Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … McGuire, Dick Enberg's one-man play about legendary Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire, will be presented at Hofstra University’s Black Box Theater at the New Academic Building on the South Campus, February 9 and 10, 2008. The play, which is being presented in cooperation with Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., first debuted there in 2005 to a sell-out audience. Proceeds from the performances at Hofstra will benefit Hofstra Athletics and the Department of Drama and Dance. Mr. Enberg will do a talk back with the audience after every performance.

Performance times and dates at Hofstra are Saturday, February 9, at 1 and 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 10, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30; $27 for senior citizens (over 65), non-Hofstra students and members of the Hofstra community with a current HofstraCard. For tickets and more information call the Hofstra Box Office at (516) 463-6644, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Tickets may also be purchased at the door. The ticket window at the Black Box Theater/New Academic Building will open approximately 90 minutes before each performance.

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Those who saw Al McGuire lead the 1977 Marquette basketball team to the national championship knew him to be quite a character. Through McGuire, renowned sportscaster and multiple Emmy Award-winner Enberg shares memories of his long-time colleague and close friend. Enberg's play depicts why the philosophy of this uncommonly funny and profound man had such an important and lasting impact on so many.

The play revisits Al McGuire's inimitable wit and wisdom, with reminiscences about his life from the streets of Brooklyn to his days at Marquette and his travels as a sportscaster. McGuire grew up on Rockaway Beach with his older, Hall-of-Famer brother, Dick. The pair regularly demonstrated their hoops talents on the beach side basketball courts of Long Island. McGuire’s background as a Brooklyn barkeep (the self-described "guy servin' beer") made him a natural fit for the no-nonsense, hardworking ethic of the city of Milwaukee.

McGuire was a leader on and off the court, and the people of Milwaukee adopted the Brooklyn native as one of their own.  McGuire’s final game was March 28, 1977, the NCAA championship game in Atlanta in which Marquette beat North Carolina, 67-59.  After a second career as a sportscaster for NBC and CBS, he died January 26, 2001 of a blood disorder at the age of 72.

Distinguished actor Cotter Smith reprises his role as McGuire in the Hofstra production. Smith's New York theater credits include the Broadway production of Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter, Lanford Wilson's Burn This and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive, as well as 10 years as a member of the Circle Repertory Company.  His numerous television and film credits range from his debut 25 years ago as Robert Kennedy in the mini-series Blood Feud to his more recent role as the President of the United States in the Twentieth Century Fox film X2: X-Men United. He is also the co-artistic director of the Cornerstone Theatre Company in Milwaukee.  Heidi Mueller-Smith, director and co-founder of the company, directs her husband in the play.