekend, with the Hall of Fame Induction set for Friday, Oct. 27. The following day, the entered class will be recognized on the field during the State Pride football game with Air Force.
As he progressed as a Ram, he started to believe he had the talent to be a pro, yet he doubted he could reach the ultimate level which comprises every young basketball player’s dream. It was then-CSU coach Ritchie McKay who started to feed the dream.
“It was phenomenal. Sometimes they say things happen too fast, but it was fun, knowing I never thought I could make it to the NBA,” he said. “I have to credit Ritchie McKay and some of my teammates who saw it in me. He kept going to the media and saying he’s a pro.”
Sometimes a player needs somebody to believe in them before they do. For Palacio, that first person was McKay. Then his roommate, Jameel Mahmud reiterated the notion.
McKay knew there would be steps Palacio would have to take to turn potential into reality, but he also witnessed passion in the guard to fully invest into the dream.
“What I noticed instantaneously about Milt was his competitive drive, that he really wanted to be good. For me, I had a lot of people who had invested in me, they saw me for what I did well and not what I wasn’t yet, and I think that was my mindset with Milt,” McKay said. “I had never seen a guy be able to attack the rim and finish like Milt Palacio; he was elite at it. He wasn’t quite as confident as a shooter, but he did everything else – playmaker, finish at the rim, good mid-range, excellent defender – and I thought there’s really nothing he’s not other than being a consistent jump shooter to play at the highest level. He impacted winning, and I felt he could continue playing for money.”
I thought it would always be part of my life, and I think that’s why I sacrificed a little bit of my junior and senior year and concentrated on basketball.Milt Palacio
For every athlete, the playing days eventually come to an end. The love for the sport doesn’t necessarily go away, especially for Palacio. He was going to find a way to give back to a game which gave so much to him.
He and his wife, Christine, now live in Loveland, and his two sons, Iseri and Emeri, are with him. He still has ties to Colorado State, as one of his daughters, Kira, is a cheerleader for the Rams, while his youngest, “my little princess, Ariah,” just turned 13, and he has a stepson, Dakarai Baskin.
His latest project is the NoCo Pro-Am league. It provides an opportunity for local collegiate players to continue to hone their games while they are away from their teams and do so in a competitive and professional format.
“It’s a league for the college kids in town for the summer. There are a lot of college kids who don’t have a place to play,” Palacio said. “We set up a league where they can play games against other college players.
“I put them on teams, we have referees and Nike sponsored the jerseys. Sophia Smith of the US Women’s National Team, she sponsored the Nike jerseys for the women. It’s a league, three refs, guys play NBA rules, women play WNBA rules.”
The first season was a men’s league, which this summer expanded to 10 teams. He added a women’s league, and those four teams played two nights a week.
It keeps him in the game he loves. As his life in the sport has extended, he’s found teaching the game is just as enjoyable to him as seeing an open lane and attacking the rim. Basketball was always his outlet, and he felt it always would be a major part of his existence.
“To be honest, I did. I always thought I was good enough to play overseas and make some money,” he said. “But playing in the NBA, no. As a kid you’re in the backyard acting like you're Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan. Of course, I did that every single day. I thought it would always be part of my life, and I think that’s why I sacrificed a little bit of my junior and senior year and concentrated on basketball.”
Coaching him for a brief time, McKay felt it would be the case himself. There are players who love the game. There are those who make it part of their fiber.
McKay is happy knowing Palacio has passed on what he learned and continues to do so.
“He was a hoops junkie. He knew all the players, past and present, and I think unique to that time, he studied the game at an elite level,” McKay said. “Him being in basketball or coaching doesn’t surprise me in the least bit, simply because of his passion. Also, Milt was really unselfish; cared about his teammates. Like most of us, we enjoy a pat on the back but that wasn’t the reason he played. He played for the love of the game and had a genuine intent about him to be a great teammate and support the guys he was doing it with.”
Fittingly enough, his hall call came with him on the court.
The enormity of what it meant and where it took him hit hard, too, because it was immediately a moment which included one of his sons.
“It was a little emotional for me, and it was crazy, because I was working out with my son and coaching in Puerto Rico,” he recalled. “My son looked at me like, what’s going on because I started tearing up and got emotional. I think back on all the hard work, the late nights and the grind that it took me to get there. Colorado State took a chance on me, and all the emotions came back.”
At that moment, just like at Colorado State, he was exactly where he wanted to be – on the court, ball in his hands, living his basketball dream.