As college basketball coaches go, none stir memories like Marquette's late, great Al McGuire. From his players to his fans to his fellow coaches, Al had a way of making people think. As former North Carolina head coach, Dean Smith, says "He was the closest thing the sports world had to a modern-day Will Rogers."

With March Madness in full tilt and Marquette basketball again in the limelight, many around Milwaukee can't help but remember Al. And, a book with an amazing collection of quotes helps us all remember the wit, winning and wisdom of the Coach. With more than 70 photos and 146 pages of both heart-warming and hilarious quotes, "Cracked Sidewalks ad French Pastry -- The Wit and Wisdom of Al McGuire," by Tom Kertscher is the ultimate coffee table collectable for any college hoops fan.

If you never had the opportunity to see Al coach or comment on TV, you missed a true master. He had a way to connect with people that went beyond touch. He was perfect for Milwaukee, Marquette and his NCAA Championship in 1977 capped a career that more than made him a national hero.

Kerscher didn't go to Marquette, but was a fan of Marquette basketball in the '70s. He collected newspaper clippings as the Warriors marched through March Madness and made a scrapbook in 1977 with Butch Lee on the cover. "He was a regular guy," Kersher told us. "(Al) was not just a sports guy who talked sports, he talked about life."

Ironically, the book was published by The University of Wisconsin Press. The Badgers were (and still are) a Marquette rival. As noted in the book, in McGuire's final dying days as The University of Wisconsin was searching for a new basketball coach, he joked to his son, "Call the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin and tell him to take my name off the short list."

Here's a sample of some of the book's selections:

"I've always been the bridesmaid. More like a lunch-pail, tin-hat type of person. I never thought I'd really win. I'm a positive thinker, but I always thought I'd come in second."

"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house. That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk."

"I'm not saying that they were Einsteins; they were marginal students. But every ballplayer who ever touched me has moved up his station in life. And the players move up my station in life."

"If a player leaves Marquette and doesn't have some of my blood in him, then I don't think I've done a good job."

"Help one kid at a time. He'll maybe go back and help a few more. In a generation, you'll have something.'

"There's always going to be problems, and I feel the greater the problems for a generation, the greater that generation is going to be."

"I went into a restaurant one night and ordered lobster, and the waiter brought me one with a claw missing. I called him over and told him about it. He told me that in the back there's a tank they keep the lobsters in and while they're in there, they fight and sometimes one loses a claw. I told him 'then bring me a winner.' "

"Cracked Sidewalks and French Pastry -- The Wit and Wisdom of Al McGuire," by Tom Kertscher is available at local bookshops.