Remembering the ‘Shot Doctor’

PALMER — Bob Greig meant many things to many different people.

Greig was a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He was a veteran, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam era. Greig was a man of faith. He was innovator in local agriculture, finding a way to farm his potatoes without chemical fertilizers. The Palmer-area farmer was also known by friends as “Potato Bob.”

But Greig also played a special role within the Palmer High School basketball program. And to those who have been part of the program, Greig will always be remembered as the “Shot Doctor.”

Greig — who played the role of coach, mentor, friend and father-figure during his 15 years with Palmer High girls’ basketball — died Feb. 9, 2017, at the age of 77. A celebration of Greig’s life is Sunday at 3 p.m. at Teeland Middle School.

Palmer High assistant principal Paul Reid, a former girls basketball assistant and head coach with the Moose, is among those who saw Greig as a father-figure.

“Throughout my entire career as a coach, he was alongside with me,” Reid said. “He influenced me in more ways than you can ever imagine. How to run my program, how to treat my players. He was a mentor to me. A father-figure to me.”

Reid said Greig would try to pretend that he was not a coach. During games, he would sit quietly on the sideline, paying close attention to the players’ work on the floor. But in reality, Greig was a vital piece to the puzzle, Reid said.

Reid said Greig had volunteered his time with the Wasilla girls program in the late 1990s. In 1997, former Palmer High head coach Lyle Busbey asked Greig to help with the Palmer girls program. That was Reid’s first season as an assistant coach.

Reid said Greig quickly became a big part of the program. Greig had a knack for helping the players become better shooters.

“His attention to detail,” Reid said. “He had a really unique ability to almost slow things down in his mind, see the little details that needed to be tweaked, changes that could make the kids have more success.”

Reid said he thought a lot about Greig while watching the NCAA Division I basketball tournaments in March. Greig paid close attention to the college games, and would watch what the college shooters were doing and bring that back to the practice floor.

“He’d teach them to shoot a real jump shot. That’s something that really motivated him,” Reid said.

Reid said Greig worked with hundreds of players throughout their careers, giving them the knowledge they needed to get better. Greig was in his 60s and 70s during his time with the team. He may have made his way slowly across the floor during practice — or what Greig called, “slow and steady,” Reid said — but Greig had the approach, an knack for connecting with the athletes, and the players were drawn to him.

“How he would teach shooting, they couldn’t get enough of him,” Reid said.

Reid, who will speak at Greig’s celebration of life Sunday, asked many of his former players to share their thoughts about Greig. He wanted to create a testimonial about Greig. Messages flooded his Facebook inbox.

“I will always remember Bob the ‘Shot Doc’ for his generosity, love for people and genuine spirit,” former Palmer standout Laura (Lee) Kenny wrote about Greig. “One the court, he was quick to correct, and quicker to encourage. I have so many fond memories with him in the gym, and countless hours of ‘perfecting’ my shot. Well known for his free throw wisdom, but also for his tender heart. He took time to invest in what matter most — people’s lives.”

Greig was also known for his sense of humor.

“He was witty, funny. He liked to make fun of himself. He was full of one-liners,” Reid said.

Greig’s also remembered for his easy button, a promotional item sold by Staples, a national office supplies retailer.

“When he was getting a little bit older, he was sillier in a lot of ways,” Reid said.

Reid said Greig picked up the button — a small red, electronic item, with the word “easy” printed across — during an offseason and started bringing it to open gyms and practices.

“He’d teach a girl to do something, and all of the sudden something clicked, and he’d pull the button out of his pocket,” Reid said.

Reid said Greig would have the player hit the button, which sounded the company’s slogan, “that was easy.”

“His easy button,” Kasara Brandenburg a former Palmer player who now serves as an assistant with the Moose, wrote. “No matter how hard the practice was or how bad of a day you were having, Bob would pull out that button and put a smile on anyone’s face. He always reminded me that basketball is just a game and we are there to have fun. He influenced how I coach my middle school and high school kids. Hopefully I can teach them the same way he taught us, full of love and fun.”

Dozens of passages written for Greig echoed similar sentiments.

“His infectious smile and positive attitude will always be the way I remember Bob, ‘The Shot Doctor’,” former Moose player and assistant coach Toni Cox-Miller wrote. “I cherish the hours spent in the gym. He always believed in me. He would always tell me I needed to slow my shot down, to be like him. Bob, being slow, ‘like you,’ improved my shot, but more than that, your dedication and love improved my life.”

Former Moose standout Emily Bolling, who went on to enjoy a stellar college career at the New York Institute of Technology, wrote that she took what Greig taught her to college.

“You were there for us during a very important age, giving us confidence and drive to be better players and people,” Bolling wrote. “You taught us at a young age that we are just as good as the boys, and typically better shooters because we didn’t have those big forearm muscles. We couldn’t cheat and had to learn it the right way. You were our shot doc guru. I continued to hear your voice in my head when I played ball in college and did my warm up shots you taught me before every game.”

Reid said Greig left a lifelong impression on hundreds of Palmer girls’ basketball players, and many of the sentiments written about Greig reflect that.

“Bob didn’t just teach me about basketball, but taught everybody about life,” former Palmer player Kalei DePriest wrote.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.